The current investigation evaluated repertoires that may be related to performance on auditory-to-visual conditional discrimination training with 9 students who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The skills included in the assessment were matching, imitation, scanning, an auditory discrimination, and a visual discrimination. The…

Social referencing, a form of nonverbal communication, involves seeking out discriminative stimuli provided by others about contingencies in an ambiguous context in order to respond in a manner that produces reinforcement. Although demonstrated by typically developing infants, social referencing is notably absent or impaired in individuals with…

Five male preschool children were studied to determine the extent to which the generalized motor imitation model applies to vocal imitation. The use of a reinforced-imitation condition produced a systematic increase in verbal matching responses among three of the five children, which is consistent with previous studies. (SW)

Nursery school children were shown films to vicariously condition either fear or positive emotional responses in them. The children showed a higher rate of responding to the positive stimulus. (Author/KM)

INTENDED FOR SPEECH THERAPISTS, THEACHERS OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED, AND OTHERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, THE COLLECTION CONTAINS REPORTS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE MODIFICATION ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE UTILIZED OPERANT CONDITIONING PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS SEVERAL PAPERS ON BACKGROUND TOPICS. BACKGROUND PAPERS ON TEACHING TREAT ENVIRONMENTAL…

The results of three experiments involving 6 young children suggest that the generalized imitation effect may not be entirely due to the child's inability to discriminate reinforced fron nonreinforced occasions. Instructional and social variables may strongly influence the generalized imitation effect. (WY)

Discusses research strategies employed in studies of the importance of adult social cues in controlling children's behavior, illustrating some of the limitations of sole reliance on laboratory paradigms for achieving an understanding of both the contemporaneous operation and the development of social cue effectiveness. (JH)

The primary thrust of this book is the presentation of two divergent models of man, the explicit and implicit philosophical assumptions which characterize each view, the conditions of learning compatible with each model, and the educational implications of each position. An introductory section considers the two models of man--the phenomenological…

Motivating variables in the verbal interaction between mother and young child, which may influence the acquisition of the child's verbal skills, were investigated. Previous hypotheses were surveyed and data on verbal interactions of 29 mother-child pairs were presented. (Author/MS)