ABSTRACT
Bijou (1972) states: “The problem of maintaining and extending learning acquired in the classroom looms up as a far more serious one than the problem of retardation itself’ [p. 285], and that “… the problem of maintaining and extending the behavior a child acquires in the special class has not been faced because it demands changing conditions both in the home and in the classes to which he is subsequently assigned” [p. 286]. In a large institution for the retarded, the problem of changing conditions in the residential setting and in other teaching or training programs becomes an even more serious problem. Staff-resident ratios, supervisory training personnel limitations, and limitations in the response repertoires and motivational levels of residential care staff seriously impede attempts to alter conditions to support many types of newly acquired resident behaviors.
