INCREASING REQUESTS BY ADULTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES USING INCIDENTAL TEACHING BY PEERS

A peer-delivered incidental-teaching procedure was used to instruct appropriate requesting in adults with moderate to severe mental retardation or autism. Three pairs of group-home residents participated in an incidental-teaching procedure to increase appropriate requesting, prompting, and responding of residents during lunch-preparation sessions. An increase in the number of incidental-teaching episodes during dinner was obtained, and remained high when lunch-making training sessions were withdrawn. In addition, during the incidental-teaching phase, an increase in appropriate requests and overall verbalizations occurred for the peer learners. Changes in appropriate requesting and overall verbalizations also remained higher than baseline when training was withdrawn.     

小学儿童对虚假话语间接意义的理解

探讨了小学儿童对隐含在虚假话语中间接意义的理解特点。结果发现：（１）一年级儿童不能理解虚假话语的非字面意义,三年级儿童才基本上能够理解。（２）小学低年级儿童不能理解虚假话语的间接意义的主要原因是他们不能根据话语与事实不符和说话者知道事实真相来判断说话者说虚假话语的有意性和推论隐含的意义。部分原因可能在于他们没有意识到说话者了解事实真相,因而不知道说话者是故意使用虚假话语的。     

Teaching simple addition to children with mental retardation using a microcomputer

Computer assisted instruction (CAI) was used for improving the efficiency of simple addition (single-digit without carrying) computation in three children with mental retardation. The training program, conducted on a portable personal computer, consisted of demonstrations and repetitive practices on simple addition presented in a vertical format. A number of behavioral instruction techniques such as direct feedback, corrective demonstration, verbal association, and token reinforcement were also included. To evaluate the effects of the CAI package, a multiple-baseline across subjects design with followup was employed. Results showed that performances of children improved with training and were maintained at 1-week, 4-week, and 12-week followups. Generalization of the learned skills was evident when children were assessed on a paper-and-pencil addition test in a vertical format. The skills were also transferable, with initial prompting, to a computerized addition test in a horizontal format. These findings reaffirmed the applicability of CAI and behavioral techniques for teaching math skills to children with mental retardation.     

Teacher efficacy: A model for teacher development and inclusion

Students with special needs must have the opportunity to learn in inclusive classrooms. However, this requires that classroom teachers believe that (a) students can learn in spite of any negative environmental influences in their lives, and (b) they personally have the ability to reach any student. Securing this teaching efficacy for teachers in inclusive classroom settings requires paradigm shifts in preservice and inservice teacher development programs with the precept that all students can learn and that we can assist them. The authors, one a regular and the other a special education teacher educator, collaborate to explore the issue of how best to provide and maintain a positive personal teaching efficacy among regular teacher education candidates who are faced with the challenges of having students with varying levels of ability and behavioral responses in their classrooms.     

初中生友谊质量与孤独感的变化轨迹:一项多元潜变量增长模型分析

为考察初中生友谊质量与孤独感的变化轨迹及两者间的关系,采用关系网络问卷、孤独感量表对西安市的875名初中生（M=12.73±0.18;男生494名）进行三年追踪测量,使用多元潜变量增长模型进行分析。结果发现：（1）初中三年,中学生的友谊质量逐渐提高,孤独感水平逐渐下降;（2）初一时的友谊质量和孤独感水平存在显著的个体差异,初中三年期间二者的发展速度也存在个体差异;（3）初一时的友谊质量可显著预测初一时的孤独感水平（β=-1.77,p<0.001）及随后的发展速度（β=0.20,p<0.05）;（4）男生的孤独感水平初始值高于女生,友谊质量的初始值则低于女生;高SES个体孤独感的起始值高于低SES个体。本研究结果揭示了初中三年期间个体友谊质量与孤独感的动态变化关系及友谊质量对孤独感的预测作用,对改善青少年孤独感的现状有一定的现实指导意义。     

Contrast and undermatching as a function of reinforcer duration and quality during multiple schedules

Eight pigeons pecked keys under multiple variable-interval two-minute variable-interval two-minute schedules. In Experiment 1, the reinforcers were 2, 4, or 8 seconds access to a food magazine. In Experiments 2 and 3, the reinforcers were grains that had been determined to be most-, moderately-, or non-preferred. Both positive and negative behavioral contrast occurred when the reinforcers in one component were held constant and the duration or type of reinforcer obtained in the other component varied. Undermatching occurred when the relative rate of responding during a component was plotted as a function of the relative duration of the reinforcers in that component.     

