This study examined the effectiveness of video modeling to teach a preschooler with autism to imitate previously mastered and not mastered actions during song and toy play activities. A general case approach was used to examine the instructional universe of preschool songs and select exemplars that were most likely to facilitate generalization.…

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…

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…

During prebaseline observations, three students diagnosed with autism were unable to make social initiations to another individual. The ability to make initiations would be considered a "pivotal response" in that it would allow an individual to come into contact with a wide variety of social reinforcement. A multiple-baseline design was…

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)

In a single case study which incorporated a reversal within a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design, two women presented individual children (N=3) with eight natural-appearing opportunities to behave prosocially in each session (two opportunities each of helping, sharing, teaching, and sympathy). The training procedure involved a standardized…