Effects of contingency management of academic achievement and conduct of mentally retarded Arab students.

An experimental group of 11 mentally retarded Arab children were involved in a contingency-management program based on successful completion of academic work. A control group of retarded children with approximately equal mean CA and mean IQ scores was exposed only to the regular teaching routine. Results indicated that academic achievement was greatest in Phase B an ABA design. In addition, the experimental group made achievement gains beyond that of the control group, and there were some generalization effects stemming from the treatment phase. Also, good conduct, although not directly manipulated in the study, was observed in the three phases of the study. Subjects in the experimental group displayed more attending behavior and decreased their amount of nonattending (e.g., looking out the window) and disruptive behavior (e.g., shouting) during the treatment phase. The results also indicated that contingency management is a viable technique for retarded children living in a culture substantially different from that in the United States.