Search

Little research has been conducted on teaching children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with dental procedures. This study evaluated a behavioral package to train children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with an 8 component oral assessment. After a dental hygienist performed an assessment pretest, noncompliance on steps of the assessment was targeted for training. A package of training procedures was implemented, including a preference assessment, priming DVD, various prompts, stimulus fading (i.e., fading in aversive stimuli), distracting stimuli, escape extinction, and differential reinforcement. Results showed the efficacy of the intervention procedures, maintenance of responding, and stimulus generalization of responses across examiners and from analog to in vivo settings. The study extends the generality of a model for the assessment and intervention of noncompliance to health care procedures by children with autism spectrum disorders.

The purpose of this study was to train children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with a 10-component physical examination. After a physician assistant administered an exam pretest, noncompliance on steps of the exam were considered with respect to a skill deficit and escape from aversive stimuli. A package of training procedures was implemented, including preference assessment, priming DVD, various prompts, contact desensitization (i.e., fading in aversive stimuli), shaping, escape extinction, and differential reinforcement of other behavior. Results showed the efficacy of the intervention procedures, maintenance of responding, and stimulus generalization of responses. The study provides a model for the assessment and intervention of noncompliance to health care procedures by children with autism spectrum disorders.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vision screening of all children between 3 and 5 years of age, and states have mandated vision screening for all school children. Participants were three 4–6-year old school children with either a developmental delay or autism who scored “could not test” on the state required vision screening. Participants’ screening performance indicated both a visual discrimination skill deficit and escape/avoidance behavior. Discrimination training procedures included preference assessment, match-to-sample discrimination discrete trials training, transfer of stimulus control procedures, differential reinforcement, and choice making. Escape/avoidance was treated by fading-in the aversive sensory stimulus (i.e., duration of wearing glasses), escape extinction, and reinforcement of alternative behavior. Following training, two children passed their vision screening and compliance generalized to their hearing screening. The third child met the performance criterion for the two vision screening behaviors trained.

Children with autism spectrum disorders sometimes are fully included in regular education classrooms with its standard curriculum and instructional methods. Under these classroom conditions, the children might perform successfully for some academic subjects but not for others. For these latter academic subjects, standard instruction could be enhanced to promote more effective stimulus control and learning. In the present study, stimulus control was enhanced by a package of response antecedent and consequence conditions. Maintenance tasks were interspersed with acquisition tasks, and the quality, quantity, immediacy, and density of reinforcement were improved compared to classroom instruction. A stimulus preference assessment was conducted, prompts and transfer of stimulus control procedures were implemented, and tangible and token reinforcers were manipulated on ratio schedules. Rapid acquisition of diverse tasks for each of the three participants was noted. Enhanced stimulus control procedures, such as those tested in the present study, can help children with autism spectrum disorders succeed in regular education classrooms.

Item does not contain fulltext This paper provides an overview of the literature dealing with the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and voice output communication aids (VOCAs) for promoting the performance of requests by students with developmental disabilities. Computerized and manual searches were carried out to identify the studies published during the last 15 years (i.e., the period between 1992 and 2006 during which PECS and VOCA approaches became popular). Thirty-seven studies were identified and then divided into three groups concerning the use of the PECS or equivalents, the use of VOCAs or equivalents, and the comparison of both these approaches, respectively. Of the 173 students involved in studies using the PECS or equivalents only three could be considered failures, while a fourth one did not progress in the program due to illness. Similarly, of the 39 students who used VOCAs or equivalents only three could be considered failures, while one was partly successful. Finally, of the 11 students involved in the comparisons between PECS and VOCAs none could be classified as a failure. The results are very encouraging but methodological concerns and the relatively limited use of the systems in terms of request items and request opportunities suggest caution. Caution may also be needed in interpreting the reported similarities between the two systems in usability and effectiveness. 21 p.

