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RTICLES LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN WITH LANGUAGE DISORDERS: AN INTRODUCTION TO SKINNER'S VERBAL BEHAVIOR AND THE TECHNIQUES FOR INITIAL LANGUAGE ACQUISITION LAURA BAYLOT CASEY* DAVID F. BICARD** * Assistant Professor of Special Education, The University of Memphis ** Assistant Professor of Special Education, The University of Memphis ABSTRACT Language development in typically developing children has a very predictable pattern beginning with crying, cooing, babbling, and gestures along with the recognition of spoken words, comprehension of spoken words, and then one word. utterances. This predictable pattern breaks down for children with language disorders. This article will discuss Skinner's verbal behavior theory and will provide the techniques needed fo teach children to repeat, request, label, and respond with novel responses in a conversational method by providing the reader with step by step instructions for successful implementation. Keywords: Verbal Behavior, Teaching Language Skills, Language Disorders and Treatment. INTRODUCTION Language development in typically developing children has a very predictable pattern beginning with crying, cooing, babbling, and gestures along with the recognition of spoken words, comprehension of spoken words, and then one word utterances (Heflin & Alaimo, 2007). For children with language delays the development and progress of language Is slower but generally progresses along the same path (Reed, 2005). However, the predictable pattern of development breaks down for children with severe developmental retardation such as Autism (Heward, 2009). These children often are described as having a language disorder (Reed, 2005). In other words, language for these children will proceed in an unpredictable or splintered fashion or may not appear at all. For example, many children with Austim develop echolalia, verbatim repetitions of words with seemingly no apparent communicative purpose. While others may display little expressive language, but demonstrate near normal or normal receptive language. Overall, children with severe language disorders are more likely to have difficulty in school and problems in social development, and may appear more disabled than they really are. This may be especially the case if the child is not exposed to early and intensive intervention. Over the years, the field of psychology has embraced multiple theoretical orientations and subscribes to many varied perspectives depending on the topic discussed. In the case of language development, there are two main theoretical perspectives. The authors would describe them loosely as Nativist and non-Nativist. Although it is not within the scope of this paper to illustrate these accounts in great detail, the authors would briefly describe the two accounts as they relate to initial acquisition of language. The Nativist account of language development suggests that the development of language is a biological predisposition of being human and is most famously exemplified by Chomsky's Generative or Universal Grammar (Chomsky, 1965; 2006). In this account language is thought to be a universal aspect of the human species due to the neurophysiology of the human brain. Humans only need a minimally effective language environment and language will be discovered naturally, hence no learning actually takes place. If one posits the i-manager's Journal on Educational Psychology, Vol. 2 * No. 3 * November 2008 - January 2009 1 
