Xavier Davis is a three-year-old child who was just diagnosed with autism. He has never had functional language and exhibits frequent tantrums in the form of crying, hitting, and throwing items. Xavier recently began receiving ABA therapy and is your new client. Xavier's grandmother, Mrs. Davis, is his guardian and wants his therapist to focus on teaching him the alphabet, shapes, colors, and numbers.

In this assignment, write a letter responding to Xavier's grandmother and include the following:

• The benefits of teaching mands.
• An analysis of the importance of teaching manding skills to Xavier first.
• An explanation of the role that motivation plays in teaching manding.
• An explanation of the relationship between manding and challenging behaviors.

Be sure to provide your responses in a way that is respectful and supportive.

Assignment Requirements

Your assignment should meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style guidelines. Review Evidence and APALinks to an external site. for more information on how to cite your sources.
• Resources: 2–3 scholarly or professional resources.
• Length: 2–3 double-spaced pages of content, in addition to the title page and references page.

Refer to the MS in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Research GuideLinks to an external site. for help finding resources.