Stimulus generalization has been defined as the spread of effect of reinforcement for responses emitted in the presence of one stimulus to different stimuli presented under extinction conditions. As a result of stimulus generalization, novel stimuli come to exert stimulus control over members of the response class. Studies in the applied behavior analysis literature, however, have reported experimental preparations that included prompting and reinforcement procedures during what were claimed to be stimulus generalization conditions. These studies violated the procedural requirement that stimulus generalization be tested under extinction conditions. Responses that come under the control of a class of stimuli may do so by direct training or by stimulus generalization. It is desirable for organisms to respond in the presence of members of an appropriately constructed stimulus class, but we should understand the mechanism of entry into the class by its members. If inaccurate claims of stimulus generalization are made when training procedures are used in the ostensible generalization conditions, the robustness of the original training procedures will be over estimated. By adhering to the operational requirements of behavioral definitions, we could better understand the power and limits of our educational and training procedures.

Purpose : This paper was to provide an overview of the research studies on snoezelen with people with developmental disabilities and dementia. Method : Computerized and manual searches were carried out to identify the aforementioned studies. Within-session, post-session, and longer-term effects of snoezelen were examined. Results and Conclusion : Twenty-one research studies were identified, 14 concerning people with developmental disabilities and seven people with dementia. Of those studies: 14 reported positive within-session effects; four positive post-session effects; and two positive longer-term effects. These findings were discussed in relation to: (1) methodological aspects (weaknesses) of the studies; (2) the cost of arranging a snoezelen programme and possibilities of reducing the range of stimuli available in the programme; and (3) some research issues for advancing the understanding and effectiveness of intervention programmes with people with developmental disabilities and dementia.

Contents: J. Thaw, Creating Future Responsive Residential Facilities: A Perspective on the Process of Applying Reform. R.D. MacNamara, Forces in the Administration of Residential Facilities. J. Thaw, S.F. Wolfe, The Direct-Care Worker: A Socio-Cultural Analysis. J. Thaw, E. Benjamin, A.J. Cuvo, The Professionals: Difficulties and Directions. A.J. Cuvo, J. Thaw, Mental Disability Law--The Politics of Human Rights. G.D. Thorne, J. Thaw, Policy and the Perspective of State Government. G.J. Allen, L. Heatherington, M. Lah, Human Aspects of Evaluation in Institutional Settings: Political, Methodological, and Social Trade-Offs.

The term class has been discussed extensively in the behavioral literature for groups of stimuli or responses that share a common function. In contrast, the concept of consequence class, including its definition, its formation, and other relevant characteristics, has not been the topic of much attention in the literature. Issues pertaining to consequence classes are discussed to provide a more thorough analysis of the units of operant and discriminated operant functional relations. The concept of class for consequences provides a means to integrate data and theory from the behavior-analytic literature.

The present experiments examined the effect of work requirements in combination with reinforcement schedule on the choice behavior of adults with mental retardation and preschool children. The work requirements of age-appropriate tasks (i.e., sorting silverware, jumping hurdles, tossing beanbags) were manipulated. Participants were presented with their choice of two response options for each trial that varied simultaneously on both work requirement and reinforcement schedule. Results showed that when responding to both choices occurred on the same reinforcement schedule, participants allocated most of their responses to the option with the easier work requirement. When the response option requiring less work was on a leaner reinforcement schedule, most participants shifted their choice to exert more work. There were individual differences across participants regarding their pattern of responding and when they switched from the lesser to the greater work requirement. Data showed that participants' responding was largely controlled by the reinforcement received for responding to each level of work. Various conceptualizations regarding the effects of work requirements on choice behavior are discussed.

Providing learners written task analyses to be used as textual prompts was examined as a self-management strategy for persons with mild disabilities. Initially, modeling, corrective verbal feedback, and contingent descriptive praise were employed to train participants to use the written task analysis to perforn one home maintenance task. Subsequently, participants were tested on their use of different task analyses combined with general feedback to perform two novel home maintenance tasks. No training was provided on how to use these new task analyses. Either a multiple baseline or a multiple probe across settings experimental design was used to control extraneous variables. Results indicated that the written task analyses served as self-administered textual prompts and, along with general feedback, provided stimulus control for the second and third tasks. When the self-management task analyses and general feedback were withdrawn, transfer of stimulus control occurred to the natural discriminative stimuli for the majority of tasks. The research suggests that written task analyses, as presented in the present study, may have utility for the self-management of instruction by persons with mild disabilities.

