SOME DIRECT AND GENERALIZED EFFECTS OF REPLACING AN AUTISTIC MAN'S ECHOLALIA WITH CORRECT RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

We extended the use of operant procedures to decrease immediate echolalia and increase the appropriate responding to questions of a 21-year-old autistic man. Three experiments were conducted in which the overall plan was to (a) encourage the subject to remain quiet before, during, and after the presentation of questions and (b) teach him to use environmental cues (i.e., word cards or a model's responses) to increase the likelihood of responding correctly. Multiple baseline designs demonstrated that echolalia was rapidly replaced with correct stimulus-specific responses. In addition, there were a variety of generalized improvements in the subject's verbal responses to questions. The procedures and results are contrasted to previous research in an attempt to explain the encouraging findings.     

ELIMINATION OF ECHOLALIC RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS THROUGH THE TRAINING OF A GENERALIZED VERBAL RESPONSE

Echolalia, the parroting of the speech of others, is a severe communication disorder frequently associated with childhood schizophrenia and mental retardation. Two echolalic children, one schizophrenic and one retarded, were treated in a multiple-baseline design across subjects. Each child was taught to make an appropriate, nonecholalic verbal response (i.e., “I don't know”) to a small set of previously echoed questions. After such training, this response generalized across a broad set of untrained questions that had formerly been echoed. The results obtained were the same irrespective of the specific experimenter who presented the questions. Further, each child discriminated appropriately between those questions that had previously been echoed and those that had not. Followup probes showed that treatment gains were maintained one month later. The procedure is economical, in that it produces a rapid and widespread cessation of echolalic responding.     

PREPARATION FOR EFFECTIVE SELF-REGULATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENERALIZED VERBAL CONTROL

A correspondence training procedure was used to develop consistency between children's verbalizations and their subsequent behavior across increasingly remote settings and time. The interval of time between the verbalizations and the opportunity to engage in several target behaviors was systematically increased across four preschool settings. Probes of generalized verbal control of home behaviors were conducted throughout training and showed that generalization was obtained in the absence of any salient externally imposed contingencies after the children had reliably come under the control of verbalizations about preschool behaviors.     

AN ANALYSIS OF A GROUP TEACHING PROCEDURE FOR PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

This study evaluated whether a concurrent group teaching procedure, in which all students respond simultaneously, could be used for persons with moderate or severe mental retardation. The teaching procedure used was the Task Demonstration Model, a program based on stimulus-control research and the fading techniques of behavioral psychology. Three teachers and three groups of students participated. Results showed that the teachers increased their rates of questions and instructions, positive feedback, and use of functional materials, but they reduced their rate of prompts to almost zero. Students increased their percentage and rate of correct responding as well as their engaged time. In addition, maladaptive responding, for which there were never any direct consequences, decreased from 45% to 10% for 8 of the 14 students. Results are discussed primarily in two areas: (a) changing stimulus control from teacher prompts to critical elements of the items being taught, and (b) reasons for the reduction of maladaptive behavior for 8 of the subjects.     

TRAINING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS TO YOUNG CHILDREN: AN ANALYSIS OF RECIPROCITY WITH UNTRAINED PEERS

We examined the effects of a social skills training package on the play behaviors of three young girls. Two children were taught to invite their peers to play and to use social amenities during their conversations with other children. A combined reversal and multiple baseline across responses design demonstrated that both children directed more social behaviors to their classroom peers after training and that these two children's play invitations were maintained in the later absence of experimental contingencies. In addition, both target children received a greater number of play invitations from their peers during the free play periods. In contrast, a third child's play invitations were not reciprocated by peers; her invitations subsequently decreased in rate after training was discontinued. An interdependent group contingency produced a reciprocal exchange of invitations between this child and her classroom peers. A reversal design demonstrated partial maintenance of subject-peer exchanges after the group intervention was discontinued. The results obtained with the three target children suggest that peer reciprocity may facilitate the maintenance of children's play invitations over time.     

