# STIMULUS CONTROL IN MENTAL RETARDATION

> **NIH NIH P01** · EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER CTR MTL RETARDATN · 1994 · $600,631

## Abstract

This application seeks support to continue long standing, programmatic
research on stimulus control development in individuals who have severe,
lifelong learning problems.  The research has two major aims: (1) to
further understanding of basic stimulus control processes in learning and
(2) to improve methodology for teaching and evaluating individuals whose
limited language skills render them difficult or impossible to teach with
traditional instructional methods.  The program emphasizes studies with
children who are being treated in residential setting to prepare them for
life in the community.

Research under past NICHD sponsorship has developed operant conditioning
methods capable of teaching substantial new behavior to people with
severe intellectual disabilities.  Among these are: (a) stimulus control
shaping methods (stimulus fading, delayed cue, etc.); (b) prompting
methods that make use of generalized stimulus relations (e.g., learning
by exclusion); (c) methods for developing and evaluating stimulus classes
based on common physical features; and (d) methods for developing
arbitrary stimulus equivalence, including constructed response matching
to sample with components of complex stimuli.  During the current grant
period (8/1/89 to present), research sought to blend the techniques into
a comprehensive methodology for teaching behavioral prerequisites for
rudimentary reading, spelling, and number skills to people with moderate
to severe disabilities.  The present application proposes to pursue this
goal further, investigating novel approaches to problems identified under
the current program and extending the program to study problems pertinent
to clinical and educational applications of the methodology.

Seven research projects and three core units are proposed.  Projects 1-4
continue and expand studies begun during the current grant period.
Projects 5-7 are extensions of past efforts that ask, respectively,
whether behavioral programming based on our research (a) may require
specific modifications in relation to the diagnostic status of the
learner; (b) will prove useful in establishing and evaluating selection-
based communication skills in individuals with severe communication
deficits; and (c) will effectively promote gains in adaptive functioning
in our study population.  The core units provide support services that
are critical to accomplishing the research program.  These are (a)
program direction and general project management, (b) technical support
and statistical consulting, and (c) subject acquisition, evaluation,
performance remediation, and tracking.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199804
- **Project number:** 2P01HD025995-06
- **Recipient organization:** EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER CTR MTL RETARDATN
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM J MCILVANE
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $600,631
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1989-08-01 → 1999-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199804

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199804, STIMULUS CONTROL IN MENTAL RETARDATION (2P01HD025995-06). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199804. Licensed CC0.

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