What is Verbal Behaviour?
Verbal Behaviour (VB) is an educational approach that can be used with individuals that are both verbal and non-verbal. VB can be defined as follows: “a subfield within basic and applied behaviour analysis that is devoted to identifying and researching sources and instructional procedures that produce functional verbal repertoires when they are missing.” (Greer 2008) The source of Analysis of Verbal Behaviour is Skinner’s (1957) work in analyzing the functions of language. For example, Skinner studied requesting (manding) and labeling things that are relevant in the environment. His approach was a departure from the developmentally based language approach. The functional analysis of language is recognized as a major approach for teaching communication skills to children with autism. (John T. Neisworth & Pamela S. Wolfe”, The Autism Encyclopedia, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Inc. 2005.