Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities最新文献

The present study investigated stimulus overselectivity in retarded children as a function of different procedures for guiding their attention to complex stimuli. Eight TMR children were trained to respond only to a single distinctive feature and to respond to all individual components of complex stimuli (Experiment I). After training, four children discriminated all relevant components and four did not. Three overselective subjects were then trained to attend to all relevant cues (Experiment II) via responding to all individual components and reconstructing the S+ in its absence. All children reconstructed the S+, but two responded only to one component during subsequent stimulus control tests. For these children the instructions and response requirements during stimulus control tests were changed (Experiment III). The instructions were similar to those used for training subjects to respond to all S+ components. Both children now responded to all components during the stimulus control tests. The results are discussed in terms of the understanding of the variables that influences stimulus overselectivity and the procedures for guiding the attention to all relevant cues.

A comparison between adult and computer-delivered instruction was conducted with 17 children (ages 4 to 14 years) with severe learning and behavior problems. The rationale for this comparison is based on the conceptualizations that adult attention may be a source of inadvertent reinforcement for maladaptive behavior and adult directions may set the occasion for avoidance responding. Therefore, this investigation provides an analysis of the stimulus functions of the presence of an adult in the task-demand situation. The task employed was a two-choice discrimination that became progressively more difficult, analogous to educational tasks in general. Subjects alternated sessions between conditions, but the criteria for advancement were independent between conditions. Measures of task performance and observational behavior data were collected. The results suggest that there was no overall difference in task performance between conditions, but that the children as a group did exhibit more deviant behavior in the adult condition. In an attempt to identify critical variables for the prediction of individual differences in performance and behavior, the results of correlational analyses on diagnoses, developmental measures, and pretest compliance measures are presented. The results of this investigation are discussed in the context of the task-avoidance conceptualization and the implications for computer-assisted instruction in the education and treatment of severely disturbed children.

This study compared the treatment outcomes of nine autistic children who began receiving intensive behavioral intervention prior to 60 months of age with outcomes for nine other children who entered the same intervention program after 60 months of age. The 18 children in the sample included all of the children served by the Princeton Child Development Institute's day school and treatment program during the period 1975–83 who were diagnosed autistic and who had either (a) achieved positive discharge or (b) been enrolled in the program for 24 months or longer and continued to receive program services. Age at program entry was found to be strongly related to positive treatment outcome (i.e., to children's continued residence with their natural parents and attendance at public school classes). This investigation underlines the importance of early behavioral intervention for autistic children.

This research examined the effects of a longitudinal intervention program on the developmental status of a group of normal, at-risk, and handicapped children under 3 years of age. The intervention included the “Neurodevelopmental/Prescriptive” approach to child assessment and planning, the “Eco-Behavioral” approach to the organization and management of the environment, and an on-going program of staff training and supervision to insure model implementation in a program that provided these interventions 40 hours per week to all children. These conditions created a “developmentally appropriate, contingently responsive” setting that previous research has shown is related to the production of optimal functioning in young children. Results are presented in terms of rates of development compared from pre-intervention to intervention on two developmental measures and were analyzed in single-subject and grouped comparison designs. For all handicapped and at-risk children, the data indicated that significant improvements in child performance occurred as a function of intervention. Degree of improvements in children's performance was also correlated with earlier age of program entry. Suggestions for further research are presented.

A model of early intervention that focuses on Proactive Empowerment through Partnerships (PEP) is described. The PEP model is embedded within a social systems perspective of child, parent, and family development and functioning. Social systems theory is used as a basis for an expanded definition of early intervention, a broader-based viewpoint of the effects of early intervention, and a set of decision rules regarding what types of intervention can strengthen families' abilities to meet family needs. Early intervention is defined as the provision of support to families of infants and young children from members of informal and formal social support networks. The manner in which the PEP principles and social systems notions are operationalized at the programmatic level is also described. Data are presented from a series of studies designed to validate the social systems perspective of early intervention as well as discern the impact of provision of support.

The response-contingent learning capabilities of six profoundly retarded, multiply handicapped infants were examined using an operant conditioning paradigm where a multicolored visual display was illuminated contingent upon fixated head turns. The results showed that the infants learned the criterion behavior but that conditioning latencies were likely to occur when the children were required to produce free-operant responding. The use of physical prompts appeared to accelerate the acquisition of the criterion behavior. The findings are discussed from a social systems perspective, particularly with regard to the first-, second-, and higher-order effects of response-contingent learning on the child and his or her parents. It is argued that operant learning constitutes a powerful form of early intervention.

This paper describes a study which focused on improving the quality of language interactions between young, newly verbal, language handicapped children and their mothers. Aims and components of a current project are deliniated and data from the original study upon which the project is based are reported. Implications for the use of the described approach in conjunction with traditional speech therapy are discussed.