Four subjects participated in a study to evaluate the effects of various social interaction skill interventions on the social behavior of preschool children and the reciprocal nature of their interactions with peers. Intervention included social skills training conducted in a controlled instructional setting, as well as individual and group-oriented contingency management procedures implemented during free play. Subject performance was assessed with a behavioral role play test and via direct observation of subject and peer behavior in free play settings. Results indicated unique effects for social skills training and the two contingency management interventions. Social skills training alone produced significant improvement in the production of target social skills, as measured by role play, for 3 of 4 subjects. However, this intervention produced relatively modest effects on subject and peer behavior in free play. Prompts and praise for target behaviors delivered to individual subjects during free play (i.e., Coaching) produced significant change in rates of subject initiations and responses to peers and peer responses to subject initiations, but produced few changes in reciprocal interactions between subjects and peers. Prompts and praise delivered to total play groups (i.e., Group Coaching) produced desired effects on peer behavior, but had less effect on interactive behavior of subjects. These results are discussed with respect to the role of reciprocal interaction and behavioral trapping for producing maintenance and generalization in social interaction interventions for preschool children with behavioral handicaps.

Many persons with severe and profound disabilities exhibit chronic and excessive drooling, which can have unfavorable effects on their socialization and health. Few treatments to reduce this behavior, however, have been evaluated systematically. In the present investigation, oral motor stimulation was used with 2 children who attended a residential educational facility for students who are blind and who have multiple disabilities. The treatment involved the brushing of the hard palate, the upper and lower gums, the tongue, and the inside of both cheeks at 1-hr intervals during the school day. The efficacy of this approach was demonstrated with a withdrawal experimental design. Because this treatment did not eliminate drooling, vibration was applied to the chin and neck, first in conjunction with the oral motor stimulation and then contingent on the subject's having a dry face. Vibration did not have additional therapeutic effects. The results of this study are discussed in relation to the existing literature on modification of drooling and the difficulty of effecting change in the behavior of persons with severe and profound mental and physical disabilities.

This study was a comparison of the effects of oral speech with total communication (speech plus sign language) training on the ability of mentally retarded children to repeat 4-word sentences. Three children were chosen who used single words to communicate but who did not combine words into complete sentences. Three sentence pairs were trained, with each pair having one sentence trained using oral methods and an equivalent one trained using the total communication approach. Both It is widely accepted that many mentally retarded and autistic persons can benefit from instruction in nonverbal communication (Poulton & Algozzine, 1980). Typically, manual sign language is used (Sisson & Barrett, 1983) and the approach is to sign and speak to the client with the expectation that the client will sign or speak or both following training (Carr, 1979 (wmm 1984)

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In the present study the effectiveness of a token reinforcement program in improving mealtime behaviors of four mentally retarded, behaviorally disordered children was evaluated using the multiple baseline design across behaviors. Participants were residents on an inpatient psychiatric hospital program for children. Target behaviors included appropriate utensil use, appropriate napkin use, chewing with mouth closed, and good posture. Training was implemented in a group setting and consisted of verbal instructions, modeling, manual prompts, and token reinforcement delivered at preprogrammed variable intervals signaled by a tape recording. Results showed acquisition of target behaviors in 20 to 40 sessions. Further, behavioral gains were judged to be clinically significant by a group of independent observers.