Gli operanti verbali e le tecniche di manding e pairing nei soggetti con Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico
Felice Corona, Carla Cozzarelli
Autism, being a pervasive developmental disorder, entails severe difficulties in communication and social interaction and, consequently, serious behavioural problems. The distinctive characteristic is the sense of isolation from the world, both our interior world and the world surrounding us, with a lack of either verbal or non-verbal response, which reveals maladaptive behaviour. The manding technique, which is implemented when a child presents unusual functioning, activates the child’s ability to ask when in need and has a positive value, leading to improvement not only as far as learning is concerned, but also as regards enabling and motivating relations with other people. The intraverbal (conversation) however, is characterised by a verbal operant which requires the individual to give a response which is different from the behaviour demonstrated by others. Through pairing a strategy following the behavioural principle of reinforcement is activated, and it is a solid behavioural technique. A few or even no requests are activated, keeping the level of reinforcement high for learning and low for avoidance, which originates with self-stimulatory or unsuitable behaviour.
