Stimulus Control for Making Math Verbal

In three experiments, I first examined the correlation between the presence of transformation of stimulus function (TSF) across computation and the presence of TSF across saying and writing for spelling words, and then tested the effects of the establishment of TSF across saying and writing on the establishment of TSF across math operants. Eight middle school students with learning disabilities participated in experiments I and II. All participants demonstrated reader/writer and math skills such as textual responding and using counting strategies to solve one-step word problems. Four of the eight participants also demonstrated TSF across saying and writing for spelling. The dependent variables of Experiment I were the accuracy and fluency of solving word problems after receiving fluency training on math facts, as well as the number of counting strategies used when solving word problems. Results showed that all participants with TSF across saying and writing for spelling demonstrated significant increases in both their accuracy and fluency when responding to word problems (i.e., ES = 1) whereas participants who did not demonstrate TSF across saying and writing for spelling demonstra