This review of behavioural research literature was conducted to determine if persons who have experienced a traumatic brain injury are able to maintain and generalize behaviours after training, and to identify formal programming strategies that might have been utilized to enhance maintenance and generalization. Studies reviewed included those that employed behavioural procedures to increase adaptive behaviours or reduce maladaptive behaviours and collected maintenance and generalization data. Results of the review indicate that persons who have experienced a traumatic brain injury have experienced successful response maintenance and generalization of community-referenced tasks. It is suggested that impaired memory does not keep persons from maintaining and generalizing such tasks, and that strategies to promote maintenance and generalization need to be included in behavioural programming.

All children should have scheduled visits to various healthcare providers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 12 scheduled well-child care visits between 3–5 days of age and age 3, and yearly visits thereafter (Mozingo, 2009). General developmental surveillance should occur during these visits, as well as developmental screening, when indicated. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2010) also recommended an immunization schedule for children of age 0 through 6 years. The 2010 schedule includes 25 shots during the first 15 months of life that generally are given during the well care visits.

Community-referenced sight words and phrases were taught to adolescents with mild and moderate mental retardation using three instructional methods in two locations. Words were presented on flash cards in a school setting, on videotape recordings in a school setting, and on naturally occurring signs in the community. During each session, participants were taught one third of the words in each of these conditions and were then tested at the community sites. A constant prompt delay procedure was used to promote stimulus control to the experimenter's cue initially and then to transfer control to the textual stimuli used for training. A multiple baseline across participants design was employed. Results showed rapid acquisition of the community-referenced sight words in all three training conditions and generalization from the flash card and videotape conditions to the community sites.

This study evaluated the efficacy of a personalized system of instruction to teach checking account skills to persons with mild disabilities. Using a self-paced manual, 8 participants in two groups were taught to write checks, complete deposit slips, and reconcile monthly bank statements. Four participants were assessed for generalization from the classroom to community sites and demonstrated nearly perfect performance. A multiple probe design showed that acquisition occurred sequentially for each skill only after training using the self-paced manual. Follow-up sessions demonstrated that participants maintained the checking account skills. The results provide evidence of the effectiveness and adaptability of a personalized system of instruction for teaching complex monetary skills to persons with mild disabilities.

There has been an escalation in the number of children identified with autism spectrum disorders in recent years. To increase the likelihood that treatments for these children are effective, interventions should be derived from sound theory and research evidence. Absent this supportive foundation, intervention programs could be inconsequential if not harmful. Although atypical, the development of children with autism should be considered initially from the perspective of the same variables that affect the development of typical children. In addition, the developmental deviations that characterize autism must be considered when developing intervention programs. Behavioral systems models describe both typical and atypical development and emphasize dynamic multidirectional person–environment transactions. The environment is viewed as having multiple levels, from the individuals with autism themselves, to larger societal and cultural levels. Behavioral systems models of human development can be generalized to a transactional systems model of services for children with autism. This model is the foundational theoretical position of the Southern Illinois University Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. The center's programs are described to illustrate the application of the model to multiple levels of the social ecology.

Two experiments were conducted to test the effect of a room with sensory equipment, or Snoezelen room, on the stereotypic behavior and engagement of adults with profound mental retardation. In Experiment 1, participants were observed in their living room before and after attending the Snoezelen room. Results showed that there tended to be a reduction in stereotypy and increase in engagement when participants went from their living room to the Snoezelen room, and a return of these behaviors to pre-Snoezelen levels in the living room. Positive effects in the Snoezelen room did not carryover to the living room. In Experiment 2, the living and Snoezelen rooms were compared to an outdoor activity condition with the same participants and target behaviors. Results showed that the outdoor condition was superior, the Snoezelen condition intermediate, and the living room least effective in their impact on stereotypic behavior and engagement. Conceptualizations regarding factors that maintain stereotypic behavior and engagement were discussed in the context of the three experimental conditions.

