Operant conditioning techniques were used to modify verbal behavior in 18 institutionalized, trainable mentally handicapped mongoloids with chronological ages from 4-6 to 7-10 and mental ages from 2.0 to 2.10. Two instruments were constructed to evaluate language: a language test and a speech rating scale. Project leaders had no prior knowledge of…

Designed for both parents and teachers, the handbook presents methods for educating the moderately and severely retarded child. Those methods include measuring progress, rewarding and punishing, ways of using rewards and punishers, ways of giving positive reinforcers and punishers, withholding reinforcers (extinction), letting the child reward…

Presented are case studies of three trainable retarded five to ten year-old children who learned basic sight vocabulary, letter and number recognition, and task attention through highly structured contingency management techniques. (CL)

Examined are the implications of independent ambulation for severely retarded children and reviewed is the literature describing behavioral interventions which facilitate walking. (Author)

Presented is an overview of a 1975 New Orleans conference on educating severely and profoundly retarded children. Brief summaries of remarks by teachers, program administrators, state education agency personnel and others are provided on such topics as the application of behavior modification principles, recent legislation, parental involvement,…

Operant conditioning principles were used to promote verbalizations based on current event television news stories in three institutionalized 15-year-old retardates. Percentages of correct responses concerning the videotaped news segments were recorded in four experimental conditions: baseline, massed news with tokens and praise contingent on…