Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Recent studies related to community placement of mentally retarded persons are reviewed. Analyses of studies measuring direct behavior change as well as those based upon clinical and qualitative methods are included. The need for additional studies employing both types of methodologies is stressed. In addition, it is suggested that in future studies researchers pay particular attention to both client and setting characteristics and to how these characteristics interact to bring about maximum adaptation and habilitation of clients.

A severely retarded adolescent boy who had not acquired oral expression skills was taught five manual signs to express a food preference. Time delay procedure was used to present and fade both model and physical prompts. The food items themselves were used as reinforcers. A multiple baseline design employed across behaviors demonstrated that instruction was effective for all five signs. During probes for expression of choice, the subject did select a variety of food items.

Forty high and low imagery nouns were taught to prereading retarded and nonretarded subjects. Each noun was taught solely as a sight word, with the only visual stimulus being the presentation of the printed word on a 3 × 5 inch index card. Recognition and retention of high imagery nouns was significantly better than for low imagery nouns for both retarded and nonretarded subjects. Between-group differences were not observed except for delay recall. Interpretations and recommendations related to the effects of imagery level on beginning sight word acquisition are included.

Nonhandicapped students served as playground tutors for three students in a class for the moderately retarded at a regular middle school. The nonhandicapped volunteers taught age-appropriate playground recreation skills to their retarded peers in an effort to improve the playground behavior of the three retarded students and to facilitate positive interactions between retarded and nonhandicapped students. Results indicated substantial improvement in the percentage of appropriate playground behavior and in the percentage of contact between the retarded and nonhandicapped students. Follow-up probes indicated that, while the percentages of appropriate playground behavior and contact with nonhandicapped peers had decreased, they were considerably higher than during baseline.

Three button design features (the shape, size, and position of a button on a garment), conceptualized as setting events, were evaluated in terms of their effect on the performance of buttoning skills in four developmentally retarded preschoolers. Utilizing a single-subject multi-element design, the 36 combinations of the three experimental variables (4 shapes, 3 sizes, and 3 positions) were systematically presented to the participants without any formal training. Results indicated that buttons of large size in the top position on the presentation garment maximally encouraged learning this self-dressing skill. Few consistent effects were attributed to the specific shapes examined. Analyses of the events disrupting buttoning perfor-mance, the frequency of uncompleted and mismatched button trials, as well as the number of requests for assistance emitted by the subjects, served to support these findings while yielding implications for future training and experimentation.

The work activity center (WAC) has been severely criticized in recent times for its inability to provide clients with an adequate work component. The focus of this criticism is on the lack of quality and remunerative subcontracts and the inability of WAC to combine production and training to satisfactorily meet the developmental needs of the clients. This paper is an attempt to address these problems by proposing a new model which can be utilized by WAC. The model is based on the job module which is a work task utilized in training, curriculum development, and subcontract procurement. The goals of the model include the development of (a) a competent workforce, (b) a contract procurement, and (c) a training curriculum.