A deaf, profoundly retarded institutionalized 20-year-old, who engaged in mattress ripping, was required to participate in forced practice behavioral training. Repeatedly physically guided through ripping mattresses, he was given the aversive consequence of a squirt of tabasco sauce solution. After 5 weeks of intensive behavioral training and a 3 month followup, the resident's frequency of ripping mattresses remained at zero for 6 consecutive weeks during the followup phase. Results indicated that forced practice can be effective in intervening with low frequency, high intensity, surreptitious behavior. (Author/CL)