This research demonstrated some of the conditions under which retarded children can be taught to imitate the actions of adults. Before the experiment, the subjects were without spontaneous imitative behavior, either vocal or motor. Each subject was taught, with food as reinforcement, a series of responses identical to responses demonstrated by an experimenter; i.e., each response was reinforced only if it was identical to a prior demonstration by an experimenter. Initially, intensive shaping was required to establish matching responses by the subjects. In the course of acquiring a variety of such responses, the subjects' probability of immediate imitation of each new demonstration, before direct training, greatly increased. Later in the study, certain new imitations, even though perfect, were never reinforced; yet as long as some imitative responses were reinforced, all remained at high strength. This imitativeness was then used to establish initial verbal repertoires in two subjects.
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In the pursuit of efficient habilitation, many service providers exercise a great deal of control over the lives of clients with developmental disabilities. For example, service providers often choose the client's habilitative goals, determine the daily schedule, and regulate access to preferred activities. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of allowing clients to exercise personal liberties, such as the right to choose and refuse daily activities. On one hand, poor choices on the part of the client could hinder habilitation. On the other hand, moral and legal issues arise when the client's right to choice is abridged. Recommendations are offered to protect both the right to habilitation and the freedom to choose.
A recent study reported procedures (the "good behavior game") for reducing disruptive classroom behavior. Replication of the procedures of the "good behavior game" in two classrooms showed it to be an effective technique for reducing disruptive talking and out-of-seat behavior. Further experimental analysis indicated that the effective components of the game were division of the class into teams, consequences for a team winning the game, and criteria set for winning the game. Although disruptive behavior was markedly reduced by the game, the reductions were correlated with only slightly improved accuracy of academic performance in the one classroom where academic performance was measured.In the last few years, a number of published studies have been concerned with developing methods to reduce disruptive classroom behaviors. Most have involved the use of individual consequences for the behavior of the students in the classroom. In some of the studies, teachers were systematically trained to ignore or reprimand individual students when they were disruptive and to praise these individual students when they were engaged in non-disruptive or study behaviors (e
This study compared social stories and the teaching interaction procedure to teach social skills to 6 children and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder. Researchers taught 18 social skills with social stories and 18 social skills with the teaching interaction procedure within a parallel treatment design. The teaching interaction procedure resulted in mastery of all 18 skills across the 6 participants. Social stories, in the same amount of teaching sessions, resulted in mastery of 4 of the 18 social skills across the 6 participants. Participants also displayed more generalization of social skills taught with the teaching interaction procedure to known adults and peers.
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