Language Development in Children with Language Disorders: An Introduction to Skinner's Verbal Behavior and the Techniques for Initial Language Acquisition

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 to 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.