High-probability requests were provided to two boys (age seven) with behavior disorders and severe disabilities as an antecedent to delivering a low-probability request. Results showed an immediate increase in appropriate responding when the intervention was delivered. Generalized responding and response maintenance were also exhibited.…

The response satiation model of instrumental performance was used in two experiments to establish contingencies which reduced the self-injurious behavior of two adults with profound mental retardation and multiple handicaps. Transfer and generalization of training effects were also observed. (Author/DB)

In this article we discuss two impediments to widespread adoption and implementation of cognitive-behavioral intervention (CBI) procedures by teachers of students with behavior disorders. First, its principles can be difficult, even for researchers and other specialists. Second, despite ample demonstration that teachers can be taught CBI…

Behavior analysts have spent relatively little time in designing interventions to enhance motor development in typically developing infants and children. This study examines the effect of a motor training package consisting of opportunity to respond and practice (standing the infant and letting her hold the fingers of the experimenter),…

Three profoundly retarded students (ages 6, 8, and 12) were taught prelanguage signalling behaviors (grasping the experimenter's finger and tapping the back of one hand with the other) to initiate co-active imitation behaviors with an adult. (JW)

A training program in which operant procedures were used to improve the identification and definition of selected vocabulary words by a 6-year-old mildly retarded Down's syndrome girl is described. Results showed that the S had generalized the training and the findings were replicated with two additional children. (PHR)

This paper describes some of the procedures most frequently used in research on staff training and reviews the research in relation to outcomes for clients with developmental disabilities as a function of staff training, maintenance of staff skills, and transfer of staff skills across settings, clients, and programs. Issues in behavioral…

A study examined use of a problem-solving intervention to teach classroom skills to a student with moderate intellectual disabilities. The student was taught targeted skills in a resource room and was able to successfully generalize the skills to regular classrooms. Teachers indicated the student's behavior significantly improved during the…

Three studies were conducted to explore the relationship between social skills instruction and the maintenance and generalization of skills to post-school environments. Three adult women with severe disabilities in their last year of school participated in the studies. The first study addressed the effectiveness of an instructional package to…

The paper addresses behavior management strategies for developing new behaviors in special needs learners, strategies for changing existing behaviors, and strategies for developing behavioral generalization. An introductory overview identifies five basic principles of behavior management. Fourteen behavioral terms are then defined (e.g.,…

Evaluated teachers' acceptability ratings of three types of interventions applied to an acting-out behavior problem, and the relationships among these acceptability scores and self-reported use of those interventions. Teachers rated humanistic and behavioral approaches most acceptable and the pragmatic approach least acceptable. Ratings of…

The author answers responses (EC 222 813-814) to his paper, "Self-Regulation and Mental Retardation" (EC 222 812). Research is encouraged into questions concerning the extent complex and independent adaptive behaviors can be taught to the retarded and the comparative effectiveness of verbal mediators or alternative approaches in…

A meta-analytic study on effectiveness of behavioral and psychotherapeutic treatments for challenging behaviors in individuals with mild mental retardation is reported. Eighty articles were examined. For each comparison, several study variables and two effect sizes (percentage of nonoverlapping data--PND and percentage of zero data--PZD) were…

Using self-instructional strategy training procedures, three sixth-grade learning disabled students were taught a series of self-directed prompts designed to facilitate the generation, framing, and planning of written compositions. The eight-step instructional procedure included pretraining, review of baseline performance level, description of the…

This booklet was developed to help in the design and implementation of self-management systems for elementary-classroom students with developmental disabilities. Self-management components addressed in the booklet are self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement. Chapters provide: (1) the definitions and rationale for teaching…