A comparison of passive and active music reinforcement to increase preacademic and motor skills in severely retarded children and adolescents.
Eight severely retarded subjects were each taught two behaviors with contingent music listening (passive reinforcement) and contingent rhythm instrument playing (active reinforcement) to determine which type of reinforcement was more effective. A variation of the multiple baseline design was used in which a baseline condition preceded and followed two treatment conditions, passive and active music. Treatment conditions for each behavior were terminated at criterion or after the subject failed to meet criterion. Criterion was defined as an increase of 25% above the baseline mean for three consecutive sessions. An F test was performed on the sessions to criterion and the behavior frequencies under each reinforcement condition. Results indicated that both passive and active music reinforcement had a positive effect even though no significant differences were discerned between the two reinforcers for either variable. These findings were consistent with the previous limited study in this area.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D014481:United States