Treatment with two setting condition manipulations and use of a visual occlusion helmet was found to decelerate intense screaming by a 16-year-old girl with developmental disabilities. Cranial pressure was found to be the critical element in self-control, and replacing the helmet with a headband was found to be effective in maintaining behavior…

This article discusses problems inherent in the analysis of automatically reinforced behaviors, which are behaviors that are maintained by operant mechanisms independent of the social environment. Four classes of treatment that are compatible with automatic reinforcement are reviewed, including manipulations of establishing operations, sensory…

The Stereotypy Analysis, a means of analyzing environmental variables associated with differential rates of stereotypic behavior, was conducted with five adults with developmental disabilities. Results indicate the analysis was able to detect environmental events associated with stereotypic responding for three subjects and was useful in…

This study describes the development of the Active Treatment Client Rights checklist (ATCR), which was designed to facilitate the assessment, monitoring, and implementation of readily observable client active treatment services for adults with developmental disabilities. The ATCR was found to be highly reliable, valid, and useful in enhancing…

This research review concerning intervention to improve young children's social behavior and strategies for promoting generalization and maintenance of young children's social responding focuses on taking advantage of natural communities of reinforcement, training diversely, and incorporating functional mediators. Implications for interventionists…

In this preliminary study, three parents who requested outpatient services for treatment of developmentally disabled children's problem behavior were taught to implement multiple treatment components. Therapists employed the most cost-efficient method first (i.e., written and verbal instructions) to teach prescribed behavior management strategies.…

This paper reviews the literature on functional assessment in the behavioral treatment of aggression in persons with mental retardation or developmental delays. Increased use of functional assessment and skill training is noted but no concomitant decrease in the use of intrusive procedures. (Author/DB)

The Verbal Interaction Analysis System is presented as an assessment of initial, dyadic conversations. Application of the VIAS to two case studies featuring mildly to moderately intellectually disabled adults shows how the VIAS provides an index of competence and assists in the development of specific treatment strategies. (Author/JDD)

Three analyses were conducted to assess the effects of different consequent stimuli on the stereotypical and self-injurious behavior of two children with severe developmental disabilities and dual sensory impairments. Contingent presentation of the specially selected stimuli plus response interruption resulted in more suppression than contingent…

Studies assessing treatments for severe behavior problems of developmentally delayed persons were reviewed. Procedures used in the 382 studies, published from 1967-1987, were analyzed in terms of problem behaviors, side effects, and treatment methods. Also examined were number of studies reported yearly, maintenance and generalization of effects,…

This study analyzed and compared the behavioral procedure standards of 39 state departments of special education and 41 state departments of developmental disabilities/mental retardation. Results are discussed in terms of systematic monitoring of procedures, staff training, procedures to increase behavior, prohibiting/restricting procedure use,…

Thirty-one primary caregivers at group homes for clients with developmental disabilities completed a one-week workshop in behavioral theory and treatment techniques. Trainees showed increased treatment skills, but preworkshop and postworkshop observations indicated no evidence that the workshop had any effect on group home client functioning.…

This study reviewed 113 research articles involving 299 subjects and a corresponding sample of 299 adaptive skill programs implemented in state-funded residential facilities for adults with developmental disabilities. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between researchers and clinicians in adaptive and maladaptive behavior…

This article outlines problems associated with large mental hospitals, describes how knowledge gained from these problems can be used to create alternative treatment programs, and introduces the papers in this special issue on community-based treatment programs for individuals with developmental disabilities. (JDD)

This review describes Nonorganic Failure to Thrive, presents developmental outcomes, and discusses psychosocial assessment and intervention issues relevant to this developmental disability of early childhood, focusing on child-specific variables, situational and family variables, parent-child interaction variables, and biopsychosocial formulation…