Over the course of eight months of almost continuous contact, relatively normal speaking patterns were generated. At a one year follow up, the subject's speech was indistinguishable from that of her classmates. (Author)

A discrete trials, operant tracking and a descending series procedure for the determination of hearing levels with three profoundly retarded young adults previously diagnosed as untestable proved quite workable and may provide for improved hearing testing with "difficult to test" individuals. (Author)

Discusses using rat olympics in helping psychology students to overcome their reluctance to condition rats. Working in groups, students enter rats in a number of behaviors (events) which can be shaped using operant conditioning methods and which rats can perform with varying degrees of proficiency. (Author/KC)

Argues that learning is an invariant process best understood from a dialectical perspective which demands that learning be viewed as an interaction between the organism and the environment. This view is contrasted with traditional operant approaches and with a Piagetian approach. (Author/DB)

Operant conditioning techniques were used to teach a visually impaired deaf girl (six years old) to emit eye contact within a classroom for deaf-blind children. (Author/CL)

Explains how a teaching method such as allowing students to raise gerbils at home can encourage students to gain experience with the fundamental techniques of operant conditioning which are otherwise generally unavailable to students in large introductory psychology courses. (DB)

Criticism of the study relating effects of therapist warmth to desensitization include: the use of surrogate, student subjects; nonstandard desensitization procedures; and no control group. Morris and Suckerman respond that the first two criticisms rely on selective reading of the literature and the third is irrelevant. (NG)

A total of 12 elementary school children participated in a study on the effect of percentage in variable amounts of reinforcement under several variable interval schedules. (MS)

A guest editorial comments on the acrimonious rhetoric and arguments exhibited in the debate over the use of aversives with individuals with mental retardation. The editorial urges members of the field to refocus their framing of the issues around respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. (JDD)

Treatment of behavioral problems of 3 girls (ages 31-37 months) with Rett's disorder is discussed. Behavioral treatment using operant conditioning principles did little to alter the course of the disorder for these individuals. The one consistent improvement for the girls was a decrease in tantrums. (SW)

This study examined the effects of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) as a reinforcer for verbal operant production in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Three children who attended a dolphin therapy program participated in this single subject research study. Baseline data was collected for each child via a video tape provided by parents and…

Evaluated with 12 children (9- to 25-months-old) were the efficacy and reliability of auditory stimulus-response control training and assessment procedures. (Author/LS)

This article focuses on the use of "timeout" as a classroom behavior modification technique. The questions and guidelines are presented in a flow chart format in order to facilitate easy and quick use by practitioners. (Author)