REINSTATEMENT OF SPEECH IN MUTE SCHIZOPHRENICS BY OPERANT CONDITIONING
- 1 December 1974
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
- Vol. 50 (6) , 577-585
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1974.tb07521.x
Abstract
Student nurses trained in the use of operant shaping and positive reinforcement of imitative behaviour attempted to reinstate speech in 13 schizophrenics who had been mute from 11 to 42 years. Six of the 13 subjects showed improved speech after 15 sessions. Speech improvement was significantly greater under contingent reinforcement conditions than in a control condition using non‐contingent reinforcement. Five of the six improved subjects had substantially retained their reacquisition of speech at 1‐year follow‐up. There was no evidence that age or duration of mutism influenced treatment outcome.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Modification of speech output of near-mute schizophrenics through social-learning proceduresBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1966
- Application of Operant Conditioning to Reinstate Verbal Behavior in PsychoticsJournal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 1960