This commentary on the use of gentle teaching with individuals with developmental disabilities examines the method's assumptions, describes its use of behavioral techniques, and criticizes its ineffectiveness. (JDD)

This study, with 19 young children (36-76 months old) with developmental delays, in the first stage of language learning, found that the children used more frequent language and more diverse vocabulary in routine than in nonroutine situations. The protocol for parent identification of routines is appended. (DB)

This paper reviews the functional properties and procedural variations of differential reinforcement for the reduction of behavior disorders in individuals with developmental disabilities. The paper proposes that limited success may be a result of the arbitrary relationship that exists between reinforcers and target behaviors when behavioral…

Describes a program developed by the Area University Affiliated Health Education Center for Developmental Disabilities at the Ohio State University to (1) develop state-of-the-art materials on prevention for adults and teens and (2) establish an ongoing statewide mechanism for education in the prenatal prevention of developmental disabilities.…

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…

A progressive time delay procedure in individual instructional sessions using massed-trial presentation was compared to distributed trials presented during transitions from one activity to another. Results with four preschool children with developmental delays indicated that both procedures were implemented reliably, were comparable in efficiency,…

This study investigated whether an empirically derived interaction style improves the usefulness of language sampling and transcription in 17 young children with developmental disabilities. The use of wh-questions was effective in producing proportionally more transcribable utterances and a larger sample of productive vocabulary. There were no…

Two adults with developmental disabilities were trained to increase their prompt and polite acknowledgments of coworker initiations by means of daily review of interactions of the previous day which had been recorded. The review included self-evaluation, praise, corrective feedback, and role-play. Behavior changes were maintained during follow-up…

This article describes a model of comprehensive and coordinated services in developmental disability medicine developed for children and adults in Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia. Key features of the model are a conjoint structure between government departments of health and community services, multiple medical specialty clinics, and…

The study observed interactions of mothers and infants in the homes of 20 families with infants having cerebral palsy (CP) and developmental delay and 20 families of nonhandicapped infants. Among findings were that mothers of CP infants were more verbally and physically directive and engaged in fewer positive behaviors in their initiation and…

This study, involving six individuals with mental retardation or emotional disturbance, compared the effectiveness of four stimulus control procedures on attainment of sight vocabulary. Results indicated no clear advantage for any one of the four procedures (stimulus shaping, stimulus fading, time delay, and trial and error). (JDD)

Features useful in distinguishing 20 children with clinically diagnosed pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) from 40 children with autism or language disorder were developed from a retrospective chart review using 80 items. The most useful items were then evaluated using a second set of cases (total n=120). Fewer items discriminated PDD from…

Comparison of injury rates among community-based young people (ages birth to 17) found that children with developmental disabilities (n=1,060) had higher injury rates than did controls, but children with chronic illness (n=963) did not. Injury rates increased with age, but no differences in injury rates by gender were found. (Author/JDD)

This paper presents a framework for early intervention for children having (or at risk of developing) disabilities, produced by Eurlyaid, a working party of the European Community. The framework addresses definitions of key concepts, the target group, rationale behind early intervention, content of early intervention, conditions necessary for…

Analysis of the reinforcement and extinction components of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) of three women with developmental disabilities and self-injurious behavior (SIB) found that DRO was only effective in combination with the relevant extinction component (withholding of attention for SIB). (Author/DB)