AN INSTITUTIONAL STAFF TRAINING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPING MULTIPLE SELF-CARE SKILLS IN SEVERELY/PROFOUNDLY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

Although considerable attention has been given to the development of institutional staff training and management programs, the generalized effects of such programs on staff and resident behavior have seldom been examined. This study evaluated a program for teaching institutional staff behavioral training and self-management skills during self-care teaching sessions with severely and profoundly retarded residents. Following baseline observations in three self-care situations (toothbrushing, haircombing, handwashing), four direct care staff were sequentially taught to use verbal instruction, physical guidance, and contingent reinforcement in the toothbrushing program. During maintenance, staff were simultaneously taught to record, graph, and evaluate resident and their own behavior in the toothbrushing sessions. Staff were taught use of the training and self-management skills through a sequence of written instructions, videotaped and live modeling, rehearsal, and videotaped feedback. Observer presence and experimenter supervision were gradually decreased during the maintenance condition. Results indicated that during training and maintenance staff: (a) learned to use the training skills appropriately and consistently in the example situation (toothbrushing); (b) applied the skills in the generalization situations (haircombing and handwashing); and thereafter (c) maintained consistent and appropriate use of the skills with infrequent supervision. In addition, important changes in retarded residents' independent self-care responding occurred as staff training skills developed. Results are discussed in terms of their implication for future research and continued development of effective staff training and management programs.     

NORMALIZATION OF INSTITUTIONAL MEALTIMES FOR PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS: EFFECTS AND NONEFFECTS OF TEACHING FAMILY-STYLE DINING

Benefits have been reported for certain institutionalized populations when mealtimes are arranged under normal, family-style conditions. In this study, we evaluated a program for teaching family-style mealtime skills to institutionalized persons with skill deficits greater than those targeted in previous research—the profoundly retarded. Results showed that the program, involving forward chaining with a less-to-more intrusive prompting sequence and contingent reinforcement, successfully taught four profoundly retarded persons several family-style skills. Also, systematic measures supported the durability of the skills, social validity of the behavior changes; Final acceptance of the program by staff trainers, and no detrimental changes in health-related variables associated with food consumption. However, results also indicated that beneficial corollary changes (e.g., increased peer communication) previously reported with higher skilled populations did not occur. These results suggest that with more seriously handicapped populations, multiple changes should not be assumed when normalizing institutional conditions; rather, specific skill training will probably be necessary.     

PEER TRAINING OF SAFETY-RELATED SKILLS TO INSTITUTIONAL STAFF: BENEFITS FOR TRAINERS AND TRAINEES

A peer training program, in which experienced staff trained new staff, was evaluated as a method for teaching and maintaining safety-related caregiver skills in an institutional setting for the developmentally disabled. Three sets of safety-type skills were assessed in simulated emergency situations: responding to facility fires, managing aggressive attacks by residents, and assisting residents during convulsive seizures. Using a multiple-baseline research design, results indicated that the peer training program was an effective method of training the three types of emergency skills to new direct care staff. The program also appeared effective in improving the skills of the peer trainers. Perhaps most importantly, results indicated that if experienced staff functioned as peer trainers for particular emergency skills, then their proficiency in those skills maintained over time whereas their proficiency declined in emergency skills for which they did not act as peer trainers. Social validity information collected from available staff 23 months after the program was completed supported the utility of the training in terms of staff responses during actual emergencies. Also, acceptability measures indicated that staff liked participating in the program. However, some inconsistencies between staff verbal reports and performance-based measures of acceptability were noted. Results are discussed regarding the overall effectiveness of the peer training program, the importance of maintenance strategies for safety-related skills, and the need for multidimensional analyses of staff acceptability in staff training/management research.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERPERSONAL SKILLS TRAINING ON THE SOCIAL SKILL ACQUISITION OF MODERATELY AND MILDLY RETARDED ADULTS

Sixteen moderately and mildly retarded adults were selected from a group residential facility and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received a 12-session interpersonal skills training program consisting of instruction in the following areas: (1) Introductions and Small Talk, (2) Asking for Help, (3) Differing with Others, and (4) Handling Criticism. The social skills instructional package included verbal instruction, modeling, role playing, feedback, contingent incentives, and homework. As a result of this training program, moderately and mildly retarded adults acquired new social skills as evidenced by performance on a situation role play assessment. These gains generalized to untrained role play situations but did not result in significant group differences when assessed in a more natural setting (i.e., local grocery store).     

