The effects of receptive language training on articulation.

The present study attempted to assess one condition of language exposure that might be operative in a normal environment, and experimentally determine its relevance to the acquisition of productive speech. The results demonstrated that the development of receptive language skills can be functionally related to productive speech. Specifically, the data indicated that exposure to words that have stimulus control over a subject's nonverbal pointing behavior can facilitate later articulation of those same words. Thus, this study draws attention to the fact that at least some classes of operants, in this case verbal, can be affected not only by their consequences, but by not obviously related antecedent events as well.