Self-management training of mentally retarded adults presenting severe conduct difficulties

Behavior treatment, behavior management, and behavior control: Needed distinctions

“…The specific treatment procedures selected should have both conceptual and, whenever available , empirical support for enduring behavior change. As examples, a young man with moderate mental retardation who engages in frequent aggressive outbursts may be provided a skills training program designed to teach him to cope with peer conflict (Cole, Gardner, & Karan, 1985). Or severely retarded children may be taught communication skills as replacements for tantrum, self-abusive, and aggressive behaviors (Carr & Durand, 1985).…”

“…Class 1 variables include those external physical and psychosocial environmental events that, when present, instigate or increase the likelihood that the problem behavior will occur. These conditions may include such factors as reduction in the frequency of staff attention (Carr & Durand, 1985), presentation of demands (Carr, Newsom, & Binkoff, 1980), social disapproval (Mace, Page, Ivancic, & O'Brien, 1986), peer taunting (Cole, Gardner, & Karan, 1985), and removal of positive conditions (Peterson & Peterson, 1968). Assessment must be individualized as emphasized by findings reported by Mace and colleagues (1986) (1985) revealing obvious individual differences among persons with mental retardation in the types of antecedent conditions that instigate aggressive and related disruptive behaviors.…”

Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

“…The second subtype of psychological central processing features places the person at risk for aggressive responding as a result of the functional absence or low strength of these. These features include such areas as (a) deficits in skills of anger management (Benson, Rice, & Miranti, 1986;Cole, Gardner, & Karan, 1985), (b) communication skill deficits , (c) problem solving skill deficits (Benson, 2002), and (d) deficits in prosocial skill alternatives to aggression (Fredericks & Nishioka-Evans, 1999). These features increase the risk of aggressive responding when a person with an inclination to use aggression as a coping response is exposed to conditions of provocation that require the deficit psychological features for alternative socially appropriate action.…”

Evaluating a cognitive/behavioural approach to teaching anger management skills to adults with learning disabilities

“…Finally, the majority of studies which have focused upon teaching self‐management techniques have relied on relaxation alone, or relaxation in combination with self‐monitoring and self‐instruction (Hughes & Davis 1980; Cole et al . 1985; McPhail & Chamove 1989; Rossiter et al .…”