It is accepted that for reasons of economy and efficacy the behavioural approach needs to be “given away” to those in day-to-day contact with clients. These new behaviourists may need special help if they are to use their skills to best advantage but can make a valuable contribution both to their clients and to practical knowledge in the area.

Recognition of and discrimination between seven Makaton symbols was taught to a young man with severe mental handicap and some physical difficulties which, combined with “poor motivation”, had previously resulted in his failing to learn signing. An errorless learning approach as well as tangible and social reinforcers were used to teach the symbols, while over-learning may also have been important in promoting retention. Following the successful completion of the programme the young man was accepted for speech therapy and further communication training, for which he had previously been thought unsuitable.

A young man's serious sexual misbehaviour, which resulted in his being banned from his ATC, was tackled using a behavioural approach (reinforcement of appropriate behaviours) and counselling. This combined programme had an immediate effect in reducing his overt sexual activities at the Centre and promoting his acceptability there which has been maintained in the succeeding three years. The token system used helped not only to structure the young man's response but also, as concrete evidence of his success, to change attitudes towards him of Centre staff.

A boy with mental handicap presented with problems of generalisation of toileting skills over a period of three years. From a variety of approaches attempted, one using transfer of stimulus control had initial success, and the process was completed using combined positive and negative reinforcement. Once generalisation to one novel setting had been achieved, generalisation to other novel settings proceeded without difficulty. There have been no further toileting problems in the four years since the completion of the programme.

A DRO approach was used to teach positive social behaviours in a young woman with mental handicap, and to decrease aggressive and disruptive behaviours. Reprimands were used on a few occasions for serious problem behaviours and did not result in an increase in these behaviours. As the problem behaviours receded the young woman became apparently happier and developed better relationships with her family, peers and Centre staff, and the improvement has been maintained over three years.

The dry bed approach, described by Azrin et al. (1973) as a highly successful way of bringing about night toilet-training in people with mental handicaps, is not always feasible. An alternative method, progressive lifting, was undertaken in a small group home to train a young man. Although very lengthy (lasting two years), the programme was successfully carried out by sleep-in staff who worked normal daytime shifts throughout.

A mother was taught to modify her interactional style with her language-delayed son, using direct feedback via a bug-in-the-ear and video recordings. Results showed that attending to and praising the child's behaviours and imitating vocalisations increased, while commands, questions and reprimands decreased. Methods of dealing with tantrums were taught but no occasion arose during the teaching for putting them into practice. Follow-up two years later showed Stephen making good progress, while neither his mother nor his school had needed any further outside help for him.

A woman with moderate mental handicap was taught to use a public telephone. The project involved teaching, first, recognition of some numbers, using a stimulus-shaping procedure; and second, the steps involved in using a public call box. Such difficulties as were encountered in the project were not those anticipated, underlining the need for individually tailored programmes of teaching for people with mental handicaps.

Hand-laundering of tights and knickers was taught to a woman with moderate mental handicap. The 14-stage programme was taught over five sessions in a total of 90 minutes. At follow-up she was shown to have both maintained and generalised the skills.