Training social skills to severely mentally retarded multiply handicapped adolescents.
Prompts, edible plus social reinforcement, and quick feedback taught eye contact, staying seated, and prompt response to three minimally verbal adolescents with severe ID and autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sievert et al. (1988) worked with three minimally verbal adolescents who had severe intellectual disability and autism.
The team ran four short sessions each week in a public-school classroom.
Each session used three tools: spoken prompts, small edible treats plus praise, and quick feedback on performance.
What they found
After the package started, all three teens looked at people more, stayed in their seats better, and answered questions faster.
The gains showed up in an alternating-treatment design, so the authors linked the change to the training.
How this fits with other research
Spriggs et al. (2016) later tested a similar age group in the same setting and saw larger, more general gains.
They kept the behavioral skills training core but swapped the edible prompts for short video clips and peer models, showing the field has moved toward technology and peer mediation.
Huguenin et al. (1980) ran an earlier version with adults; the 1988 study simply shifted the package down to the teen years.
Stauch et al. (2018) replaced adult prompts entirely with video-based group instruction in general-ed rooms, proving the method still works when you change the delivery style.
Why it matters
If you run social-skills groups for teens with severe ID or autism, this paper gives you a bare-bones recipe that still works: prompt, reinforce with edibles and praise, give fast feedback. You can start there and then layer on newer tools like video modeling or peer partners when you are ready.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Three severely mentally retarded, multiply handicapped, adolescents were treated in a classroom setting for social skills deficits. Two of these children exhibited symptoms of autism including periods of echolalia, and fascination with tactile and visual stimulation. One of the pair was deaf. The third child was profoundly mentally retarded and had minimal expressive language skills. All had received sign language training to facilitate communication. Treatment focused on increasing the frequency of eye contact, in seat and response to verbal prompt behaviors, skills deemed necessary to facilitate use of sign language communication and to increase social interaction. Baseline and treatment were evaluated in a multiple baseline, alternating treatment design across children. Baseline was taken on responses to 10 standard questions, asked by the teacher, based on verbal presentation and sign language. This same procedure was then continued during the initial treatment phase following training sessions. During training, the children received social reinforcement, performance feedback and edible reinforcement, in the form of candy, for appropriate performance. Physical and verbal prompts as well as pictorial cues were employed to shape appropriate behavior. In the second treatment phase, training was implemented in the classroom in which baseline data had been collected. Improvement in target behaviors, via training sessions held four days a week, was noted. These data suggest that use of a combination of visual stimuli, operant and social learning methods can remediate social skills deficits in children with multiple psychological and physical deficits. The implications of these findings for current and future research are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1988 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(88)90052-2