Language Training in the Everyday Environment: Teaching Functional Sign Use to a Retarded Child

The effects of an integrative language training model on the functional use of sign language by a developmentally retarded child were assessed with a multiple-baseline design across two activities. The integrative model was comprised of two language training strategies: delay and incidental teaching. During baseline, the experimenter initiated a 10-second delay during naturally occurring language opportunities to evoke sign initiations. The intervention phase involved the use of the delay followed by a modified incidental teaching procedure. Probes were administered to assess generalization across trainers and across novel opportunities. The results indicated that the intervention increased sign initiations relative to baseline and decreased prompts required. Sign initiations generalized to a second trainer and to novel language opportunities. A second experiment was undertaken to correct a procedural flaw that became apparent during Experiment 1. Rather than allowing the child to form incorrect signs prior to an appropriate sign and be reinforced for this sequence, an immediate consequence was delivered contingent upon incorrect signs. This change in procedure resulted in a gradual increase in correct signing during the first initiation. Furthermore, Experiment 2 provided an assessment of maintenance of treatment gains accomplished in Experiment 1. The integrative model proposed may complement or be an alternative to standard one-to-one sign language training for developmentally retarded children.