LEISURE-DANCE INSTRUCTION FOR SEVERELY AND PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS: TEACHING AN INTERMEDIATE COMMUNITY-LIVING SKILL

We evaluated an approach for teaching an intermediate community living skill via a leisure-dance activity to institutionalized severely and profoundly retarded persons. The targeted skill was considered as intermediate in contrast to a community living skill per se because it was based on successful performances of higher functioning, noninstitutionalized retarded persons as opposed to nonhandicapped individuals. Definitions for appropriate dancing were established and then validated through observations of the performance of retarded persons living in the local community. The dance skills were then taught to four participants through serial training in leg movements, arm movements, and coordinated leg and arm movements, plus follow-up trainer supervision. Generalization was also programmed by way of multiple trainers and training settings. Results during structured assessments showed that all four residents acquired the dance skills and that both serial training and follow-up supervision were necessary for skill acquisition. Generalized increases in appropriate dancing at dances attended by the participants and retarded persons from the community were also demonstrated. However, in most cases some active supervision by caregivers was needed to enhance the generalized improvements. Results are discussed in terms of the applicability of this approach for validating goals when training other community-related skills to low-functioning populations.     

EFFECTS OF SPACED RESPONDING DRL ON THE STEREOTYPED BEHAVIOR OF PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS

Stereotypic responding and social behaviors of three profoundly retarded children were measured before and during application of a DRL contingency for stereotypic responding. A variant of the standard DRL procedure, spaced responding DRL, was used, in which reinforcement is delivered following a response if that response has been separated from the previous response by at least a fixed minimum time interval. Three children were treated by using a reversal design. Results showed that: (a) during baseline sessions, the children engaged in high rates of stereotypic responding and very low rates of appropriate social behavior; and (b) during DRL sessions, appropriate behavior increased markedly as stereotypic responding was reduced. The data suggest that spaced responding DRL may be effective in increasing appropriate social behavior as well as in reducing stereotypic responding.     

THE ROLE OF REFERENTIAL SPEECH IN SIGN LEARNING BY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN: A COMPARISON OF TOTAL COMMUNICATION AND SIGN-ALONE TRAINING

We conducted two experiments to assess the role of referential speech during sign training in which the spoken words corresponding to signs were receptively known to the participants. An alternating treatments design was used to compare sign acquisition across two teaching conditions in which referents were presented either with or without the corresponding verbal label. During the first experiment, signs were taught concurrently; during the second experiment, signs within each of the respective conditions were taught in a serial fashion. In both experiments, signs taught by total communication were acquired faster than those taught by sign-alone training.     

A PROGRAM FOR INCREASING MANUAL SIGNING BY AUTISTIC AND PROFOUNDLY RETARDED YOUTH WITHIN THE DAILY ENVIRONMENT

A program was implemented to increase the manual signing of five profoundly retarded and four autistic youth within their daily environment. Each participant was nonvocal or minimally vocal. The program was based on modified incidental teaching strategies and was implemented by direct care personnel under supervision in an institutional setting. Specific components included rearranging the physical environment to prompt signing, altering routine staff-resident interactions to prompt, manually guide and/or reinforce signing; and conducting mini-training sessions. Additionally, staff modeled signs intermittently throughout the day. The program was sequentially implemented during two staff work shifts on each of two resident living modules. Observations conducted at four separate time periods during the day indicated that significant increases in signing occurred for all participating youth and that the increases generally maintained during follow-up checks at 5 and 17 weeks. Differential effects of the increased signing on frequency of vocalizations were noted across residents. A staff acceptability survey indicated favorable staff reports on the usefulness of signing to communicate with the youth. Results are discussed regarding the significance of manual signing for seriously developmentally disabled persons and the importance of ensuring that signing skills are used in the daily environment and not exclusively in formal training sessions. Also, areas for continued research are noted in terms of more refined analyses of client skills and subsequent progress in manual communication programs.     

AN ALTERNATING TREATMENTS COMPARISON OF ORAL AND TOTAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING WITH MINIMALLY VERBAL RETARDED CHILDREN

This study was a comparison of the effects of oral speech with total communication (speech plus sign language) training on the ability of mentally retarded children to repeat 4-word sentences. Three children were chosen who used single words to communicate but who did not combine words into complete sentences. Three sentence pairs were trained, with each pair having one sentence trained using oral methods and an equivalent one trained using the total communication approach. Both training procedures involved chaining sentence parts, reinforcement, and prompting. Oral methods involved presenting vocal stimuli and requiring vocal responses whereas total communication methods involved presenting vocal and signed stimuli and requiring vocal and signed responses. For the initial sentence pair with each child, an alternating treatments design was used to determine the relative efficacy of the two language training approaches. This was repeated with a second and third sentence pair using a multiprobe technique within a multiple baseline design. Results pointed to the superiority of the total communication approach in facilitating sentence repetition. Possible explanations of these results are offered and the utility of the alternating treatments experimental design is discussed.     

