Abstract
Large individual differences exist among psychotic and retarded children, and a procedure that would enable classification of discrimination learning ability would be of value. A procedure designed to assess the discrimination learning thresholds of low-functioning children is described. A performance index (PI) that reflects accuracy of discriminative responding, difficulty of the discriminations attained, and learning rate was found to correlate significantly with mental age, intelligence quotient, Vineland Social Age, Vineland Social Quotient, and language functioning, but not with chronological age. The question of the optimal magnitude of correlation between a new measure and existing measures is discussed.
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Funding for this study and for the development of the computer-operated laboratory was provided by the USOE, Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, as a portion of Grant Number C007604305, Sensory Discrimination, Generalization and Language Training of Autistic Children, awarded to R. L. Blanton and C. W. Deckner. Appreciation is expressed to Stephen Maisto for his suggestions regarding an earlier version of this paper.
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Deckner, C.W., Blanton, R.L. Classification of abnormal children: Discrimination learning ability. J Autism Dev Disord 10, 405–415 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02414817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02414817