Results of a study involving 10 mentally retarded and 10 nonretarded (mean age 16 and 4 years, respectively) indicated high levels of acquisition and maintenance for both groups. No difference occurred in magnitude of acquisition, but the mentally retarded Ss took approximately three times as many trials to complete training. (Author/CL)

Four nine year olds with mild mental retardation received training on the meaning of idiomatic phrases. All children demonstrated learning and an ability to understand the learned idioms when presented in unfamiliar contexts. Children were able to generalize their receptive learning to an expressive task with varying levels of success. (Author/JDD)