To determine the feasibility of using pictorial stimuli in preference assessments, multiple-stimulus preference assessments were conducted with two adults with mental retardation using both tangible stimuli and pictorial cards representing these same stimuli. Stimuli predicted by the tangible assessment were more potent reinforcers than those…

This article reviews five self-management strategies used to help people with severe and profound developmental disabilities acquire and maintain constructive occupation: picture cues presented on sets of cards, picture cues stored in computer-aided systems, object cues attached to cards, verbal cues stored in audio recording devices, and…

Five profoundly mentally retarded adolescents and adults were taught to respond to an auditory-visual complex stimulus. Later, the auditory component alone was presented, and three subjects did not respond. These subjects then received a fading program which successfully established auditory stimulus control with two subjects. (MSE)

Summarizes state-of-the-art approaches for assessing visual stimulus same/different judgments in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities. Methodological investigations indicate that one can obtain reliable same/different judgments with a variety of stimuli in virtually anyone for whom a basal score on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test…

This study of three individuals (ages 12-14) with profound mental retardation found that visual screening was more effective than thioridazine in reducing stereotypy and increasing social behavior. Thioridazine produced modest stereotypy reductions and minor social behavior increases, with a higher dose slightly more effective than a lower dose…

Thirty students (ages 3-20) with profound mental retardation and 30 healthy, full-term infants (5-8 months) were shown 12 patterned stimuli, three times each. Both groups looked significantly longer at face patterns than other patterns. However, the students with mental retardation looked longer at black and white patterns than colored patterns,…

Three severely mentally retarded, multiply handicapped adolescents were treated in a classroom setting for social skill deficits. Treatment focused on increasing eye contact and strengthening on-task and in-seat behaviors. Results suggested that a combination of visual stimuli, operant, and social learning methods can be used to successfully…

This review of 20 years of literature on sight word instruction for individuals with handicaps examines effectiveness data for procedures teaching word recognition and comprehension. Covered are "errorless procedures," prompt elimination, stimulus fading, time delay, easy to hard discrimination, and trial and error with feedback. Two tables…