What is a mand in ABA?

What is a mand and why is it important?

We hope you all are having a wonderful day and a welcome back to our returning readers!  We are here to share some fun information by discussing what a mand is in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and if you aren’t sure what it is, it is probably already something that you have done today.

What is a mand, what is manding, and why can’t ABA practitioners just use more common words instead?  If you type the word mand into a word document, the first thing you will notice is that it will always try to autocorrect into something different such as man or makes.

Luckily for us, a mand is a wonderful thing and the use of mands is something that happens all the time that most of us are well aware of our own mands.

The definition of a mand is when a person makes a request for something the person needs or wants.  This request could be vocal such as someone asking a cashier if they could order something.  It could be a simple word vocalization of saying ‘No” for example when someone tries to put brussels sprouts on my plate.

Mands are used through communication devices such as using buttons to say  “I want more juice”.  Mands include using all forms of communication with vocalization, sign language, and communication devices.

Mands also come in the form of gestures and body language.  If I asked you if you wanted coffee in a loud shop, you may shake your head yes or no.  If I handed you a coffee and you were to push the coffee away, that would be a mand for not wanting the coffee.

Mands teach us insights into how one is communicating their wants and needs.  If a kiddo is hitting a table with his fist and we bring him juice, that acts as a mand for a request for juice.  Another kiddo may hit her fist against a table and she gets her favorite toy.  In these situations, we start to see how kiddos are communicating and what different mands we can teach them as a more functional and safe approach to communicate with others.

Now, someone may do an action, gesture, or say an item's name and it may not be a mand.  A kiddo may say milk out of the blue and we may rush to bring them milk.  Once we do, the kiddo may not want milk at all or they may not be showing us motivation to drink it.  Sometimes people will hold up the milk and ask the kiddo to say it again, “Say milk, say milk!”, but the kiddo may look at it without saying a word or walk away to something else.

That is okay and not a bad sign to not say the word again!  It may mean that it isn’t a big motivation for the kiddo, may have not been a mand, and overall is not the time to teach a manding language opportunity with the milk.

When we look at manding in the field of ABA, we look at multiple behaviors occurring to see if we have an opportunity to teach manding and if the kiddo is motivated enough for manding.  If a kiddo is not motivated, manding is very unlikely to occur.  No matter how hard you try to get me to say “I want brussels sprouts”, it would not be a great use of time.

Now for the kiddo example above for hitting the table, let’s call her Lily, mands for her toy by hitting the table with her hand.  During a session, we will bring the toy (let’s call it a bunny) to the table, we may help guide her hand by pointing at the toy and say “Bunny! Bunny, you wanted the Bunny”.  We may do this a few times if she looks at the bunny, pulls her hand towards the toy bunny, or reaches out.  Doing these other behaviors hint that she is interested to continue manding for the toy bunny.

As the session continues, we will continue to work on her pointing for the bunny or possibly saying the word “Bunny” if she is able to vocalize.  This is where we capitalize on manding opportunities to teach functional communication.  If she were not interested or responding, we then find another toy or activity to play with to create language opportunities for those items instead.

Lastly, we teach our kiddos to independently mand without us needing to assist with pointing, saying the word before we say it, or gesturing to the item so they can use this skill in their day to day lives.  This promotes their independence and brings a lot of joy and empowerment to those that are able to communicate to others their wants and needs.

We hope this article provided you with an understanding of what a mand is and as always, our Learning Perch team is here to help you.  Our dream is to help families everywhere through compassionate and quality care, without compromise. 

If you wish to see more information about this topic, please read below these free resources that explain these concepts in greater detail.

Hall, G., Sundberg, M.L. Teaching mands by manipulating conditioned establishing operations. Analysis Verbal Behav 5, 41–53 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392819

Michael, J. Establishing operations and the mand. Analysis Verbal Behav 6, 3–9 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392824

Disclaimer:   The information provided on this blog is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a substitute for professional advice from a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Always consult with your personal BCBA regarding specific behavioral interventions and treatment plans. The author(s) of this blog are not responsible for any actions taken based on the information presented here.