INCREASING VERBAL INTERACTION AMONG ELDERLY SOCIALLY ISOLATED MENTALLY RETARDED ADULTS: A GROUP LANGUAGE TRAINING PROCEDURE

The present study examined the effectiveness of a group language training procedure for directly increasing and generalizing the rate of verbal interaction among four elderly, socially isolated, moderately mentally retarded men. A withdrawal of treatment design was used to examine the effect of the procedure that used verbal prompts, behavioral rehearsal, and contingent social praise. Changes in behavior were examined in two generalization settings, one similiar to the training environment (Generalization I) and the other arranged as part of the subjects' daily routine (Generalization II). Baseline data indicated no verbal interaction among the subjects. During treatment the training procedure increased the rate of subjects' verbal interactions not only in the training situation, but also in the two generalization settings. An analysis of the data obtained during the Generalization II situation indicated that subjects' verbal interaction increased not only among themselves, but with nonsubject peers present in this setting. Follow-up data showed that increases in rates of verbal interaction were maintained four months after the cessation of training. The implications of the results for program generalization and work with the language deficient individual is discussed.     

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.     

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.     

A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PHOTO-OBJECT MATCHING SKILLS OF SEVERELY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

Matching-to-sample procedures were used to assess picture representation skills of severely retarded, nonverbal adolescents. Identity matching within the classes of objects and life-size, full-color photos of the objects was first used to assess visual discrimination, a necessary condition for picture representation. Picture representation was then assessed through photo-object matching tasks. Five students demonstrated visual discrimination (identity matching) within the two classes of photos and the objects. Only one student demonstrated photo-object matching. The results of the four students who failed to demonstrate photo-object matching suggested that physical properties of photos (flat, rectangular) and depth dimensions of objects may exert more control over matching than the similarities of the objects and images within the photos. An analysis of figure-ground variables was conducted to provide an empirical basis for program development in the use of pictures. In one series of tests, rectangular shape and background were removed by cutting out the figures in the photos. The edge shape of the photo and the edge shape of the image were then identical. The results suggest that photo-object matching may be facilitated by using cut-out figures rather than the complete rectangular photo.     

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.     

TEACHERS' GENERALIZED USE OF DELAY AS A STIMULUS CONTROL PROCEDURE TO INCREASE LANGUAGE USE IN HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

In Experiment 1, classroom teachers were taught to delay their offers of help in naturally occurring situations, and thereby to provide additional opportunities for language use by six moderately retarded language-delayed children. The teachers introduced this delay technique in a multiple-baseline design across the six children. As delays were used, child verbal initiations increased. Follow-up assessment showed that teachers were maintaining greater than baseline levels of the delay technique after 10 weeks. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and included a more thorough maintenance assessment, while focusing on teachers' generalization of the delay technique. Teachers were found to generalize their use of delay to 56% of their monitored untaught opportunities. The two experiments show that (a) the delay technique is quick to teach and simple to implement, (b) delays do provide opportunities for children to initiate, (c) teachers can generalize their use of delay to novel self-selected situations, and (d) teachers can maintain their use of delays over time.     

INVOLVING INSTITUTIONAL STAFF IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF SIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS

A program to involve institutional staff in developing manual sign language skills with profoundly retarded persons was evaluated. In Experiment 1, six direct care staff, with close supervision, taught a small repertoire of signs to six profoundly retarded residents who had not benefited from previous training in vocal language. Training was conducted in a group format using instructions, modeling, manual guidance, contingent reinforcers, and feedback. During training, all residents learned to identify pictures of objects with manual signs. Generalization observations during unstructured times on the residents' living unit indicated that staff used their signing skills with the residents in addition to their vocal interactions but the residents did not increase their signing or vocalizing. In Experiment 2, the residents' skills in signing with real objects on their living unit as opposed to pictures of objects were evaluated and provided with additional training where necessary. Results indicated that all participating residents learned to communicate with signing during structured interactions on their living unit, and the skills maintained during follow-up assessments ranging from 39 to 49 weeks. Results are discussed regarding the variable generalization effects noted as well as the general benefits and disadvantages of teaching manual signing skills to profoundly retarded persons.     

Developing auditory stimulus control: A note on methodology

This paper concerns the problem of teaching people with intellectual handicaps to respond reliably to spoken words and other auditory instructional stimuli. We describe how microcomputer technology can be applied to implement effective auditory stimulus control shaping methods. With hardware and software currently available, it is now possible to adapt procedures that have been previously successful in stimulus control programming with visual stimuli. We describe several techniques for programming gradual stimulus changes (e.g., stimulus fading, stimulus shaping) to promote auditory discrimination learning. Teaching studies with two individuals with severe mental retardation provide illustrative applications and data supporting the feasibility and potential utility of auditory stimulus control shaping methodology.     

Microcomputer-based programmed instruction in identity matching to sample for persons with severe disabilities

Three individuals with mental retardation, who had failed to learn identity matching to sample with standard fading and prompting procedures, were given microcomputer-based programmed instruction. The methods were based on an analysis of two features of typical identity matching procedures: (a) within each trial, the current sample stimulus must control comparison selection, and (b) across trials, specific comparison stimuli must function both as S+ and as S–, depending upon the sample presented (conditional discrimination). During the first phase of training, one-trial acquisition of discriminative stimulus control was established in a nonconditional discrimination context where the S+ or S– functions of specific stimuli did not change from trial to trial. After one-trial learning was established, conditional discrimination was programmed by gradually introducing reversals of S+/S– stimulus functions. All three participants learned to perform conditional identity matching. Avenues for further analysis of the prerequisites for conditional discrimination and continued development of programmed methods are discussed.     

ANTECEDENT CONTROL OF ORAL READING ERRORS AND SELF-CORRECTIONS BY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN

Academic behaviors can be enhanced through the manipulation of either consequent or antecedent stimuli. In this study, we evaluated the effects of manipulating two antecedent stimulus events with respect to oral reading errors and self-corrections of four mentally retarded children. Using an alternating treatments design, the effects of previewing the target text and previewing an unrelated text were evaluated against no-previewing. In the first previewing condition, the teacher discussed the target text with the children before they were required to read it orally. The same procedure was used in the other previewing condition but with the provision that an unrelated text was previewed. Oral reading errors decreased and self-corrections increased when the children previewed the target text with their teacher before reading it orally. No changes were observed as a result of implementing the other two procedures, previewing an unrelated text and no-previewing. The results, which were consistent across all four children, showed that reading proficiency can be increased by manipulating antecedent stimulus events prior to oral reading.