The Development and Use of a Premack Symbol System in Improving the Communication Skills of Two Children with Severe Learning Difficulties

ABSTRACT

Two children with severe learning difficulties were taught a non‐iconic symbol system based on the work of Deich & Hodges (1977). Both children were pretested and post‐tested on a checklist designed to assess the children's abilities on a number of verbal skills. The study shows that both children learned the symbol system with some success but importantly that both improved their verbal performances. A brief account is given of the teaching method, its relevance as a support system to the development of verbal behaviour and as a possible precursor to reading.