Community,liberty and the practice of teaching

Does the cultivation of liberty undermine communities of practice? The answer depends significantly on what is meant by the cultivation of liberty and on what is meant by a community of practice. On the question of community, the work of Rawls and Sandel serves as a starting point. I examine three conceptions — the instrumental, the sentimental and the constitutive — and attempt to illustrate them with examples of communities of practice. I argue that Sandel's criterion for distinguishing between the sentimental and constitutive conceptions of community does not do the work required of it. On the question of liberty undermining community, I argue that if liberty is taken as license then it is a threat both to communities and to practices, whereas if it is taken as independence then it threatens neither. Two conceptions of independence can be distinguished. One, which is central to liberal political theory, does not presuppose an account of the good; the other, which I argue is central to the flourishing of a community of practice, does. It presupposes that account of the good which is implicit in the end or telos of the practice concerned.     

The problem: American education the solution: Use behavior analytic technology

In spite of numerous demonstrations that America's youth can be effectively educated with behavior analytic teaching techniques, few of the country's children are benefiting from the technology. In addition scholarly reviews of effective teaching strategies have often omitted reference to behavior analysis. One way to look at this problem is as a two-step operation. First, it is necessary to determine procedures that work; second it is necessary to devise strategies for effective dissemination. The present issue of JOBE (Vol. 1, No. 3, Sept. 1991) contains the recommendations of six outstanding behavioral educators as to how to deal with the dissemination problem. The initial article by Pumroy and McIntire describes the activities of an organization which trains school psychologists and teachers to use behavioral procedures and advocates for the techniques with a number of audiences. Next, Engelmann suggests that the public have more control over school activities and that legal action be taken against irresponsible administrative decisions. Hall advocates for less labor-intensive procedures and the sale of curricular materials based on behavioral principles. Binder proposes that dissemination of the technology become a private endeavor that responds to consumer needs. Rosenfield describes a collaborative model of consultation that increases treatment adherence. Finally, Albers and Greer describe research that isolates a key teacher behavior that results in greater academic proficiency.     

New assessment systems for residential treatment,management, research,and evaluation: A symposium

An introduction and overview are presented to new observational assessment systems for ongoing assessment and monitoring of both staff and resident (client or patient) functioning in residential treatment programs for emotionally disturbed and mentally retarded adults.Preparation of articles and the research and development on which the articles are based was supported, in part, by Public Health Service Grants MH-15553 and MH-25464 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by grants from the Joyce Foundation and the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.A symposium presented at the 87th Annual Meetings of the American Psychological Association, New York City, September 1979.     

Systems use to objectify program evaluation,clinical, and management decisions

The utility of the observational assessment systems at different levels — from local clinical to systemwide management — is outlined. An overview is provided of TSBC information applied to individualized problem identification and programming/monitoring, discharge and competency determinations, and both absolute and comparative program evaluation. The utility of SRIC information for prgoramming/monitoring and for staff training and evaluation is outlined in addition to the applied uses of the information of the assessment systems in combination. Once implemented, the continuous data from the systems allow for empirically based self-corrective improvements in the quality of mental health services while automatically providing a basis for legal documentation and accurate cost/effectiveness comparisons of mental health programs.Preparation of this article and the research and development on which the article is based were supported, in part, by Public Health Service Grants MH-15553 and MH-25464 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by grants from The Joyce Foundation and the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.Presented at the 87th Annual Meetings of the American Psychological Association, New York City, September 1979, as part of a symposium on New assessment systems for residential treatment, management, research, and evaluation.