ROLE REVERSALS: AN ANALYSIS OF THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS ACHIEVED WITH DISRUPTIVE BOYS DURING THEIR APPOINTMENTS AS PEER MONITORS

Three 7-year-old boys with histories of negative interactions were appointed to monitor individual classmates during daily noon recess. As monitors, the boys awarded points to their classmates for playing appropriately and, on rare occasions, withdrew a point for negative interactions. The three boys immediately decreased their own rates of negative interactions during the sessions in which they were appointed as monitors. Two of the boys concomitantly increased their rates of positive interactions. Their reductions in negative interactions were not maintained during reversals and did not clearly generalize to the morning or afternoon recess periods. Subsequent appointment of the boys as peer monitors during the morning recess produced similar improvements in their behavior. Results suggest that appointment to the role of peer monitor may itself function as an intervention.     

TRAINING PARENTS IN BEHAVIORAL SELF-MANAGEMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE

This study examined the generalization and maintenance effects of three phases of parent training (Instructions plus Feedback and two Self-management Training phases) on levels of disruptive child behavior and the accuracy with which parents implemented programs. Data were collected from five families in three main settings: the initial training setting (the home), a variety of generalization settings in the community, and the family breakfast. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used. Instructions plus Feedback comprised instructing parents to use a range of behavior management procedures and provided home-based differential feedback concerning accuracy of program implementation. Self-management Training phases involved training parents in goal setting, self-monitoring, and planning skills, specific to their performance of appropriate parenting skills in generalization settings. Results indicated that the Instructions plus Feedback phase was sufficient to produce reduced levels of problem behavior at home and high levels of accurate implementation, but generalization effects out of home were equivocal. Self-management maintained reduced levels of problem behavior at home but, in addition, resulted in generalization effects in community settings for both children and parents. Maintenance probes 3 months following the program revealed the effects had been maintained.     

AN EVALUATION OF LABELING-THEN-DOING WITH MODERATELY HANDICAPPED PERSONS: ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION WITH COMPLEX TASKS

We conducted two experiments in which moderately mentally retarded persons were trained first to label and then to enter characters into a computer, calculator, or checkbook (label-then-do) within a multiple baseline design. In Experiment 1, 5 young adults were trained to enter statistical programs into computers in an office setting. Following training, all subjects' use of verbal labels and key-entry skills generalized across tasks (programs) and settings (offices and computer terminals). In Experiment 2, 3 junior high school students were trained with self-labeling procedures to complete a key-entry task and to balance a checkbook. The performance of all students generalized across tasks and settings, and the use of labels generalized for 2 of the students. Results are discussed relative to mediated generalization and to establishing verbal control over behavior.     

BUILDING RESPONSE CLASSES: A COMPARISON OF TWO PROCEDURES FOR TEACHING GENERALIZED POURING TO LEARNERS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

Five individuals with profound mental retardation received instruction on liquid pouring. The effects of two training strategies on performance with nontrained pitchers and receptacles were compared within a split multiple baseline design across subjects. One training approach followed general case instruction guidelines in which both difficult and easy teaching examples were selected that sampled the range of relevant stimulus and response variation. The second training approach approximated the early steps in an easy-to-hard sequencing strategy and involved using only a set of easy teaching examples that did not sample the full range of relevant stimulus and response variation required for successful pouring in natural settings. Results indicated that only after training with the full set of general case examples did the learners become competent with the nontrained generalization probe tasks. In addition, the set of easy examples resulted in learners performing topographically predictable errors with the generalization probe tasks.     

TEACHING SOCIAL/VOCATIONAL SKILLS TO RETARDED ADULTS WITH A MODIFIED TABLE GAME: AN ANALYSIS OF GENERALIZATION

In this study, a social skills training program for institutionalized mildly or moderately retarded adults was extended to include skills relevant to vocational settings. Target behaviors involving a verbal action or reaction within six skill areas were taught using a commercially available board game, Sorry, and a specially designed card deck. The training program featured response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criterion levels. Using a multiple baseline across two groups (n = 3 per group), the game contingencies increased social/vocational skills in all targeted areas. Generalization was assessed in two settings: a simulated workshop in which pre and post measures were taken and in the institutional workshop where the residents worked. The posttraining simulated workshop results revealed that the residents' newly learned skills had generalized. However, repeated generalization measures of the residents' social interactions in the institutional workshop were equivocal as were measures of their productivity.     

