Differential effects of token reinforcement on instruction-following behavior in retarded students instructed as a group.
Tokens plus praise beat praise alone for group instruction-following in kids with ID, but you must plan the fade-out or the skill will vanish.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Seven students with intellectual disability sat together at a table. The teacher gave group instructions like 'touch your nose' or 'raise your hand.'
Tokens were handed to every child who followed the cue within five seconds. Praise alone came first. Then tokens plus praise were used. Then tokens stopped.
What they found
When only praise was given, most kids stayed below 50 % correct. When tokens arrived, six of seven quickly jumped to 80 % or better.
One student already scored high, so tokens kept him there. Another slowly climbed each day. When tokens ended, most kids dropped again.
How this fits with other research
Kaiser et al. (2022) pooled 24 newer grade-school token studies and still found large gains, showing the 1969 result holds across decades.
Regnier et al. (2022) warn that gains like these fade unless you thin the token schedule and add self-management or social praise before stopping.
Gutierrez et al. (2020) prove you can train staff to run the same token system with just a manual—no long workshops needed.
Why it matters
You can start a class-wide token economy tomorrow. Pick one group instruction, give a token for each correct response, and watch compliance rise. Plan from day one to fade tokens slowly while boosting social praise so the improvement sticks.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study was addressed to the problem of applying behavior modification techniques on a group basis to a class of retarded students with "attentional deficits". Seven boys, age 8 to 15 yr, characterized as showing severe "attentional" problems or disruptive behavior in their respective classrooms, participated daily for 30-min sessions in a special class over a 1.5-month period. In each session, verbal instructions were given to the class as a whole. In control sessions, each appropriate instruction-following response by a child produced praise for that child. In experimental sessions, appropriate responses also produced tokens exchangeable for tangible reinforcers after the session. Token reinforcement differentially maintained instruction-following behavior in four children while one responded appropriately to most instructions and a second improved continuously during the study. While the data suggest that the present approach can be successfully applied to the alteration of instruction-following behavior in retarded children, its major contribution may be that of providing objective quantitative information about such behavior.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1969 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1969.2-101