Generalized negatively reinforced manding in children with autism.

Individuals with developmental disabilities are often unable to influence their social environment in traditional ways (i.e., vocal language) and frequently exhibit challenging behaviors (e.g., aggression and self-injury) because such behaviors were previously reinforced under similar conditions. While the area of positive reinforcement manding has been well-documented and empirically validated, there is less research in the area of negatively reinforced manding-particularly in the area of negatively reinforced manding of nonpreferred items. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, this study sought to teach three children with autism to replace their challenging behaviors with more socially appropriate ways to request the removal of nonpreferred items. Results showed that all participants were able to learn the negatively reinforced mand response and these mand responses were generalized to other untrained items. In addition to extending the research in the area, the study empirically defined a procedure for teaching negatively reinforced manding of nonpreferred items. Moreover, teaching the mand response resulted in quality of life improvements for all participants and their families.

Developing behavioural services to meet defined standards within a national system of specialist education services.

In response to increasing demand for more accountability and improved outcomes in the provision of behavioural services, Specialist Education Services (SES) in New Zealand employed the trainer of trainers programme developed by the Institute for Applied Behaviour Analysis (IABA). The goal was to develop a national training team capable of training SES staff to carry out assessments and develop support plans that could meet defined standards. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of this trainer of trainers project. The primary methods of evaluation included the pre-post training comparisons of trainees' functional assessments and positive behaviour support plans, against 140 defined criteria. The results of this project indicated that the SES national training team was able to train SES staff to meet the same standards of service delivery as the external IABA trainers. Further, a Periodic Service Review (PSR) system was implemented to insure that service standards could be maintained at a high level. A major conclusion reached in this study was that a trainer of trainer approach appears to be effective in preparing large numbers of educational personnel to meet the increasing demands by schools for professionals to meet a high standard of service delivery.

Research brief: some data concerning the reporting of participants' gender in the mental retardation literature.

The gender of participants in articles published from 1991 through 2000 in eight journals relevant to mental retardation was determined. Overall, participants were used in 65% of the articles; gender was not reported in 26% of them. When gender was reported, 6%, 8%, and 60% of the investigators used females only, males only, and both sexes, respectively. Unless gender is reported, one cannot ascertain to whom results should generalize or whether gender affects the variable under investigation. For these and other reasons, we recommend that researchers routinely specify how many of their participants are males and how many are females. This information requires little space and in most cases is easy to obtain.

Participation of women as authors and editors in journals concerned with mental retardation and related topics.

The present survey determined women's participation in eight journals concerned with mental retardation and related topics. The number of female authors was recorded for all articles published in these journals from 1991 through 2000. The number of women on the editorial board each year, for each journal, also was tabulated. For all years and all journals, women were first authors of 41% of articles published. Women wrote 34% of single-author articles. Overall, 45% of all authors were women. Women constituted 34% of the editorial board members for the eight journals combined. In sum, these data suggest that women's contribution to the mental retardation literature decreases with the prestige of the activity.

Rehab rounds: training professionals in use of positive methods for community integration of persons with developmental disabilities.

Mainstream psychiatry has all but ignored the clinical needs of persons with developmental disabilities. With some notable exceptions, individuals in this group have been served in the community by behaviorally oriented psychologists or relegated to long-term institutional care. However, effective interventions are available, beginning with a functional analysis of the antecedents and consequences of targeted problem behaviors. Procedures for building adaptive coping and functional skills or compensating for their deficiency have been developed that are based on skills training, wraparound supports for employment and community living, stimulus control, and contingencies of reinforcement. Applied behavior analysis using task analysis, stimulus control, and contingencies of reinforcement also spawned some of the first techniques--including the token economy--shown to improve functioning and reduce psychopathology among persons with schizophrenia. One of the premier organizations to have documented the efficacy of person-centered, behavior-analytic, and community-based wraparound support services for persons with developmental disabilities is the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis in Los Angeles. The institute was founded 20 years ago and has served more than 1,000 children, adolescents, and adults with developmental disabilities. Its staff have designed and empirically validated nonaversive techniques for modifying the behaviors that place their clients or others at risk of harm or injury and that often lead to the clients' ejection or isolation from community life. In this Rehab Rounds column the authors describe and evaluate the institute's training and consultation activities.