This study characterized the acquisition and development of instructional control of three children who attended a daycare center. One child presented a deficit in giving, receiving and following instructions and the child's development was below scale. The instructional performance of the children was registered in video recordings of play periods for over seven months. The recordings registered: the instructions, the performance of the listeners when the instruction was received and the situations before and after the behavior of instructing and being instructed. There was an increase in instructing, being instructed and following instruction behaviors for all three children. Oral instructions and oral instructions with gestures occurred with greater frequency. The children who followed part of the instructions received intermittent reinforcement of the instructing behavior. The presentation and appropriate response to instructions was analyzed in terms of the behaviors of the speakers and listeners, and the development of instruction repertoires in children with deficits in giving and following instructions.
Rule; instruction control; play; young children
