The Implementation of Sample, Mand, and Delay Techniques to Enhance the Language of Delayed Children in Group Settings

Two early childhood teachers of integrated delayed children and two special education early childhood teachers of segregated delayed children were taught to use sample, mand, and delay techniques with five young children with language and cognitive delays. From Baseline to Intervention, the teachers changed significantly the types of initiations they directed to the children: They significantly increased samples, mands, and delays and decreased questions, while they maintained comments. The teachers did not significantly increase the number of initiations they directed to the target children. From Baseline to Intervention, the children significantly Increased their word rates, utterance rates, number of words per utterance, and percent of responding to the teachers' initiations. The children made nonsignificant gains in rate of initiations and syntax scores. The authors concluded that the sample, mand, and delay techniques were successfully and easily implemented by teachers of young children with language delays and that the implementation of the techniques was followed by increases in the children's language. The data from this study provided support for the use of the techniques by teachers of young children with language and cognitive delays.