In this article infant operant conditioning studies are grouped according to distinct procedures: free operant; discrete trial with one discriminative stimulus; discrete trial with two or more discriminative stimuli; controlled operant with two or more discriminative stimuli; and unrestricted operant with two or more discriminative stimuli.…

Using an ABAB withdrawal design, a study investigated effects of a simple peer-prompting procedure on reducing or eliminating annoying/disruptive sounds made by a 13-year-old boy with developmental disabilities included in a general eighth-grade classroom. Peer prompting reduced his inappropriate noises, and follow-up data indicate the improvement…

Three of four elementary students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities were successfully taught to use the next dollar strategy (which requires students to present the next dollar amount higher than the price given) in making purchases. The teaching method used natural cues within a system of least prompts and resulted in transfer of…

This study of four students (ages 10-13) with mental retardation evaluated a combination audio/visual self-prompting system with an electronic, augmentative communication device that uses picture overlays and recorded speech to increase independent task completion. Results indicated a substantial difference in performance when the self-prompting…

An alternating individual and group-oriented reinforcement contingency did not generate consistent levels of supportive peer behaviors between two preschoolers with handicaps and their socially competent peers. Two socially competent children were then taught to deliver supportive prompts to their peers during dramatic play, increasing the…

This study demonstrated that written specific task analyses combined with end-of-trial performance feedback were effective in promoting the acquisition and generalization of functional cleaning tasks by 11 young adults with mild disabilities. Performance transferred to natural discriminative stimuli. (Author/DB)

Both simultaneous prompting and antecedent prompt and test procedures were effective in teaching four adolescents with moderate mental retardation to read grocery sight words. However, the antecedent prompt and test procedure was more efficient on measures of acquisition and the simultaneous prompting procedure was more efficient on measures of…

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…

In this study the assumption was tested experimentally, whether prompting for reflection will enhance hypermedia learning and transfer. Students of the experimental group were prompted at each navigation step in a hypermedia system to say the reasons why they chose this specific information node out loud whereas the students of the control group…

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare the instructional effectiveness of six treatment packages in teaching receptive picture vocabulary to 12 mildly handicapped children (ages 3-6 years). Independent variables in the treatment packages included: least-to-most prompting, correction, group instruction, and individual…

A study was made on the efficacy of prompting as a supervisory aid to preservice physical education teachers. Three student teachers were prompted in specific behaviors during teaching sessions with their students. Communication was by way of a wireless microphone and a FM receiver with mini-earphone. The students were prompted on: (1) use of…

Prompting, positive and negative reinforcement, and a gradually extended reinforcement schedule were used with three autistic clients (two six-year-olds and one adolescent) to teach them to maintain on-task behaviors without constant supervision. Results indicated that appropriate behavior could be successfully maintained with only infrequent and…

Ten- to thirteen-year-old children selected either the objectively more effective keyword method or the naturalistic context method for learning vocabulary meanings. Concludes that, even in the absence of explicit performance feedback, children can be induced to reflect on their use of strategies and their outcomes on subsequent cognitive actions.…

This booklet examines principles for effective tutoring. An introduction defines tutoring. Ten sections present research findings and practical applications. Section 1, "Real-Life Goals," includes making consistent, regular time; targeting real- life goals; and exploring understanding. Section 2, "Question and Prompt,"…

Summarizes representative research relating to the critical role of attention in concept formation in science. Topics discussed include curing, manipulation of symbols, and directions for focusing attention on particular aspects of concepts. (Author/DS)