Technically speaking, brain building is called cognitive skill development and has been in the psychology domain since the early 1960s. Historically, cognitive skill improvement was isolated within progressive coastal school districts and psychologists' private offices. Cognitive skill improvement was used successfully as a treatment in these…

Compared the separate and combined effects of behavior rehearsal and modeling on grooming skill development of mentally retarded women (N=48). All treatments were superior to the control condition. Modeling and behavior rehearsal were both effective but there was no advantage to combining them. Cost effectiveness favored the other-model procedure.…

TRAINS (Training, Resource, Assessment, Intervention, and Network System), which can assist trainers in developing programs with transfer elements in them, is described. It enables trainees to do what they were trained to do, when they are supposed to do it, and where they are supposed to do it through generalized training. (CT)

Evaluated effects of pretesting in conjunction with a group social skills training program. A Solomon four-groups design was used to evaluate the effects of pretesting, the skills training program, and their interaction. Strong evidence of pretesting effects was found for measures associated with a behavioral forced interaction task. (Author)

Describes a seven step decision-making process which enables organizations to examine training situations to determine whether behavior modeling is appropriate. Includes a behavior modeling decision flow chart. (JOW)

An in vivo procedure for relaxation as self-control and a procedure for self-control modification of desensitization were compared to a no-treatment control. Results showed modified desensitization, compared to the control, significantly decreased communication anxiety and fear of negative evaluation and significantly increased assertiveness.…

Three elementary-aged students with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and severe/profound mental retardation were taught three toothbrushing tasks (brushing teeth, rinsing, and wiping mouth) using time delay to fade physical prompts, reinforcement, and error correction. Two students reached criterion on all three tasks; one student reached criterion on…

Presents a model for the effective transfer of skills from training programs to worksite implementation for instructional designers and corporate trainers involved in performance improvement. Strategies for use in pre-training, during training, and in posttraining are described that will ensure transfer of training. (Contains 21 references.) (LRW)

The time to plan training is in the research and development stage of a new product. Seven major steps are online training, process validation, skills certification, development of manufacturing training instructions, skills verification, transfer training, and offline training and certification. (SK)

Three autistic children (ages 9-11) received spontaneous communication training using a time delay, modeling, and food reinforcement procedure. Results showed gains in 2 spontaneous responses ("please" and "thank you") and 1 verbally prompted response ("you're welcome"). Gains were validated socially with 10 adults. (Author/JDD)

Reports on a handwriting experiment on the learning of four Arabic letters by novice writers of Arabic script. Finds a general learning effect expressed as a decrease of movement time and writing dysfluency. Finds a differential effect of practice on the trade-off between simple reaction time and movement time as a function of consecutive trials.…

Programmed identity-matching training was given to five participants with severe mental retardation and histories of failures in assessments and training attempts. When an intermediate goal of establishing one-trial discrimination learning was eliminated, four participants completed the program and passed tests for generalized identity matching…

Presents an empirically based discussion of methods for reconstructing the clinical training portion of counselor education to increase the effectiveness of training. The proposed reconstruction focuses on the topics of establishing a therapeutic relationship, increasing counselor skillfulness, and training in client matching. (Contains 101…

A food service director for a YMCA camp offers advice on conducting yearly in-house training for camp cooks. Training resources could include a camp-specific training manual, training videos, training guidebooks, and demonstration of kitchen equipment. Health department issues should be covered during training. Kitchen resources from the American…

The article is an overview of the design of a Managerial Skills Development Program Model in an industrial setting which was based on adult education principles. Discussed are: program objectives and philosophy, educative environment, group commitment, group-centered action, program evaluation and revision, manager/instructor teams, and…