title: Teaching severely retarded persons to sign interactively through the use of a behavioral script.
abstract: The direct and generalized effects of a program for teaching severely mentally retarded individuals to sign interactively with one another in several social play situations was examined. As part of the teaching program, a behavioral script specifying the responses to be made was employed. The results indicated that participants showed an increase in their signing skills in a training play situation, generalized use of these skills in a second play situation, and maintained the trained skills over a two to four month period. Directions for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Whitman
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Keogh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D008369:Manual Communication; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012813:Sign Language