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Developing and maintaining social interaction in profoundly retarded young males

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Abstract

Social interaction was increased in five profoundly retarded males using formal training, stimulus control, and rewarded generalization procedures. Seven behaviors were monitored for each boy to determine whether correlated changes occurred in maladaptive behaviors as social interaction varied over the several phases of a withdrawal design that included multiple-baseline features. All five boys increased their social interaction and reduced unoccupied and self-stimulatory behavior. These changes were maintained as continuous reinforcement was reduced to a single response-contingent reinforcer per 15- minute session. Four follow-up probes showed the stability of the changes.

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References

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Author notes

  1. John A. Anderson & David K. Goff

    Present address: Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, 26506, Morgantown, West Virginia

  2. Francis C. Harris

    Present address: University of Georgia, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, 26506, Morgantown, West Virginia

    John D. Cone

  2. Colin Anderson Center, USA

    John A. Anderson, Francis C. Harris, David K. Goff & Steven R. Fox

Authors
  1. John D. Cone
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  2. John A. Anderson
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  3. Francis C. Harris
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  4. David K. Goff
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  5. Steven R. Fox
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Additional information

This study was conducted with the excellent cooperation of the staff of Little Boys Ward and the Foster Grandparent Program at Colin Anderson Center, St. Mary's, West Virginia, and with the continued support of W. E. Richards, superintendent.

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Cone, J.D., Anderson, J.A., Harris, F.C. et al. Developing and maintaining social interaction in profoundly retarded young males. J Abnorm Child Psychol 6, 351–360 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00924738

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00924738

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