BEHAVIORAL TECHNOLOGY FOR INSTRUCTIONAL READINESS

本申请寻求STTR第一阶段项目的支持， 并研究一种计算机管理评估的计算机软件产品 和指导有严重智力迟钝，自闭症， 其他智力残疾。该产品主要针对那些 缺乏参与行为先决条件的学生 计算机辅助教学或其他形式的教学， 行为先决条件（例如，“离散审判”指令）。发达的 经过广泛研究的实验室方法和软件将适用于 供家长、教师和其他帮助专业人员使用。这些方法 包括评估潜在的阳性反应物的程序， 在教学过程中提供反馈的结果，验证那些 事实上，后果是有效的积极促进者，塑造适当的 响应（例如，指向以指示选择），并教导学生 在同时呈现的视觉刺激之间进行区分。结果 将是一个商业上可行的CD-ROM原型与互动教师的 支持实施的指南（文件）。由此产生的原型将 进行评估，以确定它可以有效地用于各种 教学情境，并与典型教学效果进行比较 在特殊教育教室和其他治疗环境中使用的方法。 拟定商业应用： 正在开发和评估的产品可能会对特别 为各种学生群体提供教育实践。 因此，该产品 潜在的市场，以教育工作者，心理学家，其他专业人士和家长。

This application seeks support for an STTR Phase I project to develop and study a computer software product for computer-managed evaluation and instruction with children who have severe mental retardation, autism, and other intellectual disabilities. The product is primarily targeted to those students who lack the behavioral prerequisites to participate in computer-assisted instruction or other forms of instruction with similar behavioral prerequisites (e.g., "discrete-trial" instruction). Well-developed and extensively researched laboratory methods and software will be adapted for use by parents, teachers, and other helping professionals. These methods include procedures for evaluating potential positive reinforcers, establishing consequences that provide feedback during instruction, verifying that those consequences are in fact effective as positive reinforcers, shaping appropriate responses (e.g., pointing to indicate a selection), and teaching the student to make discriminations among simultaneously presented visual stimuli. The result will be a commercially viable CD-ROM prototype with an interactive Teacher's Guide (documentation) to support implementation. The resulting prototype will be evaluated to determine that it can be used effectively in a variety of teaching situations and to compare its effectiveness to typical teaching methods used in special education classrooms and other therapeutic settings. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The product being developed and evaluated may have a significant impact on special education practice for a variety of student populations. As such, the product is potentially marketable to educators, psychologists, other professionals, and parents.