The authors discuss the rationale for social skills training for workers with mental retardation, definitions and behavioral standards of these skills, and differences in the interaction patterns between workers with and without mental retardation. Various intervention strategies were reviewed critically, and their strengths and limitations were examined. Based on these analyses, the following recommendations are made. First, trainees' environments of ultimate functioning should be considered and contextual variables assessed and used. Second, social validation should be conducted to identify the social behavior that needs to be trained. Third, some procedures that have been found effective in other areas might be used for social skills training for persons with mental retardation in job-related setfings. Fourth, active programming should be included in the intervention package for trainees to generalize and maintain the acquired social skills.

The Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior has published the third edition of Behavior Analysis in Developmental Disabilities, edited by Brian A. Iwata, Jon S. Bailey, Nancy A. Neef, David P. Wacker, Alan C. Repp, and Gerald L. Shook. Although the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) publishes articles on the application of principles of learning with a variety of populations and in various settings, approximately half the articles pertain to persons with developmental disabilities. The total number of articles published on this population since the inception of the journal in 1968 to 1995 was 568. This edition reprints 70 of those experimental reports and review articles. All 568 references, listed alphabetically within the book’s 13 topical categories, have been included at the end of the volume. The categorized bibliography allows the interested reader to seek additional references, beyond the five complete articles typically included for each topic. A service provider who is faced with the task of developing a behaviorally based leisure and recreation program for a facility has 16 immediate references that would aid in that endeavor. The comprehensive bibliography also serves as a useful tool when preparing the reference list for a manuscript. Although an author may

This study compared prototype and rote instruction of English names for Chinese visual characters. In the prototype condition, participants were taught the meaning of the prototype that served as the distinctive feature of multicomponent characters. In the rote condition, participants traced the character and wrote its translation. Participants learned more rapidly and maintained more words in the prototype condition.

Stimulus control technology was applied to the instruction of fraction ratio (e.g., (1/5)) and decimal (e.g., 0.20) relations, with 7 students who demonstrated difficulty in fraction and decimal tasks. The students were trained to match pictorial representations of fractions (B comparison stimuli) to printed counterpart fraction ratios (A sample stimuli), and to match printed decimals (C comparison stimuli) to pictorial representations of counterpart quantities (B sample stimuli). Posttest performance by all participants indicated the emergence of equivalence relations between fractions represented as ratios, decimals, and pictures. Limited generalization of fraction-decimal relations was observed.

Four experiments were conducted to examine variables associated with response practice as an instructional technique for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In Experiment 1, the effect of the cover component in the “cover write” method was evaluated, as were the comparative effects of written versus oral practice of spelling words by rehabilitation clients. The results showed that the cover procedure generally did not enhance performance over and above that produced by practice alone, and written practice generally was not superior to oral practice. Experiment 2 demonstrated that less response practice (i.e., five times) was as effective as more practice (i.e., 10 and 15 times) for teaching spelling to adolescents with developmental disabilities. Experiments 3 and 4 also showed that even less response practice (i.e., one time) was as effective as more practice (five times), and irrelevant practice following errors was as effective as relevant practice for teaching spelling and sight vocabulary to adolescents with behavior disorders and developmental disabilities, respectively. The findings suggest that a parsimonious procedure of limited response practice and positive reinforcement may be effective for the tasks and populations studied.

We assessed whether written task analyses would serve as textual prompts for performing functional tasks by persons with mild disabilities. Several variables that could influence the effectiveness of textual prompts to promote stimulus control were examined across four groups. A consistent finding was that written specific task analyses combined with end-of-trial performance feedback were effective for promoting the acquisition and generalization of several tasks. Performance transferred immediately to natural discriminative stimuli when the written task analyses and feedback were withdrawn for most tasks and participants. For 2 participants, transfer of stimulus control was accomplished by prompt fading, using individualized written task analyses either with or without performance feedback (Group 1). When feedback was not provided, the effectiveness of written specific task analyses was inconsistent across groups. In contrast to the controlling effects of written specific task analyses, written generic task analyses, which specified only major task outcomes, when combined with performance feedback (Group 1) did not control responding. Overall, this research demonstrated the effectiveness of written specific task analyses and performance feedback to promote stimulus control for persons with mild disabilities.

