A reversal design was used to evaluate the effects of vocal and written prompts as well as reinforcement on safe behavior (dismounting and walking bicycles or motorcycles on a sidewalk) on a university campus. Results indicated that an intervention that consisted of vocal and written prompts and reinforcement delivered by security guards was…

This study used reinforcement principles to investigate some procedures for helping a 4-year-old Mexican-American girl establish peer contact in a Head Start class. Although Diane was healthy and intelligent, she had a low rate of attendance at school and spent most of her time there in isolation. The first procedure employed in the study was the…

Available from: Sage Publications, Inc., 275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212. The effect of a differential reinforcement procedure alone was compared with the use of verbal prompts plus differential reinforcement in reducing deviant social behavior of an institutionalized retarded male (28 years old). (IM)

Physical prompts and physical and social reinforcement within a game format helped to reduce head droop in a three-year-old congenitally visually impaired child. Generalization to untrained settings and a high level of maintenance were also revealed. (CL)

The effects of three interventions (peer initiation, reinforcement, and prompting) delivered by nonhandicapped students (4th graders) on the social initiation behavior of untrained peers toward a student with severe handicaps were examined. Results indicated the prompt procedure produced the highest levels of positive social initiation from…

Both interventions produced dramatic and comparable increases in positive social behavior in training sessions; however, post-treatment responding was not observed for either intervention during generalization assessment. (Author/DLS)

The effects of prompting by peers on the rate of completing assignments and on the correspondence of noon-time plans with the amount of actual studying exhibited the same evening was observed with 15 undergraduate university students. Subjects were provisionally accepted students enrolled in a one credit pass/fail course. Students initially earned…

Strategies typically used for teaching academic skills can also be used to teach disabled children to become more socially competent. They include modeling, strategic placement, correspondence training, rehearsal and practice, positive reinforcement/shaping, prompting and coaching, positive practice, and multimethod training packages. (VW)

In order to maximize the development and generalization of social responses of two severely retarded, multihandicapped children (10 and 11 years old) and their classroom peers, a continuous observation system was used to select target responses. (Author)

In this article infant operant conditioning studies are grouped according to distinct procedures: free operant; discrete trial with one discriminative stimulus; discrete trial with two or more discriminative stimuli; controlled operant with two or more discriminative stimuli; and unrestricted operant with two or more discriminative stimuli.…

A retrospective review of 51 studies from 22 journals (1976 to 1990) concerning generalization of social skills training with preschool children was conducted. Strategies employed by the most successful studies were identified, such as addressing functional target behaviors; using prompts, positive reinforcement, and feedback strategies; and…

A study of 4 youths (ages 11-18) with autism examined the effectiveness of teaching appropriate affective behavioral responses. Participants were described by teachers as having flat and inappropriate affect. Treatment consisted of modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. The combination of an error-correction procedure and contingent delivery of…

This study, involving four staff members in an institution for people with mental retardation, found that a computerized system of prompts to improve staff-client interactions produced more positive statements, improved distribution of interaction among clients, and resulted in delivery of more positive reinforcement than a traditional…

Teachers and teacher educators seem to be little aware of some major concepts about instruction that provide important insights into the central requirements for learning. A common misconception is that motivation has to do with wanting or desiring. It is instead attention to stimuli that is influenced by two powerful agents--(1) suspense,…