Association for Behavior Analysis International

Presenting Author: Dr. Amber L. Valentino

At ABAI's 2026 Behavior Technician Conference in February 2026, Dr. Amber L. Valentino presented Overcoming Barriers to Building an Effective Mand Repertoire in Autistic Children. Developing an effective mand repertoire is critical for a child’s overall verbal behavior development, but there can be many obstacles and barriers that occur during the teaching process. In this presentation, I will address common barriers that behavior technicians encounter when teaching mands, focusing on practical strategies to troubleshoot these challenges. I will focus on the impact of establishing operations (EOs) on verbal behavior development, the significance of consistent prompting, and how to adapt various mand training approaches to ensure success. Additionally, I will provide specific strategies to help overcome prompt dependency and share techniques for creating independence and fast mand acquisition. I’ll discuss methods for bridging from an augmentative or alternative communication system to vocal verbal behavior and how to adapt teaching procedures to promote quick mand acquisition.

Instruction Level: Basic

Target Audience: Behavior technicians providing direct intervention to autistic individuals

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify at least three behavioral indicators of EO presence
2. Participants will describe how to capture EOs in real-world scenarios to teach mands
3. Participants will apply at least one strategy to decrease prompt dependency while ensuring successful mand acquisition