Behavioral contrast during the acquisition of speechreading

Two hearing-impaired children were taught to speechread the names of 18 objects divided into three sets. A multiple baseline across sets of objects was obtained for each subject. Tokens presented contingent upon correct responses to certain sets of names increased the frequencies of those correct responses. Both subjects exhibited positive behavioral contrast during the acquisition of speechreading; correct responses to one set increased above the previously established level when the contingencies for a second set changed from token reinforcement to extinction. The obtained contrast effect was conductive to learning and the procedure was effective in teaching the children to speechread the training words.