ASSESSMENT OF STIMULUS PREFERENCE AND REINFORCER VALUE WITH PROFOUNDLY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

We evaluated a procedure for identifying potential reinforcers with profoundly retarded individuals. In Experiment 1, six persons were repeatedly exposed to 16 stimuli, and approach behaviors to each stimulus were used to identify preferred and nonpreferred stimuli. In Experiment 2, we examined the reinforcing properties of preferred and nonpreferred stimuli by delivering them contingently on the occurrence of arbitrarily selected responses. Results revealed that the preferred stimulus conditions typically produced higher rates of responding than did either the baseline or the nonpreferred stimulus conditions, suggesting that the procedure can be used to assess reinforcer value for individuals with limited behavioral repertoires.     

DEVELOPMENT OF SPONTANEOUS MANDING IN LANGUAGE DEFICIENT CHILDREN

Six institutionalized children, aged 7–11, with little or no spontaneous vocal manding, were trained to request food items under appropriate natural conditions when snacks were presented. “I want a” was appropriate when an adult presented food in the playroom. “Out” was appropriate when the items were displayed in the hallway, across a half-door barrier from the child. A sequence of steps was trained, through increasingly naturalistic setting and cuing conditions. The two mands were trained in sequence, not concurrently. To encourage “spontaneous” productions, no vocal cuing was provided by the adult. After criterion performance in each step, several probe sessions were conducted for various cuing conditions, adults, and settings. Probes after imitation training showed no spontaneous manding. Thus, failure of manding was not due to production difficulties. In probes after training for “approximately” natural cues, most children showed little transfer to the natural cues. This implies that training for the specific appropriate cues may often be required. However, good transfer generally occurred across persons, and from training room to playroom. Probes also showed that most children did not use one of the trained mands in the stimulus conditions that were appropriate for the other mand. Thus, adding a second mand did not generally disrupt use of the first. However, significant disruption occurred for two children. Finally, at the end of training, extinction training was given for one mand in one setting. Performance of the other mand was litle affected. In sum, the appropriate form of a mand depends on specific stimulus and setting characteristics, and these characteristics must be considered in training.     

SMALL GROUP BEHAVIORAL TRAINING TO IMPROVE THE JOB INTERVIEW SKILLS REPERTOIRE OF MILDLY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

Four retarded adolescents, enrolled in a short-term residential treatment program, received behavioral job interview skills training. Although potentially employable, each was unable to present himself effectively in standard employment interviews. Treatment consisted of a series of behavioral group sessions using instructions, modeling and rehearsal procedures to increase, in multiple baseline fashion, such skills as the adolescents' ability to disclose positive information about their experience and background, convey interest in the position and direct relevant questions to an interviewer. Effectiveness of treatment for each client was assessed by: (1) Objective ratings of performance during individual, structured role-play job interviews following each treatment group; (2) objective ratings of pre- and posttraining performance during tape recorded in vivo generalization job interviews at a fast-food restaurant; and (3) global evaluations of pre- and posttraining in vivo generalization interviews made by experienced personnel interviewers unfamiliar with the nature of the treatment. The results indicated that potentially employable retarded citizens can be successfully taught appropriate job interview behavior using a small group behavioral procedure. The need for such techniques in community and rehabilitation centers for retarded citizens and other clinical populations is discussed.     

ACQUISITION AND CROSS-SETTING GENERALIZATION OF MANUAL SIGNS WITH SEVERELY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

In this study, we assessed the effect of a transfer of stimulus control procedure on the acquisition and cross-setting generalization of manual signs with four profoundly retarded individuals. Two individuals were trained to produce appropriate signs to verbal instructions, whereas the other two were trained until manual signs were controlled by visual stimuli (objects). Data obtained from three probe situations (two for one individual) constituted the dependent variables of the investigation. The results, gathered within a multiple-baseline design across signs showed that (a) individuals acquired the trained signs and (b) maintenance and generalization across settings (classroom, ward) and persons (teachers, ward staff) occurred, but was highly variable between and within individuals.     

TEACHING JANITORIAL SKILLS TO THE MENTALLY RETARDED: ACQUISITION,GENERALIZATION, AND MAINTENANCE

A task analysis of janitorial skills required for cleaning a restroom was performed. Six subtasks with a total of 181 component responses were identified. Subjects were required to progress through a series of four prompt levels ordered generally from more to less direct assistance for 20 of the most difficult component steps. Another series of four prompts, ordered from less to more direct assistance, was used to teach the other 161 responses. Subjects progressed to the next more intense prompt level contingent on a failure to respond appropriately with less assistance. A multiple baseline across subjects as well as the six subtasks was employed to evaluate the efficacy of the procedures. Six moderately retarded adolescents were trained in their public school. The results show rapid response acquisition, skill generalization to a second restroom, and maintenance of the newly learned behavior. The present research provides evidence of a model for analyzing and training vocational skills to the mentally retarded.     

