The development of imitation in nonimitative, severely retarded children: Contribution of reinforcement and instruction.

Determined the relative contribution of instruction and reinforcement to the development of simple motoric imitation in 12 nonimitative, severely retarded children (CAs 9 yrs 5 mo to 20 yrs 2 mo). Reinforcement was varied across 3 conditions (contingent reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement, and no reinforcement), and instructions were varied across 2 conditions (presence and absence). Two Ss were assigned to each of the conditions, and an ABAB experimental design was employed. Results indicate that the most effective procedures were those that contingently reinforced Ss for each correct imitation with or without instructions to imitate. Ss who received various combinations of noncontingent reinforcement and/or instructions did not show any consistent increase in their imitative behavior. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)