Establishing Pragmatic Discriminations among the Communicative Functions of Requesting, Rejecting, and Commenting in an Adolescent

Abstract

A 15-year-old learner with severe handicaps who exhibited minimal intentional communicative behavior was taught to discriminately encode three classes of communicative functions, including requesting, rejecting, and commenting. A single symbol (want) represented the requesting function, and another symbol (no) represented the rejecting function. Four signs from American Sign Language represented each of four object labels taught in the commenting function. Communicative functions were taught in a mixed sequential paradigm (requesting, requesting/rejecting, and requesting/rejecting/commenting). Elicited probes were administered after each acquisition criterion was reached to assess generalization across communicative situations. Results suggest that a series of pragmatic discriminations can be established early in a sequence of communicative intervention. Further, the learner used requesting and rejecting spontaneously in other classroom environments. Results are discussed in terms of content, selection, and sequencing in communication intervention programs designed for learners with severe handicaps.