COMPARISON OF STAFF TRAINING STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE GENERALIZED TEACHING SKILLS

Two studies compared the effectiveness of different strategies for promoting generalization of staff skills in teaching self-care routines to clients with developmental disabilities. In Study 1, 9 direct-care staff members of group homes were trained sequentially through four conditions: (a) the provision of written instructions, (b) performance-based training using a single client program exemplar and simulated clients (single case training), (c) performance-based training using actual developmentally delayed clients as trainees (common stimuli training), and (d) performance-based training using multiple client program exemplars with simulated clients (general case training). The results indicated that staff members did not reach all generalization criteria until general case training was provided. Because staff members had been trained sequentially through several conditions in Study 1, a second study controlled for potential sequence effects. In Study 2, 7 staff members were trained using only the general case strategy after baseline. All staff members reached generalization criteria with only general case training, replicating the findings of Study 1. Together, the two studies demonstrated that the general case training strategy was more effective at promoting generalized training effects across clients, settings, and client programs than other commonly used staff training approaches.     

聋人手语视觉表象生成能力的实验研究

通过视觉表象判断实验,对聋手语使用者和听力正常人两类被试视觉表象生成的能力进行了比较。实验发现：与听力正常的人相比,聋手语使用者学习和记忆大写字母的时间短于听力正常的被试,并且两组被试记忆复杂字母的时间都较长;聋被试和听力正常被试采用了相同的字母表征方式。但是,习得手语的年龄对聋手语者生成表象的能力没有明显的影响。     

AN OPERANT TRACKING PROCEDURE IN THE AUDITORY ASSESSMENT OF PROFOUNDLY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

The present study investigated a discrete-trials, operant tracking and a descending-series procedure for the determination of hearing levels with profoundly retarded individuals. These individuals were previously diagnosed as untestable. Following stimulus-control training with errorless discrimination procedures, hearing levels for each individual were examined with both procedures. For P-1 and P-2, the operant tracking procedure was administered following a descending-series procedure. Both were observed to “track” their own hearing levels. For P-3, the operant tracking procedure was administered first, followed by the descending-series procedure. Although P-3 also “tracked” her own hearing level, more variable responding was observed. Nonetheless, the operant tracking procedure proved quite workable and may provide for improved hearing testing with “difficult-to-test” individuals.     

APPLICATION OF A SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE MODIFICATION OF INTERPERSONAL DEFICITS AMONG RETARDED ADULTS: A CLINICAL REPLICATION

Six mentally retarded adults, equally divided into two treatment groups, were provided with individualized social skills training programs. Treatment, evaluated via a multiple-baseline design strategy, was sequentially and cumulatively applied across target behaviors over a four-week intervention period. Behavioral observation probes and social validation measures served as the primary dependent variables. Results indicated that (a) treatment was effective for virtually all behaviors across all subjects, (b) improvements occurred for both training and generalization scenes, and (c) behavioral performance was maintained one month following the termination of treatment.     

STACKING THE DECK: TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS TO RETARDED ADULTS WITH A MODIFIED TABLE GAME

This study developed and evaluated a social skills training program for institutionalized mildly or moderately retarded and dually diagnosed individuals. Social skills were conceptualized as requiring an action or reaction within six skill areas: compliments, social interactions, politeness, criticism, social confrontation, and questions/answers. The program taught social skills using a commercially available table game, Sorry, and a specially designed card deck. Each card represented one of the skill areas and was designed to train either an actor or reactor response. The program featured response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criterion levels. A multiple baseline across two groups (N = 3 per group) revealed that the game contingencies increased social skills in all targeted areas. After training, the subjects displayed their newly learned skills at or above their trained levels in two different settings with novel persons present. Although untargeted, the complexity of the subjects' responses increased across conditions, since there was a steady increase in the number of words they used per response. The program appears to be a viable means of training social skills since it uses standardized training procedures, requires only one facilitator, and is in itself a social situation that may encourage interactions with peers, cooperation, competition, and politeness.     

AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RECEPTIVE SPEECH SKILLS AND EXPRESSIVE SIGNING

We examined the effects of receptive speech on the acquisition of manual signing among three mentally retarded children. In an alternating treatments design, we compared the acquisition of expressive signs that were, versus were not, in a child's receptive vocabulary. The children were trained via total communication in which pictorial referents were named during sign training. Signs corresponding to known words were generally acquired faster and retained better than signs corresponding to unknown words. We conducted posttests to assess the stimulus control of signing and any changes in expressive and receptive signing and speech. Observed changes in performance could be accounted for by attention to aspects of the stimulus complex during training and functional equivalence of stimuli established by training.