Adaptive heterosexual social interaction in community settings is an age-appropriate social skill. Subjective evaluation methodology was used as a social validation procedure to establish the appropriateness and optimal rate of occurrence of heterosexual social behaviors in bar and restaurant settings. Professionals working with mentally retarded persons and college students completed rating scales for hypothetical mentally retarded as well as non-mentally retarded subjects, respectively. The results show congruity between the behavioral expectations for mentally retarded and non-mentally retarded people in community settings. The findings suggest appropriate behaviors for training mentally retarded clients who lack adequate heterosexual community social skills.

Five rehabilitation clients were trained to use written prompts to (a) plan nutritious meals for 1 week, (b) write accurate grocery lists based on their menus, (c) stay within a $25.00 weekly food budget, and (d) shop effectively and systematically. Training occurred in a classroom using group instruction for the first three response classes above. The shopping response classes were trained in a community grocery store. Training consisted of experimenter modeling, subject rehearsal, as well as experimenter and peer feedback in a multiple probe design. Subjects' meal plans were nutritionally deficient in three of the four food groups during baseline, but met or exceeded the four food group criterion after instruction. Grocery list writing skills improved from a mean of less than 30% correct during baseline to more than 90% correct after training. Similarly, subjects' grocery lists cost an average of 72% over the $25.00 budget before training, and 19% under the budget after training. Subjects' mean percent of effective and systematic shopping increased to 91% and 100%, respectively, following instruction. Generalization of shopping skills from the training store to two stores in which no training occurred was observed. Follow-up tests for all subjects as well as community probes for two subjects living independently showed that all skills maintained at acceptable levels.

Two studies were conducted to test incentive magnitude effects on free recall. Experiment I examined whether two incentive levels would differentially influence rehearsal of words paired with the incentive values. Fifth and eighth graders and college adults were tested in conditions in which they were instructed to (a) do all rehearsal overtly or (b) engage in a counting task subsequent to item presentation and refrain from overt and covert rehearsal. College subjects rehearsed and recalled significantly more 10¢ than 1¢ words. Eighth graders tended to favor 10¢ items in recall and rehearsal, but the differences were of questionable reliability. Fifth graders failed to produce reliable Incentive Level effects. Experiment II showed that fifth graders, as well as older subjects, recalled more high-incentive words under standard free-recall instructions in which rehearsal was presumed to be covert. Results support theories emphasizing rehearsal as a mediator of incentive level effects on learning.

Training mentally retarded persons to make emergency telephone calls is an important community survival skill. A task analysis for making telephone calls to three emergency parties (fire, police, and doctor) was performed and its content validity established. A series of four antecedent conditions, ordered from less to more direct assistance, was used to teach all component responses to three retarded adults. A multiple baseline across subjects was used to demonstrate experimental control. Additionally, the multiple baseline across responses strategy was incorporated to examine for generalization across the three response types. During training, subjects' skill acquisition was gradual but positively accelerated. When the training criterion was met for the first emergency party called, stimulus generalization occurred to the other emergency persons not yet trained. A one-to two-week postcheck showed excellent maintenance of the skill.

Four household cleaning tasks were taught to a blind woman of average intelligence using procedures to compensate for her blindness. General and specific task analyses were compared as assessment techniques for cleaning a bathroom mirror, a patio door, and a bathtub (Experiment 1) and sweeping a floor (Experiment 2). A multiple baseline across responses (Experiment 1) and an AB experimental design with follow-up (Experiment 2) were used to evaluate the efficacy of training. The results showed that the client rapidly acquired the necessary skills and was able to generalize them to unfamiliar objects and to retain them. The research not only suggests a model for training blind clients in household maintenance skills, but also has implications for task analysis.

P.L. 94–142 provides the right to physical education for handicapped pupils including nonacademic and extracurricular activities such as athletics. Despite the legislative mandate for physical education and the value of athletic activity, few validated programs have been published to teach complex gross motor skills, such as sports, to mentally retarded students. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate procedures to teach athletic skills to moderately and severely mentally retarded students. Participants were taught the standing long jump (Experiment 1) and the 50-yard dash (Experiment 2), using task analysis and a training package of prompts and response consequences. Experimental control was evaluated by the multiple baseline across subjects design. Results showed acquisition and maintenance of the two athletic skills. The efficacy of behavioral techniques for teaching athletic skills to moderately and severely retarded persons is also discussed.

