In the first decade of the 21st century, we advanced understanding of how experiences lead to the emergence of verbal developmental cusps and cusps that are new learning capabilities. Protocols for preverbal developmental cusps lead to listener cusps involving conditioned reinforcement for observing responses and generalized imitation as foundation for the joining of observing and producing. Other protocols (a) induce echoic-to-mands and tacts, join see-do with hear-echo, (b) induce tacts, transform motivational control across mands and tacts, (c) induce autoclitics frames, induce non-scripted social verbal exchanges in non-instructional settings, (d) induce verbal observational learning, induce conditioned reinforcement for tacts, (e) transform stimulus control across the listener and speaker within the skin, (f) induce incidental learning of new words for things (Naming), (g) join Naming and reading comprehension, (h) induce functional writing, and evoke verbal stimulus control in complex problem solving in children and the scientist. Current evidence suggests there is no poverty of stimulus and the stimulus control is located in indirect or remote contact with basic principles of behavior made possible by certain experiences, experiences that can be provided by expert behavior analysts. This presentation will include a description of how what we know has changed what can be done.
Review R. Douglas Greer’s biographical statement.