Background: This study investigated the relative ease of learning across four tasks suggested by an adaptation of Thomas's hierarchy of learning in children with Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders and mental age-matched controls. Methods: Learning trials were carried out to investigate observational learning, instrumental learning, reversal…

FIVE RECENT STUDIES AIMED AT MEASURING THE AMOUNT OF TRANSFER-OF-TRAINING FROM SPEECH TO WRITING (AS DEMONSTRATED BY STUDENTS PREVIOUSLY CONDITIONED THROUGH AUDIOLINGUAL CLASSROOM DRILL) ARE EVALUATED IN THIS PAPER. FOLLOWING A REVIEW OF PRELIMINARY RESEARCH, THE METHODOLOGY USED TO CONDITION THE STUDENTS AND TO TEST FOR TRANSFER IS DESCRIBED AND…

INTENDED FOR SPEECH THERAPISTS, THEACHERS OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED, AND OTHERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, THE COLLECTION CONTAINS REPORTS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE MODIFICATION ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE UTILIZED OPERANT CONDITIONING PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS SEVERAL PAPERS ON BACKGROUND TOPICS. BACKGROUND PAPERS ON TEACHING TREAT ENVIRONMENTAL…

This conference report consists of two presented papers and a selected bibliography. The paper by Joan Gussow, "Behavioral Management and Educational Goals," is concerned with operant conditioning as a theory of learning and an instructional method. Basing their methods on the work of B.F. Skinner, educators who are proponents of this…

Implications of the behaviorist and cognitive theories in language instruction are discussed in this article. Some contributions of Skinner, Politzer, Valette, Morton, Lane, and Mueller and Niedzielski clarify the behaviorists' view of language as a myriad of conditioned responses. In turn, the cognitive viewpoint, seen as the acquisiton and…

Described in this article are five pilot studies that explored the effects of the learning strategy of the total physical response under a variety of conditions using Japanese and Russian with adults and children. Some general conclusions suggest that dramatic facilitation in learning listening skills for a second language is related to acting out…

Five experiments were conducted to determine whether properties inherent in some training procedures may subtly influence the adaptability of skilled performance of complex tasks. The first two experiments assessed the insensitivity of low-rate performances. Examined in the third experiment was the issue of whether instructions that focus…