This research review concerning intervention to improve young children's social behavior and strategies for promoting generalization and maintenance of young children's social responding focuses on taking advantage of natural communities of reinforcement, training diversely, and incorporating functional mediators. Implications for interventionists…

A progressive time delay procedure in individual instructional sessions using massed-trial presentation was compared to distributed trials presented during transitions from one activity to another. Results with four preschool children with developmental delays indicated that both procedures were implemented reliably, were comparable in efficiency,…

This study investigated whether an empirically derived interaction style improves the usefulness of language sampling and transcription in 17 young children with developmental disabilities. The use of wh-questions was effective in producing proportionally more transcribable utterances and a larger sample of productive vocabulary. There were no…

Two adults with developmental disabilities were trained to increase their prompt and polite acknowledgments of coworker initiations by means of daily review of interactions of the previous day which had been recorded. The review included self-evaluation, praise, corrective feedback, and role-play. Behavior changes were maintained during follow-up…

This article describes a model of comprehensive and coordinated services in developmental disability medicine developed for children and adults in Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia. Key features of the model are a conjoint structure between government departments of health and community services, multiple medical specialty clinics, and…

The study observed interactions of mothers and infants in the homes of 20 families with infants having cerebral palsy (CP) and developmental delay and 20 families of nonhandicapped infants. Among findings were that mothers of CP infants were more verbally and physically directive and engaged in fewer positive behaviors in their initiation and…

This study, involving six individuals with mental retardation or emotional disturbance, compared the effectiveness of four stimulus control procedures on attainment of sight vocabulary. Results indicated no clear advantage for any one of the four procedures (stimulus shaping, stimulus fading, time delay, and trial and error). (JDD)

Features useful in distinguishing 20 children with clinically diagnosed pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) from 40 children with autism or language disorder were developed from a retrospective chart review using 80 items. The most useful items were then evaluated using a second set of cases (total n=120). Fewer items discriminated PDD from…

Comparison of injury rates among community-based young people (ages birth to 17) found that children with developmental disabilities (n=1,060) had higher injury rates than did controls, but children with chronic illness (n=963) did not. Injury rates increased with age, but no differences in injury rates by gender were found. (Author/JDD)

This paper presents a framework for early intervention for children having (or at risk of developing) disabilities, produced by Eurlyaid, a working party of the European Community. The framework addresses definitions of key concepts, the target group, rationale behind early intervention, content of early intervention, conditions necessary for…

Analysis of the reinforcement and extinction components of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) of three women with developmental disabilities and self-injurious behavior (SIB) found that DRO was only effective in combination with the relevant extinction component (withholding of attention for SIB). (Author/DB)

Assessment of self-injurious behavior (SIB) in three individuals with developmental disabilities revealed that the behavior was an escape response maintained by negative reinforcement. Treatment consisted of extinction plus instructional fading and resulted in immediate and large reductions in SIB behaviors. Maintenance occurred as instruction…

Reviews studies involving noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) for the treatment of challenging behavior such as aggression, self-injury, and extreme tantrums in persons with developmental disabilities. A clinical guide for implementation is delineated. Among the advantages of NCR is ease of implementation. NCR appears particularly relevant for…

Summarizes the 1997 amendments to IDEA in hopes that a solid understanding of the law will clarify the current rights of children and help inform advocacy efforts toward future amendments. Some of the changes include clarification of these terms: child with a disability; developmental delay; related services; supplementary aids; transition…

This study compared executive functions in children with autism (N=40), Tourette syndrome (N=30), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (N=24), or controls (N=29). Groups differed in patterns of performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, a measure of flexibility, the Tower of Hanoi, a measure of planning capacity, and the Stroop, a test of…