Examined were the effects of four teachers' use of a data-based behaviorally oriented planning technique on the verbal labeling performance of eight developmentally delayed children (2-5 years old). Teachers were introduced to a 10-tactic planning technique that included behaviors ranging from simply counting the number of correct and incorrect…

INTENDED FOR SPEECH THERAPISTS, THEACHERS OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED, AND OTHERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION, THE COLLECTION CONTAINS REPORTS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE MODIFICATION ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE UTILIZED OPERANT CONDITIONING PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS SEVERAL PAPERS ON BACKGROUND TOPICS. BACKGROUND PAPERS ON TEACHING TREAT ENVIRONMENTAL…

In response to Whitman, "Self-Regulation and Mental Retardation" (EC 222 812), the author distinguishes between operant and cognitive training methods to develop self-regulatory skills and disagrees with Whitman's observation that the procedures for teaching retarded persons are essentially the same as for nonretarded persons. (DB)

Implications of the behaviorist and cognitive theories in language instruction are discussed in this article. Some contributions of Skinner, Politzer, Valette, Morton, Lane, and Mueller and Niedzielski clarify the behaviorists' view of language as a myriad of conditioned responses. In turn, the cognitive viewpoint, seen as the acquisiton and…

This project successfully taught specific language-based concepts to retarded children with a behavior modification approach and direct verbal instruction, resulting in general intellectual gains. (See TM 504 595 for availability). (Author/CTM)