Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Due to the labeling controversey that is so significant in the field of special education, many innovations and changes are being made in the makeup of public school programs serving the mildly handicapped child. This article examines the history of the controversey and reviews a very important variable that is left out of much educational planning — the regular class teacher.

The effects of several incentive systems on the reading and arithmetic performances of 12 primary EMR children were investigated. “Normal” [non systematic] classroom management was compared with a token economy plus superimposed contracts over an eight week period. Both reversal and multiple baseline designs were employed. Reading and arithmetic performances were highest when the token economy was combined with a superimposed contract. Performance was lowest when neither the token economy nor the combination of tokens and contracts were in effect.