Reflective training and causal attributions in impulsive mildly retarded children

Abstract

Modification of an impulsive conceptual tempo in a population of 30 mildly retarded young (MA=8.17) and older (MA=10.13) children was examined. An operant treatment, involving contingent social reinforcement, was not effective in reducing impulsive responding on the MFFT. Limited and extended self‐instructional training did produce a posttrain‐ing increase in reflective responding which was maintained two weeks after training ceased. Age‐related performance effects were found in the two self‐instructional conditions, with young children showing better performance than older children. There was no paper‐and‐pencil task generalization to the Porteus Mazes, although evidence of relatively less hyperactive classroom behavior was found on the Conners Teachers Rating Scale for the experimental groups. A Treatment X Locus of Achievement Responsibility interaction was found for MFFT errors.

Notes

¹The author would like to thank the Rogers, Arkansas Public School System for their valuable cooperation in this research, and Sara Smiley and Wyman Shores for their help in collecting data.