Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities最新文献

The present study evaluated an errorless procedure for teaching EMR students to solve missing minuend problems (i.e., missing number problems starting with a minus sign). The study consisted of two experiments, with two phases of training in each. The first phase was directed at establishing a nonnumerical, differentiated response to a prompt, the shape of which was gradually transformed to make the discriminative stimulus. The second phase was designed (a) to extend the control of this stimulus to the required numerical operations, and (b) to gradually eliminate the first trained nonnumerical components of the response chain and the experimental conditions (presence of the experimenter and immediate feedback) used for acquisition training. Five subjects participated in Experiment I, and four in Experiment II. The results indicated that seven subjects acquired the target skill in a nearly errorless fashion in 75 to 172 minutes of individual training time. The two other subjects required several programmatic alterations before completing the training. Their total training time was much longer, that is, 212 and 318 minutes, respectively. Moreover, the obtained findings revealed that whenever measured, the acquired skill transferred to similar, more advanced problems, and was maintained over periods ranging from several weeks to several months. The technical aspects are discussed in terms of the literature on stimulus control by prompts. Attention is also given to the educational relevance of the acquired skill.

Independent, constructive use of leisure time is an important part of habilitation and humane treatment for profoundly multihandicapped persons, yet such individuals typically live in group-care settings where opportunities for and rates of appropriate independent leisure activity are very limited. This research was conducted in an institutional living environment during times when program activities were minimal and clients were typically inactive. We conducted a series of direct observations and experimental manipulations of the physical environment focusing on subjects' engagement with a variety of entertainment materials or toys. Results showed that empirically based toy selection, construction, and modification, and environmental engineering to ensure convenient and constant material availability increased subjects' active engagement with toys. The results provide another example of how the typical inactivity of profoundly multihandicapped people is strongly influenced by environmental factors that can be easily modified by indigenous staff.

Consulting psychologists evaluated the application of several aversive treatment methods for a self-stimulatory behavior exhibited by a severely retarded 11-year-old male. Three punishment procedures—the contingent applications of watermist, lemon juice, and vinegar—were evaluated using a reversal design. Substantial reductions occurred for self-stimulatory hand-touching following the application of each procedure; low rates were maintained using watermist during sessions conducted by group home staff members across a 6-month follow-up. The watermist procedure was as effective as lemon juice or vinegar, presented less physical threat to the client, and was preferred by the staff.

This investigation compared the effectiveness of two strategies with respect to the receptive acquisition and generalization of prepositional concepts in four autistic children. During “position self” training, the student was instructed to place himself in a specific relation to an object; “position object” training involved the student placing an object in a specific prepositional relation to another object. Data on the acquisition of the prepositional concepts showed that both strategies were effective, with prepositions trained in the “position object” condition acquired in slightly fewer sessions. For three of the students, specific programming was required before responding generalized to novel stimuli and/or across response topographies. Implications of these findings with respect to the training of generalized receptive comprehension of prepositions are discussed.

Three severely retarded adolescents were taught a 26-step photocopying task by a moderately retarded peer within a multiple-baseline design. The peer trainer was taught to demonstrate the target task to the trainees, contingently praise correct responses, and to provide correction for errors. During baseline, the trainees were unable to perform the photocopying task correctly. Following instruction by the peer trainer, all trainees showed immediate improvement and completed at least 80 percent of the steps correctly. Two of the three trainees maintained their performance over a four week period and all trainees generalized their performance to a second photocopying task. In addition, the peer trainer accurately prompted, corrected, and praised performance.

This study examined the effectiveness with which a 6-year-old boy, who exhibited severe conduct disorders and learning delays, could be taught to grade his daily assignments and maintain a high level of task accuracy. Results indicate that a reinforcement contingency (access to recess), requiring 80% task accuracy, was sufficient to increase more substantially the child's task accuracy and on-task performance and to decrease his disruptions. Responsibility for grading the daily assignments and for determining eligibility for reinforcement was then shifted from a classroom tutor to the child. Initially, the child's grading was checked bythe tutor following each task; later, to promote more accurate grading, a mild response cost system was implemented for inaccurate grading and bonus points were provided for grading incorrect or incomplete responses as errors. Tutor checking was faded systematically until the child was grading all tasks independently. The child maintained high task accuracy throughout all fading phases.