Background: In the last few years, experimental data have been reported on differences in implicit memory processes of genetically distinct groups of individuals with Intellectual Disability (ID). These evidences are relevant for the more general debate on supposed asynchrony of cognitive maturation in children with abnormal brain development.…

The system of least prompts, an instructional strategy used with moderately and severely handicapped students, is described. A literature review analyzes the populations for which the procedure has been used, the type of skills that have been taught, the results obtained, and describes specific system parameters used by each author. (Author/VW)

Variations of backward chaining--backward chaining with leap-aheads (BCLA) and reverse chaining with leap-aheads (RCLA)-- were compared with four severely retarded learners (17-32 years) who were trained on two complex vocational tasks. Learning rate for the BCLA procedure was superior to the RCLA procedure. Time to criterion differences were…

Some of the procedures for developing and validating learning sequences or learning hierarchies are explored. For each of these procedures, references are provided that can be used for additional study or clarification of the procedures. (Author)

A theory of practice in high-proficiency skills such as speech production is proposed, involving activation of a hierarchy of nodes in serial order within an output system of behavior. Increased flexibility with practice, response mechanism transfer in skills, motor equivalence, automaticity, and speed-accuracy trade-off are discussed. (Author/CM)

A study involving four caregivers evaluated the effectiveness of a systematic instructional procedure known as constant time delay (CTD) in teaching caregivers how to use CTD to teach their adolescent or adult children, siblings, or clients with disabilities, response chain skills. Results found the procedure to be effective. (CR)

Effects of serial and concurrent task presentation on skill acquisition, generalization, and maintenance were compared with two severely retarded females (22 and 25 years old). (Author)

Studies concerned with the synchronous emergence prediction of Piaget's structures-of-the-whole principle are discussed in conjunction with three groups of concrete-operational skills: (1) transitivity/conservation/class inclusion; (2) double classification/double seriation; and (3) ordinal, cardinal, and natural number concepts. Findings show…