This investigation sought, through the use of reinforced, verbal statements, to decrease the time three moderately mentally retarded employees spent completing work tasks. The reinforced statements included start and completion time statements, and clock orientation statements describing start and completion times. As a result of this investigation, all three subjects improved their work performance. Also, two of the three subjects met supervisor-established time criteria with few exceptions. The third subject attained his criterion after the time criterion was increased by an additional 5 min. The use of reinforced, work-related statements and the cueing of such statements are discussed as components for behavior change.
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