Specific Protocols for Extending the Mand Repertoire

So far in this training we have provided a detailed description of how to establish a mand repertoire in students who have previously been unable to consistently ask for things when the items are immediately present. We have stressed that such a repertoire needs to be broad, specific and efficient. Additionally we stated that the student needs to learn to mand across a variety of people, settings, and other conditions. The student needs to be able to mand without prompts except for the item being present. When these achievements have been reached, however, the process of mand training does not end. Rather, the student is now ready to begin learning a variety of related mand skills including manding for attention, manding for items that are not present and eventually manding for information. The remainder of this training will focus on specific procedures related to mand skills beyond the basics. Let’s start by reviewing a possible sequence of skills related to the mand repertoire.