Researchers in applied behavior analysis have been charged to provide large-scale demonstration of the outcomes of evaluations. In this research, three experiences were conducted to examine the relative efficacy of three methods of presenting stimuli in object naming tasks. Stimuli were introduced successively, simultaneously, or using a combination of the two procedures. College adults, mentally retarded children and adolescents, and preschool children were taught to produce the names of five Hebrew letters, English words, or American coins, respectively. Presentation method was a between-subjects treatment in a factorial design. Results from the series of systematic replications were consistent showing better posttest for subjects in the Simultaneous and Combined conditions. Further, follow-up data in Experiment III showed that retention was also superior for subjects trained by the Simultaneous or Combined methods. Although the acquisition criterion was met in fewer trials by subjects in the Successive condition, only several minutes more training time was required by the Simultaneous and Combined conditions. From a cost-effectiveness point of view, either of the latter two techniques should be favored over the Successive procedure for testing verbal naming skills.

A program was designed to teach coin equivalence to mentally retarded adolescents. Coin equivalence was defined as choosing several different combinations of coins to equal specified target values. A pretest-posttest matched-groups design was employed with an experimental group receiving the monetary training, and a no-training control group. A multiple baseline across coin-counting responses was also incorporated in the experimental group. Training was divided into six stages, each teaching one specific method of combining coins to equal 10 target values from 5 cents through 50 cents. A three-component response chain was used, requiring (a) naming, (b) selecting and counting, and (c) depositing target monetary values into a coin machine. Experimental subjects improved significantly in coin equivalence performance and maintained their skill on follow up tests; control subjects did not.

This study demonstrated procedures to promote the acquisition and transfer of stimulus control of an age-appropriate exercise skill. Three young adults diagnosed as mentally handicapped in a residential setting were taught a commercial dancercise routine during individual training sessions using a package of instructional procedures. A combination of a multiple baseline across subjects and a multiple baseline across response groups design showed that skill acquisition occurred only after each subject received training, and that performance did not generalize across exercise response groups. Training progressively incorporated more participants, new teachers, and new settings. Ultimately, subjects performed in a community dancercise class attended by 100 nonhandicapped persons.

Disabled people often do not use leisure time productively. Past research has focused on teaching specific recreational activities isolated from related skills that would provide subjects a functional independent living repertoire. In the present study disabled subjects were taught the art of macrame. Additionally, they role-played related shopping skills such as buying materials, engaging in appropriate social-interpersonal skills, making monetary transactions, and securing their own transportation to and from the store. Subjects were taught six basic macrame knots using an instructional manual, series of error-correction procedures, and social reinforcement. After mastering those basic knots they independently used the instructional materials to make three complete macrame projects without direct instruction on the projects themselves. Subjects also demonstrated skill maintenance and generalization by making a novel project after independently engaging in all relevant shopping behavior. Two varieties of the multiple baseline design were employed. The importance of teaching a leisure skill cluster and adapting instructional materials were emphasized.

Acquisition of cooking skills is important for the adaptation of developmentally disabled clients to community living. The social and content validity of procedures to teach broiling, baking, and boiling was established using the opinions and recommendations of people from the community and home economists as criteria. Four mentally retarded adults were taught to cook various food items using pictorial recipes, a sequence of prompts, and a package of positive consequences. A multiple baseline across subjects demonstrated experimental control, and a multiple baseline across responses was employed to examine generalization across cooking responses. The results showed relatively rapid acquisition of the three cooking skills, substantial maintenance of the newly learned responses, and idiosyncratic patterns of generalization within and between the cooking methods. Sorne evidence of generalization from the training setting to the participants' home was found. The procedures also were cost effective.

Instructional procedures for teaching change computation skills were developed and evaluated on three mentally retarded adolescents. A multiple baseline across subjects combined with the essential features of a multiple baseline across responses was employed. Four response classes, each defined by a different manner of computing change, were taught. Instructional techniques involved: (a) training problems in which the proper responses were modeled, (b) practice problems in which correct responses were reinforced and incorrect responses resulted in corrective feedback, and (c) review problems in which previously trained response classes were rehearsed prior to instruction on a new class. Retraining was provided when subjects' performance fell below the designated criterion. Shaping, chaining, and modeling were the principal antecedent conditions; information feedback and tangible reinforcers were used as consequences. The results showed virtually 100% performance on a posttest and follow-up test. Idiosyncratic patterns of generalization across response classes were noted.

