Teachers’ Contingent Responses to Children’s Mands in Preschool Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to use a direct behavioral observation coding system to quantify and categorize children’s mands and teachers’ contingent responses in three types of typically occurring preschool classroom activities. Children’s mands were categorized based on their presumed function, and teachers’ responses were coded based on whether the response did or did not match the presumed function of the preceding mand. Authors conducted a descriptive analysis to describe how often and for what children emitted mands and how teachers responded within and across activities. Results showed that, on average, across all activities, the proportion of child mands to which teachers responded was 0.82. The proportion of teacher responses that matched the presumed function of the preceding child mand was 0.55. Teacher responses matched the presumed function of attention mands most often, while teachers’ responses often did not match the presumed function of tangible and escape mands. Results can help practitioners and researchers understand more about how often, when, and why children mand and for whom mand development is or is not being supported by teachers in preschool classrooms. These data also offer insight into how natural reinforcement schedules can be integrated into mand training interventions.