Correspondence between definitions and procedures: A reply to Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont

Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont's (1987) implicit definition of correspondence classes appears close to ours (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987). Their definition, however, is fundamentally procedural and thus may have to be modified as experimental methodologies are refined. The advantage of our contingency-space analysis is that it is independent of specific procedures and focuses attention on problems inherent in some procedural definitions. Specifically, a contingency-space analysis addresses the issue of distinguishing specific instances from classes and reminds us that correspondence can be identified as a class only on the basis of observing a population of opportunities for say/do sequences in which the subject sometimes does not say.     

Group instruction with profoundly retarded persons: acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of a remunerative work skill.

We evaluated a group instruction program for teaching a vocational skill to profoundly retarded adults. The program involved designated trainer roles and both individual student-directed and total group-directed procedures. Results indicated that, following the program, participants acquired the skill of stamping addresses on envelopes, the skill generalized across an untrained type of envelope, and the skill maintained over time. The group activity was incorporated into the regular classroom without increased disruption and the participants earned a wage for their productivity. Implications for the development of a group instruction technology for severely handicapped persons are discussed.     

An experimental approach to language training in second language acquisition: Focus on negation

The effect of negation training in a second language on the expression of negation in the native language was investigated. Four-year-old children from bilingual (Spanish/English) homes who showed no expressive or receptive ability in Spanish negation and were either proficient or nonproficient in English negation received Spanish negation training. Children who were proficient in English negation maintained correct responses in English and showed increased correct responses in Spanish following simultaneous training in both languages or in Spanish alone. Children who were nonproficient in English negation demonstrated a decrease in correct English responses following training in Spanish alone; however, children who received training in English and Spanish simultaneously showed increases in correct responses in both languages. These findings suggest that language training programs with children learning a second language should consider the relationship of the two language training conditions (simultaneous vs. independent) with the child's level of native language proficiency.     

BEHAVIORAL TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES TO STYRENE

We conducted a test of the usefulness of behavioral methods to control occupational health problems by reducing workers' exposures to toxic chemicals. Four plastics workers were trained in nine behaviors selected for potential to reduce their exposures to styrene, a common chemical with multiple toxic effects. Behavioral measures indicated that the workers quickly came to emit most of the behaviors. Measures of air samples indicated that large decreases in exposures to styrene accompanied the changes in behaviors for the three workers who had been selected because they most needed relief from their exposures and because they had opportunities to control their exposures by the ways they behaved.     

TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONAL SKILLS TRAINING WITH SOCIALLY ISOLATED,IMPAIRED NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

We evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehensive training program for enhancing the conversational skills of socially isolated, impaired elderly nursing home residents. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to train four subjects (aged 87, 85, 68, and 66), on four content-related conversational components: (a) expressing common courtesies, (b) making positive self-disclosures, (c) asking questions, and (d) making interjections and acknowledgments. Training procedures included instructions, modeling, behavior rehearsal, feedback, and reinforcement. Results showed positive effects with all four subjects; in two cases, changes were significant enough to affect untrained observers' perceptions of the elders' conversational skills.     

Temporal distributions of responding during discrete-trial omission training in rats

Within-session temporal distributions of responding were investigated in three experiments using rats pressing a lever in a discrete-trial omission procedure. This schedule entailed 60, one-minute trials, and a sucrose solution was made available at the end of each trial in which no lever press occurred. In Experiment I, nonnaive rats acquired and maintained responding during this training. Moreover, the probability of a response during any session showed a strong and reliable tendency to increase from the beginning to the end of the session. These results were replicated in Experiment II, using naive animals. In Experiment III, alterations were made in the training procedure, including elimination of response-contingent and noncontingent stimulus changes. Results indicate that stimulus change may be sufficient to maintain low levels of responding whether or not this change is contingent on responding.     

IMPROVING THE GENERALIZED MNEMONIC PERFORMANCE OF A DOWN'S SYNDROME CHILD1

A training program was conducted to improve the generalized mnemonic performance, or memory, of a Down's Syndrome child. Training was directed at digit-span performance with generalization from training determined by responses to untrained mnemonic performance probes. The digit-span items varied in length from three to five digits. Each length constituted an item class, with each class trained within the framework of a multiple-baseline design. Probes consisted of untrained digit-span items, grammatical sentences, nongrammatical sentences, and match-to-sample items. A training procedure, in which 15 items from each class varied continually from trial to trial and from day to day, resulted in the percentage of correct responses to both training and probe items increasing to levels substantially above baseline. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the training procedure in improving the generalized mnemonic performance of a Down's Syndrome child.     

GENERALIZATION EFFECTS FROM INTRATHERAPY ARTICULATION TRAINING: A CASE STUDY1

This study analyzed generalization effects found associated with a language-training intervention to modify the articulation (/f/ phoneme) of a 3.5-year-old boy. The McLean and Raymore Stimulus Shift Articulation Program was implemented by the subject's mother. This language training program is designed to produce setting generalization effects based on an intratherapy training model (i.e., systematic training is applied in a single setting to promote transfer effects to nontraining environments). The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the subject's production of the /f/ phoneme within the clinical setting in response to untrained stimuli (stimulus generalization). Additionally, the subject's correct phoneme production was observed to generalize to his home and school settings (setting generalization) under “opportunity loaded” (picture prompts) and “spontaneous” (no prompts) conditions. The results provide case-study evidence that stimulus generalization, both within and across settings, may occur with exclusively intratherapy articulation training.     

Public transportation training: in vivo versus classroom instruction

This study evaluated a classroom program to teach public transportation usage (bus-riding skills) to retarded persons. Based on a task analysis of specific skills, five retarded male students were taught each of the components of locating, signalling, boarding and riding, and exiting a bus. These skills were taught sequentially, using training procedures consisting of role playing, manipulating the actions of a doll on a simulated model, and responding to questions about slide sequences. Before, during, and after training, subjects were tested on generalization probes in the classroom and in the natural environment. Results of a multiple-baseline design across subjects indicated that up to 12 months after termination of training, each subject exhibited appropriate bus-riding skills on actual city buses. Two other subjects were trained on each skill component in vivo, on city buses, in order to compare the relative effectiveness and efficiency of classroom versus in vivo training. Both of these subjects acquired appropriate bus-riding skills; however, the in vivo training procedure was both more time consuming and expensive than classroom training. These findings further demonstrate the effectiveness and practicality of properly designed classroom training procedures for teaching community survival skills to retarded persons.     

Generalization of parent-training results

Two experiments were conducted to assess the generalized effects of several different parent/teacher training programs. In Experiment I it was found that a brief demonstration of how to teach an autistic child new behaviors was sufficient to teach parents how to teach those children those behaviors. However, generalization to new child-target behaviors did not take place. Another parent training program, which did not demonstrate how to teach any one specific child behavior, but was based on teaching the use of general behavior-modification procedures, was effective in teaching the parents how to teach new child-target behaviors. Experiment II then provided analyses of the individual effects of several components of the generalized training program. The results showed that videotape illustrations of the procedures, without the presence of a master teacher, were sufficient to teach the adults. However, sub-parts of the videotapes produced highly specific training results, with each component changing corresponding areas of the adults' behaviors. Viewing of the entire package was necessary before the adults were able to improve the autistic children's behaviors. The study as a whole suggests the importance of obtaining multiple measures of the effects of parent and teacher training programs, including measures of acquisition and generalization of both adult and child behaviors.