No abstract

Preferences for looking and listening among 12 learning disabled and 12 normal children were analyzed by individually and directly recording the rates at which each child worked for the opportunity to look at and listen to a sound movie whose audio and visual channels were programed through two conjugate programers. Patterns of looking and listening preference were found and representative response records of some of these patterns are presented. Thirty-three percent of the children preferred to look and listen simultaneously; 37 percent would look but not always listen. No child was found who would listen but not look, while several of the learning disabled children would look but not listen. The three different conjugate procedures used in this study differed in their reliability and sensitivity to preferences and deficits.

Listening, a significant dimension of the behavior of hearing-impaired children, may be measured directly by recording childrens' responses to obtain audio narrations programmed via a conjugate reinforcement system. Twelve hearing-impaired, school-aged children responded in varying ways to the opportunity to listen. Direct and continuous measurement of listening has relevance for evaluation of remediation methods and for discovery of variables potentially related to listening.

Case histories of young hearing impaired children whose parents were enrolled in a parent home training program are described, and the developmental or behavioral management problems encountered are discussed. Some of the operant behavioral management procedures were particularly useful in (a) establishing effective discipline methods, (b) aiding the child's adjustment to prosthetic devices, and (c) dealing with problems related to additional handicapping conditions.