Treatment of Severe Perceptual-Motor Disorders in Children Diagnosed as Learning Disabled

Abstract

This study evaluates a procedure using positive reinforcement in the remediation of severe perceptual-motor disorders in the handwriting of four earning disabled boys. In Experiment 1, two of the students were asked to copy five words, five geometric figures, and their first name five times during each session. Following baseline in a multiple baseline design across subjects, token reinforcement was made contingent on correct responses (that contained no errors of orientation, sequence, or legibility), and corrective feedback was given following incorrect responses. Probe sessions during which the children copied different words and figures were interspersed three times during baseline and three times during treatment to assess the degree of generalization to new stimuli. Reinforcement and corrective feedback were not given during these sessions. When reinforcement and corrective feedback were introduced, substantial increases in the frequency of correct printings were found during both the treatment and probe sessions for both children. In Experiment 2, similar results were found for two learning disabled boys using a reversal design in one case and a multiple baseline across responses design in the other. A substantial degree of generalization to handwriting in the classroom was found for one student, but weaker evidence for generalization was found for the other.