The results show that orientation was affected by the contingencies, but productivity was not. An increase in task attention did not result in a corresponding increase in productivity. (Author)

The paper presents guidelines for training staff to implement positive reductive procedures to decrease undesirable behaviors of their retarded students and clients. Considerations relevant to all reductive procedures are briefly discussed in the first portion of the paper, while guidelines indigenous to positive reductive procedures are discussed…

The article provides a review of research on the role of punishment in relation to the normalization of retarded persons and points out that, in the natural environment, punishment procedures normally play some part in the determination of social behavior. (IM)

Presented is research evidence in support of the use of behavior extinction procedures for mentally handicapped persons in residential treatment situations. (IM)

Four profoundly mentally retarded middle-aged female residents in a state institution Behavior Problems Program were trained through the use of an interdependent group-oriented contingency procedure to sit and later to work on prevocational tasks. (Author)

A combination of reinforcement for correct imitations and timeout for failure was more effective in establishing imitation in a 4-year-old institutionalized retarded child than reinforcement used alone. (CL)

A program for teaching self-medication was developed and used in a residential/vocational training program with 20 moderately and severely retarded adults. (IM)

A survey of 55 Louisiana members of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) indicated disagreement with an AAMR position statement condemning inhumane forms of aversive therapy. AAMR is urged to reconsider its position concerning the scope of aversive therapy, need for further research, and use of aversive therapy with some…

Contingent "preferred" music was used as a reinforcer with a mentally retarded and autistic-like boy (14-years-old) to increase appropriate conversational speech. (IM)

The self-injurious avoidance responses of a 22-year-old severely mentally retarded male were eliminated through a forced running consequence. Side effects, such as reduced noise, increase in smiling, and faster progress toward instructional objectives, were also noted. The results were maintained over a period of two years. (Author/PHR)

Teaching procedures involving differential reinforcement, modeling, and physical priming were used to train a severely retarded woman (30-years-old) to assemble a saw chain. (IM)

A method of rapid token training was undertaken in which 20 moderately retarded institutionalized adults observed a model perform a specific behavior for which a token was awarded and exchanged for a back-up reinforcer. (CL)

Timeout from auditory reinforcement was employed to reduce rates of target responses of two mentally retarded children (9 and 11 years old). Results supported the response deceleration characteristic of timeout from auditory reinforcement and indicated its effectiveness as a response reduction technique. (Author)