Twelve factors should be considered in justifying techniques selected for treating aberrant behavior in persons with mental retardation. The factors include motivational variables, treatment effectiveness, side effects, abuse potential, treatment restrictiveness/intrusiveness, treatment precedence, social acceptability, regulatory factors, staff…

There is a need when working with mentally handicapped people to develop interventions that can be used within a self-control framework. One intervention that has demonstrated success in a self-control context with normally intelligent people is Cognitive Stress Inoculation Training (CSIT). In CSIT clients are taught to recognize current self-talk…

This introduction to several articles on punishment in treating persons with mental retardation notes the ethical dilemmas involved and offers the editor's view that research on the side effects and relative efficacy of various treatments for reducing self-injurious behaviors should continue, and clinical practice should be guided by research…

A review of traditional (such as psychotherapy) and behavioral approaches (such as self-monitoring and reinforcement) to obesity treatment of mentally retarded students led to the conclusion that the behavioral orientation was more successful. Implications for initiating such programs include thorough training, voluntary participation, and parent…

Consistent, unemotional use of timeout, without ancillary punishers, is shown to result in typical extinction curves (rather than the steeper gradient of punishment curves) for both autistic and mentally impaired children with widely different abrasive behaviors. Dangers of punishment and the therapeutic value of reduced environmental stimulation…

The conflict between viewing aversive therapeutic interventions with mentally retarded persons from either an ideological or scientific perspective is examined. It is concluded that some of those who reject aversive therapeutic interventions do so out of a poor understanding of behavioral science and a primarily ideological frame of reference.…

This paper comments on James Mulick's paper (EC 232 032) and views Mulick as rigidly committed to the behavioral paradigm, selectively evaluating data, and misrepresenting the opposition. Because aversive procedures are not wholly effective, positive, educative interventions are encouraged. (DB)

This paper reviews the rationale and behavioral interventions commonly used for teaching compliance to individuals with mental retardation and the role of ethics in the use of such interventions. The paper examines issues in deciding whether compliance is an appropriate objective for an individual and whether interventions designed to achieve…

The article reviews the use and limitations of medical and behavioral approaches (restraints, shock, drugs, punishment and aversive stimulation, reinforcement of incompatible behaviors, and overcorrection) to reduce self injury in visually impaired, mentally retarded persons. Legal and ethical considerations are pointed out. (Author/CL)

The educational and research implications of defining mental retardation as a self-regulatory disorder are explored. Behavioral, social-learning, and cognitive conceptualizations regarding the structure and development of self-regulation is examined. Self-regulation is described as a complex linguistically guided skill that can be taught through…

The literature on fears and phobias of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities is reviewed. Assessment procedures are then examined, including interviews, self-reports, parent rating scales, and behavioral observations. Interventions are drawn from the principles of respondent, operant, and vicarious conditioning. (Author/DB)

This review focuses on correspondence training procedures, in which a subject makes statements about intended positive behavior and the statements are reinforced. The paper examines early research, generalization, maintenance, application to mentally retarded individuals, and the concept of self-control. (Author/JDD)

This booklet explains a system for prevention of and intervention with behavior problems in individuals with mental retardation and autism. The underlying premise is that all behaviors are an effort at communication and that by deciphering the communicative intent or function, one can guide an individual to a more acceptable mode of communication.…

A Special Behavior Unit provided short-term residential treatment to persons with mental retardation who displayed severe maladaptive behavior. Program evaluation data indicated decreases in frequency of targeted behaviors during clients' residence. Post-discharge follow-up data indicated that 40 percent showed at least adequate adjustment and…

This article discusses symptoms of students with Rett Syndrome, a disability in females characterized by the development of multiple specific deficits following a period of normal functioning after birth. Specific interventions for students with Rett syndrome are provided and address communication, stereotypic movements, self-injurious behaviors,…