Previous research suggests that motivating operation (MO) manipulations may assist in assessing discriminated manding (Gutierrez et al., 2007). The current study partially replicated and extended previous research by varying access to concurrently available reinforcers with different preference values (i.e., MO manipulations). Manding did not…

Reported from a search of 52 sources are categories of special abilities such as fine sensory discriminations and calendar calculations demonstrated by idiot savants (retarded persons exhibiting an unusually developed skill in some special task). (CL)

Three 24 member groups of retarded adolescents, chronological age-matched adolescents, and mental age-matched children were assessed in their ability to match the repetition rate of 10-second stimulus sequences presented under four modality switching conditions (unimodal, trimodal double, trimodal single periodic, and trimodal single aperiodic),…

The multiple baseline design has utility for evaluating instructional programs used with mentally retarded persons; however, there are several possible pitfalls of measurement in using this design. Ss' performance may be inadvertently altered by (1) repeated testing during baseline, (2) procedural contrast between training and testing, (3)…

Measured was the effect of a program providing clinical practice and instruction in retardation on the behavior, knowledge and attitudes of 277 students in the 3rd and 4th years of a baccalureate nursing program. (CL)

The author satirizes the use of limited sampling techniques to arrive at conclusions about the mentally retarded. (CL)

In a discussion of the ethics involved in mental retardation research, the author emphasizes the importance of scientific research, points out the misconceptions in current objections to research, and suggests topics for further study. (CL)

The effects of differences in the definition of mental retardation on prevalence were demonstrated with hypothetical data. (Author)