The study sought to identify effective procedures for facilitating initial imitative vocal behavior in mentally retarded children, thus accelerating the initial stages of language acquisition. Three groups of Down syndrome children ages 6 months to 4 years (N=15) served as subjects in an examination of the relative effectiveness of three…

An operant conditioning technique was used to study visual discrimination of simple patterns by infants aged 6-12 weeks. The appropriate direction of head turning to the patterns was developed and maintained by social reinforcement. Results showed that visual discriminative control of the direction of head turning can be achieved. (WY)

Modeling techniques and reinforcements for imitation of 35 mothers were recorded as the mothers interacted with their 19-month-old infants in a seminaturalistic setting. Children's imitations and mothers' reinforcements for imitation were found to be complexly related. (GO)

Discusses the distinction between species-typical (elicitation) and operant reinforcement interpretations of infant/adult social interaction; considers procedural and analytic components of Poulson's 1983 paper (v36 p471-89); and clarifies differences in Poulson's interpretation and the author's interpretation of the vocal conditioning studies of…

The results of a study of 18 Down's syndrome infants demonstrated that subjects provided with physical and verbal reinforcement scored higher on measures of gross motor, language, and social and self-help skills than infants provided with verbal reinforcement alone. Infants receiving only verbal reinforcement scored higher on measures of fine…

The effect of four social learning conditions on early language acquisition was explored, along with comparisons between learning whole words and learning the component sounds of the words. Subjects were 20 infants aged 9 to 15 months. (MS)

Analyzed effects of modeling and contingent praise on infant imitation of three responses: motor-with-toy, motor-without-toy, or vocal. Found a systematic increase in the percentages of training and probe models matched by the three 12- to 14-month-olds following introduction of model-and-praise treatment conditions. Nonmatching responses did not…

The Down's syndrome population presents a social quotient higher than its intelligence quotient, the main characteristic of its personality and because of the pronounced hypotony suffered by them, principally in the first years of life. This report shows the results of a study carried out about differential acquisitions of two groups of trisomy-21…

The acquisition of imitative responses without reinforcement was investigated with infants by eliminating contingent reinforcement through the use of videotaped models. Twenty-nine male and female infants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, a Rhythmic Vocalization Group or a Conversation Control Group. Infants in the first group were…

An infant's unique style and temperament is thought to develop during a given small time segment as a consequence of the initiatives taken by caretaker or infant; usually an interaction of the two. (WY)

The study examined effects of training older siblings (ages 6-8) of six 1- to 3-year-old infants and toddlers with Down syndrome to employ social communication strategies in play sessions. Three secondary purposes included evaluating effects of intervention upon the communication skills of the Down syndrome children, effects of intervention on…

Three studies that applied quantitative procedures to measure motor and sensory/motor acquisition among handicapped and nonhandicapped infants and children are presented. In addition, a study concerning the replication of the quantitative procedures for assessing rolling behavior is described in a fourth article. The first study, by C. Janssen,…