Where verbal deficits exist in children, one method of exceptional promise uses operant conditioning techniques to establish and modify verbal behavior. Modifications and extensions take place as the function of direct interaction between an experimenter and the child. Assuming that ideal teachers for such children, given the availability of…

The ability to anticipate elements in sequence is the foundation of all language skills. Because of its naturally high redundancy, it is almost always possible in the normal use of language to partially predict what will come next in a sequence of elements. The central feature of language processing is expectancy for successive elements. A very…

Using a conformity research methodology, the authors investigated the questions of whether (a) the Asch-type conformity setting produces greater yielding than variant settings where subjects are screened from one another and (b) the nonverbal element of contradictory or inconsistent nonverbal communications significantly alters response to the…

This case study of a kindergarten boy in the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) suggests that specific operant training in school-relevant behaviors can facilitate classroom adjustment if the training is coordinated with the regular classroom teacher. The subject, considered unmanageable, hyperactive, and aggressive by the staff at his…

In an attempt to develop an instrument to screen emotionally disturbed children, a study was designed to verify and extend previous research findings. These findings indicated that adjusted children in kindergarten exhibited greater conditionality on a simple discrimination learning task than maladjusted pupils under a process of continuous mild…

This is a report on the application of operant condition methods to classroom discipline problems. The setting was Clara Tagg Brewer Elementary School in CLEVELAND, Ohio. The school is located in a community consisting mostly of lower-middle class black families. A few children come from a "run down" section of the community, including…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the racial attitudes of black preschool children can be modified using different treatment methods. The hypotheses were as follows: (1) Racial attitudes will be modified, using operant learning procedures and a black consciousness curriculum; (2) A black consciousness curriculum will result in…

Fifteen articles by different authors discuss behavior modification in terms of research, training, and social application. Topics considered include the classification of behavioral pathology, the extension of learning principles to human behavior, studies of normal and deviant child behavior, operant conditioning of two speech-deficient boys,…

An analysis of part-of-speech membership was made utilizing certain mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the nature of word classes. It was proposed that words of the same form class constitute "verbal habit families" on the basis of either a common grammatical meaning response, a common affix, or a common label (e.g., "verb"). One…

At the Child Language Development Center at the University of Rochester, basic research in children's verbal behavior and the exploration of procedures for extending successful laboratory techniques to the typical preschool setting are being continued. Experiments in contingency management and the establishment of requisite antecedent behaviors…

This project successfully taught specific language-based concepts to retarded children with a behavior modification approach and direct verbal instruction, resulting in general intellectual gains. (See TM 504 595 for availability). (Author/CTM)

Presented are proceedings of the 4th annual (1972) meeting of the National Society for Autistic Children including 11 papers given at the meeting. Listed are officers and board members of the society, the convention committee members, and recipients of citations and awards. The president's report notes past goals, accomplishments, and future…

An introductory statement notes the increased interest in the fields of communication theory, linguistics, and psycholinguistics during the period 1953-57 and suggests reasons for this attention. The body of the article summarizes and comments upon some of the relevant literature published since 1953 in these three interrelated areas, limiting the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of behavior modification on enhancing the self-esteem of low-income Black and Puerto Rican elementary school children. Social reinforcement in the form of teacher praise was given to students who made any legitimate positive statements about themselves. The reinforcement was designed to…

This study identifies the policy variables that are effective in increasing student verbal achievement in urban grammar schools and high schools, and estimates the impact of these variables upon verbal achievement, expected years of education completed by a typical student, and expected lifetime earnings of a typical student. A theoretical model…