IN VIVO VERSUS SIMULATION TRAINING: AN INTERACTIONAL ANALYSIS OF RANGE AND TYPE OF TRAINING EXEMPLARS

We analyzed the role of the range of variation in training exemplars as a contextual variable influencing the effects of in vivo versus simulation training in producing generalized responding. Four mentally retarded adults received single case instruction, followed by general case instruction, on washing machine and dryer use; one task was taught using actual appliances (in vivo) and the other using simulation. In vivo and simulation training were counterbalanced across the two tasks for the 2 subject pairs, using a within-subjects Latin square design. With both paradigms, more errors were made after single case than after general case instruction during probe sessions with untrained washing machines and dryers. These results suggest that generalization errors were affected by the range of training exemplars and not by the use of simulated versus natural training stimuli. Although both general case simulation and general case in vivo training facilitated generalized performance of laundry skills, an analysis of training time and costs indicated that the former approach was more efficient. The study illustrates a methodology for studying complex interactions and guiding decisions on the optimal use of instructional alternatives.     

ASSESSING STIMULUS CONTROL IN NATURAL SETTINGS: AN ANALYSIS OF STIMULI THAT ACQUIRE CONTROL DURING TRAINING

When a learner is taught a new response, the stimuli that influence its display are often unknown. The presence or absence of these stimuli alters the probability of occurrence of the response. By identifying the stimuli influencing the probability of newly acquired responses, interventionists may program for their generalization more effectively and efficiently. This investigation describes the application of an operant methodology to assess functional relationships between responses and specific stimulus variables. Four young adults with moderate mental retardation were taught to include “please” as part of requests they made in school. Four environmental stimuli, present during training, were assessed for the controlling properties they acquired. Each of the four was assessed prior to and after training by presenting it in isolation (i.e., the other three were varied). If the presence of a single stimulus associated with training did not occasion “please,” then pairs of stimuli were probed. The results revealed that single-stimulus probing occasioned responding by only 1 learner; paired-stimulus probing set the occasion for including “please” by 2 others. Control of the 4th learner's responding was lost before training was introduced, because he began including “please” in his requests during baseline. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of analyzing stimulus control and promoting stimulus generalization.     

INCREASING HABILITATIVE SERVICES FOR PERSONS WITH PROFOUND HANDICAPS: AN APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS TO STAFF MANAGEMENT

We evaluated a structural analysis methodology for enhancing the utility of a staff management program. In Experiment 1, a structural analysis of direct-care staff behavior in a mental retardation facility revealed differences in work patterns over time. Specific times were identified when few basic care duties were necessary and staff engaged in nonwork activity. In Experiment 2, a management program was implemented to increase staff members' training activities during periods identified through the structural analysis. The program was accompanied by increases in training activities and decreases in nonwork behavior. The improvements were maintained during a 43-week period while the most labor-intensive component of the program was withdrawn. Staff acceptability measures indicated a positive response to the management intervention, although responses varied across components within the multifaceted program. The increased training was accompanied by beneficial changes among clients with profound handicaps. Results are discussed regarding practical considerations for improving staff performance and for adopting innovations resulting from applied research.     

THE CLASS SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF COMPLIANCE TRAINING WITH “DO” AND “DON'T” REQUESTS: ANALOGUE ANALYSIS AND CLASSROOM APPLICATION

Two experiments are reported in which the relationship between compliance with “do” and “don't” requests was examined with developmentally disabled children. In Experiment 1, a multiple baseline design across subjects with counterbalanced treatment conditions was used to evaluate a compliance training program composed of four phases: (a) baseline, during which no consequences were delivered for compliance, (b) reinforcement for compliance with one targeted “do” request, (c) reinforcement for compliance with one targeted “don't” request, and (d) follow-up with reinforcement on a variable ratio schedule for compliance with any “do” or “don't” request. Results of probes conducted before and after training within each condition indicated that generalized compliance occurred only with requests of the same type as the target exemplar (“do” or “don't”). In Experiment 2, these results were replicated in a classroom setting. Following collection of baseline probe data on student compliance, a teacher training program was successfully implemented to increase reinforcement of compliance first with one “do” and subsequently with one “don't” request of a target student. Results of multiple baseline probes across “do” and “don't” requests indicated that the teacher generalized and maintained reinforcement of compliance with other requests of the same type and to other students, with a resulting increase in student compliance with the type of requests reinforced. The impact of treatment on both teacher and student behavior was socially validated via consumer ratings. Implications of these findings with respect to response class formation and compliance training programs are discussed.