Functional communication training (FCT) is a strategy to address problem behavior for students with various disabilities that is supported by a broad evidence base. Despite this support, multiple factors continue to dissuade educators from utilizing FCT in their classrooms. This article outlines the process of developing and implementing FCT plans…

This study examined a behavioral intervention package to promote the use of target vocalizations alongside speech-generating device (SGD) mands. Six minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder participated, including three with no prior SGD experience. During baseline, SGD responses resulted in access to a preferred item and there was…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is being implemented as a new initiative in PK-12 schools with increasing frequency. However, the model must be sustained at the school level, which is potentially difficult due to a number of challenges brought about by systems change. This article applied the Stokes and Baer (1977) framework for programming for…

Play is, by definition, internally motivated, flexible, spontaneous and voluntary. Yet some researchers claim to have taught children with autism to play using behavioural interventions that are heavily structured, repetitive and make use of external reinforcements. In the current systematic review, we examine the extent to which these claims are…

Investigated whether (1) a highly discriminable treatment procedure in one setting would produce a behavioral contrast effect in unmanipulated settings, and whether (2) such contrast-like trends could be eliminated if initially different reinforcement procedures in two settings were subsequently made similar. (Author/DB)

In two studies, preschool children were given four tasks of two types and two levels of difficulty. It was found that generalization of compliance with instructions varied with task difficulty. (MS)

Three studies examining the effects of correspondence training (reinforcement for matching verbal and nonverbal behavior) with 22 mildly and moderately retarded students revealed that the approach can be used to decrease maladaptive and increase adaptive behavior and that it can produce generalized behavior change. (CL)

Neurophysiological evidence is described showing that some neurons in the macaque inferior temporal visual cortex have responses that are invariant with respect to the position, size and view of faces and objects, and that these neurons show rapid processing and rapid learning. Which face or object is present is encoded using a distributed…

Both interventions produced dramatic and comparable increases in positive social behavior in training sessions; however, post-treatment responding was not observed for either intervention during generalization assessment. (Author/DLS)

This article provides a selective review and integration of the behavioral literature on Pavlovian extinction. The first part reviews evidence that extinction does not destroy the original learning, but instead generates new learning that is especially context-dependent. The second part examines insights provided by research on several related…

Twelve male subjects were divided into three groups (model-plus-reinforcement (MR), model-only, and control) to determine if the presence of a verbalizing model to 35mm slides would elicit increased speech. Verbalization increased over treatments, especially in the MR group. Generalization to the word occurred in only three subjects. (Author/SJL)

Eight disruptive children attended an after school reading tutorial program one hour a day for 72 days. After baseline, the children evaluated their academic and social behavior. A token program was instituted in which points and backup reinforcers were made contingent upon accurate self-ratings. This program was then gradually modified. (Author)

In order to maximize the development and generalization of social responses of two severely retarded, multihandicapped children (10 and 11 years old) and their classroom peers, a continuous observation system was used to select target responses. (Author)

The bibliography on learning in mentally handicapped persons is divided into the following topic categories: applied behavior change, classical conditioning, discrimination, generalization, motor learning, reinforcement, verbal learning, and miscellaneous. An author index is included. (KW)

Reports of the use of behavior modification in the classroom are reviewed, with special attention given to whether or not generalization of the effects of the behavior modification programs was obtained. The authors develop a set of 15 proposed "rules" for obtaining generalization of the effects of behavior modification procedures. (Author)