Skip to main content
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis logoLink to Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
. 1981 Winter;14(4):389–409. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1981.14-389

Teachers' generalized use of delay as a stimulus control procedure to increase language use in handicapped children.

J W Halle, D M Baer, J E Spradlin
PMCID: PMC1308229  PMID: 6460019

Abstract

In Experiment 1, classroom teachers were taught to delay their offers of help in naturally occurring situations, and thereby to provide additional opportunities for language use by six moderately retarded language-delayed children. The teachers introduced this delay technique in a multiple-baseline design across the six children. As delays were used, child verbal initiations increased. Follow-up assessment showed that teachers were maintaining greater than baseline levels of the delay technique after 10 weeks. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and included a more thorough maintenance assessment, while focusing on teachers' generalization of the delay technique. Teachers were found to generalize their use of delay to 56% of their monitored untaught opportunities. The two experiments show that (a) the delay technique is quick to teach and simple to implement, (b) delays do provide opportunities for children to initiate, (c) teachers can generalize their use of delay to novel self-selected situations, and (d) teachers can maintain their use of delays over time.

Full text

PDF
392

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baer D. M., Wolf M. M., Risley T. R. Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. J Appl Behav Anal. 1968 Spring;1(1):91–97. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1968.1-91. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Burg M. M., Reid D. H., Lattimore J. Use of a self-recording and supervision program to change institutional staff behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 1979 Fall;12(3):363–375. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1979.12-363. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Greene B. F., Willis B. S., Levy R., Bailey J. S. Measuring client gains from staff-implemented programs. J Appl Behav Anal. 1978 Fall;11(3):395–412. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1978.11-395. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Halle J. W., Marshall A. M., Spradlin J. E. Time delay: a technique to increase language use and facilitate generalization in retarded children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1979 Fall;12(3):431–439. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1979.12-431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Harris S. L. Teaching language to nonverbal children--with emphasis on problems of generalization. Psychol Bull. 1975 Jul;82(4):565–580. doi: 10.1037/h0076903. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hart B. M., Risley T. R. Establishing use of descriptive adjectives in the spontaneous speech of disadvantaged preschool children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1968 Summer;1(2):109–120. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1968.1-109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hart B., Risley T. R. Incidental teaching of language in the preschool. J Appl Behav Anal. 1975 Winter;8(4):411–420. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1975.8-411. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hart B., Risley T. R. Using preschool materials to modify the language of disadvantaged children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1974 Summer;7(2):243–256. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1974.7-243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Herbert E. W., Baer D. M. Training parents as behavior modifiers: self-recording of contingent attention. J Appl Behav Anal. 1972 Summer;5(2):139–149. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1972.5-139. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hewett F. M. Teaching speech to an autistic child through operant conditioning. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1965 Oct;35(5):927–936. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1965.tb00472.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. MacDonald J. D., Blott J. P. Environmental language intervention: the rationale for a diagnostic and training strategy through rules, context, and generalization. J Speech Hear Disord. 1974 Aug;39(3):244–256. doi: 10.1044/jshd.3903.244. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rincover A., Koegel R. L. Setting generality and stimulus control in autistic children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1975 Fall;8(3):235–246. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1975.8-235. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Risley T., Wolf M. Establishing functional speech in echolalic children. Behav Res Ther. 1967 May;5(2):73–88. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(67)90001-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wolf M. M. Social validity: the case for subjective measurement or how applied behavior analysis is finding its heart. J Appl Behav Anal. 1978 Summer;11(2):203–214. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1978.11-203. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis are provided here courtesy of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

RESOURCES