The Intraverbal: Building Conversational Competence
An intraverbal is a verbal operant in which a verbal stimulus (something someone says) controls a verbal response that has no point-to-point correspondence with the stimulus. When someone asks "What do you eat for breakfast?" and you respond "cereal," that is an intraverbal. The response is thematically related to the question but not an echo or repetition of it. Intraverbals are the foundation of conversation, answering questions, and participating in social exchanges.
Unlike the echoic (where the response matches the stimulus) or the tact (controlled by non-verbal stimuli), the intraverbal is controlled purely by verbal stimuli from others. This makes it both powerful and challenging to teach. Intraverbal repertoires are built through extensive practice with many examples, building associations between different verbal stimuli and their contextually appropriate responses.
Types of Intraverbals in Clinical Practice
Intraverbals range from simple to highly complex. Fill-in-the-blank intraverbals (e.g., "Ready, set, ___") are often taught first because the verbal context strongly cues the response. Wh-question intraverbals require more complex responding—"Who," "What," "Where," "When," "Why," and "How" questions each require different types of information in the response. Conversational intraverbals involve extended exchanges with multiple turns.
RBTs also target category intraverbals ("Tell me something you eat"), feature intraverbals ("What has 4 legs?"), function intraverbals ("What do you use to cut?"), and class intraverbals ("A dog is a ___"). Each type builds different semantic relationships that support comprehension, reasoning, and academic performance. Advanced intraverbal training includes storytelling, explaining procedures, and discussing abstract concepts.
Teaching Intraverbal Skills Systematically
Intraverbal training typically begins after learners have established mand and tact repertoires. Many intraverbals are taught by transferring from tacts—for example, teaching a child to tact a picture of a dog ("dog"), then fading the picture while maintaining the verbal context ("What says woof?"). This transfer procedure helps the response come under control of verbal stimuli alone rather than requiring the presence of the actual object or picture.
Building intraverbal fluency requires extensive practice with varied examples. Rote memorization of specific question-answer pairs leads to limited, inflexible responding. Instead, RBTs use multiple exemplar training to ensure learners can respond to novel questions appropriately. Conditional discrimination training helps learners select the correct response when multiple intraverbals could apply to a given context.
Intraverbals and Social Interaction
Strong intraverbal repertoires are essential for social success. Conversations rely heavily on intraverbal exchanges—asking questions, providing reciprocal information, commenting on shared topics. Individuals with weak intraverbal skills often struggle with peer relationships because they cannot maintain the back-and-forth flow of natural conversation. RBTs target conversational intraverbals specifically to support social development.
Social intraverbals include responding to greetings ("Hi! How are you?" → "I'm fine, how are you?"), asking follow-up questions, providing relevant comments, and changing topics appropriately. These skills require not just the intraverbal response but also social awareness of when and how to use it. RBTs often teach these skills in natural contexts to promote generalization to peer and community settings.
Assessment and Data Collection for Intraverbals
Assessments like the VB-MAPP include comprehensive evaluation of intraverbal skills across developmental levels. RBTs collect data on accuracy, latency, and generalization of intraverbal responses. Because intraverbal repertoires can become very large (thousands of question-response relationships), tracking focuses on representative samples and novel probes rather than exhaustive catalogs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Intraverbal Training
What is an intraverbal?
An intraverbal is a verbal operant controlled by verbal stimuli where the response has no point-to-point correspondence with the stimulus. It includes answering questions, completing phrases, and conversational exchanges where the response is thematically related but not a repetition.
Why are intraverbals important?
Intraverbals are foundational for conversation, answering questions, academic participation, and social interaction. They enable individuals to exchange information, participate in discussions, and build relationships through verbal exchanges.
How do you teach intraverbal skills?
Intraverbal training often begins with fill-in-the-blank responses, then progresses to wh-questions and conversational skills. Transfer from tact procedures helps verbal stimuli gain control over responses. Multiple exemplar training builds flexible, generalized responding.
When are intraverbals taught in a language program?
Intraverbal training typically begins after mand and tact repertoires are established, though simple intraverbals (like social routines) may be taught earlier. The timing depends on individual learner needs and prerequisite skills.
What are common challenges in intraverbal training?
Common challenges include rote responding (giving memorized answers without understanding), difficulty with novel questions, and inability to provide relevant responses in conversational contexts. Multiple exemplar training and natural environment teaching address these issues.