The research was designed to validate procedures to teach apartment upkeep skills to severely handicapped clients with various categorical disabilities. Methodological features of this research included performance comparisons between general and specific task analyses, effect of an impasse correction baseline procedure, social validation of training goals, natural environment assessments and contingencies, as well as long-term follow-up. Subjects were taught to perform upkeep responses on their air conditioner-heating unit, electric range, refrigerator, and electrical appliances within the context of a multiple-probe across subjects experimental design. The results showed acquisition, long-term maintenance, and generalization of the upkeep skills to a nontraining apartment. General task analyses were recommended for assessment and specific task analyses for training. The impasse correction procedure generally did not produce acquisition.

Recent scientific and medical advances have resulted in the survival of large numbers of persons with severe head injuries. Unfortunately, clinicians lack well-controlled research describing an effective technology to retrain these clients. A behavioral approach to assessment and training appears to offer much to this clinical population, as it has with others. Traumatically head injured individuals have unique problems, and research addressing their special problems is needed.

The purpose of this experiment was to analyze developmental differences in rehearsal strategies which may mediate the commonly found age effect on free recall. As expected, significant age differences in recall were found; analysis of rehearsal strategies showed that fifth and eighth graders tended to repeat stimulus words immediately after presentation, and not enter items into subsequent rehearsal sets. Adults, in contrast, tended to reenter items for additional rehearsal, and had larger rehearsal buffers. Immediate repetition may have served as additional massed presentation trials, which are less consequential for learning than later reentry of items (spaced trials). It was inferred that children engaged primarily in maintenance rehearsal, and adults in both maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.

Traumatic brain injury can result in behavioral and physical deficits that require intensive post-acute residential rehabilitation. Behaviors targeted by such programs include basic self-care and living skills. We examined the efficacy of a behavioral training strategy to teach appropriate medical treatment of four different groups of simulated cold symptoms to an anoxic brain injured adult. The strategy included instructor prompting and feedback in the use of written task analyses and picture cues as self-administered prompts. Subsequent to baseline, the participant used written generic task analyses combined with picture cues and then, if necessary, written specific task analyses combined with picture cues to prompt appropriate self-treatment of the four types of colds. Written individualized task analyses, tailored to participant errors, were used to fade specific task analysis prompts and transfer stimulus control to the discriminative stimuli present in the picture cues. A multiple baseline design across responses showed that skill acquisition did not occur after generic task analysis training, but did so after specific task analysis training. The participant responded to all four types of colds for three consecutive trials at 100% correct under baseline conditions. Follow-up results indicated that transfer of stimulus control to the cold symptoms simulated by the picture cues alone did not maintain over time. Correct responding was retrained using generic and, if necessary, individualized task analysis training conditions.

(1971). The Influence of Incentives on Memory Stages in Children. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 289-300.

Responding to administrative staff and parental concerns, using modified reversal and withdrawal designs, two experiments evaluated a staff-managed feedback system to improve the hygiene and developmental skills of children in an infant/toddler center. Experiment 1 examined feedback designed to increase staff performance in checking and changing diapers, and recording those changes. A chart plus supervisory feedback produced increases in and maintenance of staff performance. Experiment 2 compared an existing staff management system with a "playchart" plus feedback in increasing careprovider-infant stimulation. The data (with follow-up on a new staff) supported the use of the new feedback system. Questionnaire data further supported the utility of the playchart system.

Four developmentally disabled adults were taught to plan nutritious meals, devise grocery lists, and locate listed foods in a supermarket. Training procedures included various instructional materials, experimenter modeling, verbal instructions, and response-contingent feedback. After 7 to 9 hours of training, subjects met the designated acquisition criterion. Follow-ups after 1 week and 1 month demonstrated that all three subtasks were maintained above a 90% level. A probe to a novel supermarket showed generalization on the food location task for all subjects. A multiple probe design across subjects showed that skill acquisition occurred only after each subtask was trained.