Fourteen students, aged 7-24, with severe developmental disabilities who exhibited frequent aggression, self-injury, and/or tantrums were assessed to engage in problem behavior maintained by social attention or by escape from unpleasant situations. The differential effectiveness of praise and time-out was measured, indicating the importance of…

A posture screening program for Portland State University students is described in terms of (1) program components and time requirements, (2) materials used, and (3) training of posture screeners. The article includes samples of posture analysis and evaluation forms, illustrations of posture enhancement exercises, and photos of the posture area.…

The study with four pairs of developmentally delayed preschoolers found a slight but discernible advantage of using the time delay procedure rather than the increasing assistance procedure to teach complex, chained-response self-help skills. Considerable learning also resulted solely from the observation of instruction. (Author/DB)

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)

The paper describes a strategic models approach to programing for severely handicapped students which incorporates behavioral, developmental, adaptive remedial, and functional teaching approaches. The role of the staff member and assessment and intervention strategies within each approach are presented. (Author/DB)

Observation of four elementary grade learning disabled children about six months after a social skills training program found generalization of new skills by all subjects to new environments. Training included generalization training in the form of systematic attention by teachers and parents in the new environments. (Author/DB)

Describes how instructional designers can use a combination of job task/function analysis and job competence assessment to construct a performance profile for managers that identifies characteristics of a successful performer. An ideal role micro approach is explained, and the design of training programs based on the performance profile is…

Describes how trainers can promote trainee flexibility and increase the effectiveness of their instruction by using skill related, principle based rules. Highlights include skill performance variables; analyzing skills to derive principles; converting principles into rules; and how to integrate principle based rules into skill instruction. (LRW)

The basic information needed by trainers who wish to use video to achieve training outcomes is presented. Topics covered include (1) uses of video; (2) video equipment; (3) prerecorded video; (4) feedback via video; (5) management approval; (6) program development and production; (7) external contractors; and (8) interactive video. (CH)

A choice assessment was used to categorize reinforcers as high, middle, and low preference with 4 males (ages 7 to 19) with multiple disabilities including severe/profound mental retardation. High-preference stimuli consistently functioned as reinforcers for all subjects whereas low-preference stimuli did not function as reinforcers. (Author/DB)

This second in a two-part series on Data Research Associates, a vendor for turnkey automatic library systems, focuses on hardware and software. Highlights include the requirement for VAX hardware; software modules that relate to MARC records; the Library System menu structure; training opportunities; user comments; and future directions. (LRW)

Discusses the evolution of multimedia technology and gives examples of the use of multimedia for business training, desktop publishing, and possible home market use. Equipment needs are described; data compression techniques are explained; the use of CD-ROM is discussed; and interactive multimedia possibilities are considered. (LRW)

Surveyed 45 Japanese corporations to determine common training methods and use of systematic design and development processes. Results indicate that overall there was more internal classroom training than on-the-job training and that only two of the companies had a formal, systematic approach to instruction design and development. (JMV)

This study found that categorization strategy training resulted in increased performance on unidimensional, bidimensional, and tridimensional sorting tasks by 4 males (ages 12-16) with autism. Three subjects also showed improvements on generalization probes and maintenance of performance. (Author/JDD)

The clinical effectiveness of one module of IBM's SpeechViewer system on the speech performance of four profoundly hearing-impaired children was compared with that of four similar children who received traditional speech training. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between the subject groups before and after training,…