Operant Conditioning Analysis

Conditioning is defined as the acquisition of specific patterns of behavior in the presence of well-defined stimuli (Morris & Maisto, 2005). There are two types of conditioning, namely the classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is usually an involuntary response caused by the presence of a neutral stimulus. On the other hand, operant conditioning is a behavioral training as a result of reinforcement and punishment and these behaviors are voluntary. Operant conditioning methods have been widely used in all aspects of our lives, and thus it is also applied in the healthcare management system.

Managing people with hearing or speech disorders requires an audiologist and/or a speech language pathologist to become

Both of these approaches have their own advantages and drawbacks. Here, the main focus would be on the use of behavioral approach in speech and hearing clinics. Most of the techniques in managing patients with speech and hearing impairments using behavioral approach apply the theory of operant conditioning. But it is a must to ensure that the right technique is used for the right patient because each patient would need different ways of managing them. Therefore, applying the right operant conditioning methods can help in the assessment and intervention of hearing and speech impaired

Reinforcement and punishment given to the patients with speech-language disorder can strengthen or weaken patients’ characteristics. If the patients suffer with non-fluent Broca’s aphasia whose speech production is difficult but able to comprehend, Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is one of the therapies that follows operant conditioning concept (Albert, et al., 1973). According to Sparks and Holland (1976), MIT helps aphasic patients to be able to express their feelings. Firstly, the patients have to sing a four syllable phrase of “I am hungry” with low, low, high and low musical notes. The third syllable is stressed to teach the patients on how to express the feeling of hungry. Then, they will naturally change from singing to spreachgesang. Oxford Dictionaries defined spreachgesang as a style of dramatic vocalization intermediate between speech and song, thus aphasic patients might say “I am hungry” in exaggeration with variety of pitch, longer vowel duration and larger amplitude displacements than normal speech. Patients with good progression can proceed with normal speech prosody by using several steps (Goldfarb, 2006). This technique is a good therapy since the melody act as a reinforcement to trigger the patients in producing speech while