REFLECTIONS ON SOME EARLY EVENTS RELATED TO BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF CHILD-DEVELOPMENT

A series of events related to the early application of behavioral prin ciples to child behavior and development is described. The events bega n in the 1930s at Columbia University with a solicited letter from Joh n B. Watson suggesting a master's degree thesis problem, and continued through the 1950s and 1960s at the University of Washington. Specific ally, these happenings resulted in (a) research demonstrating that Ski nner's laboratory method for studying nonhuman organisms could be prof itably applied to the laboratory study of young normal children; (b) a demonstration that by successive approximations, a normal child can b e operantly conditioned to respond to an arbitrary situation: (c) rese arch showing that the effects of simple schedules of reinforcement obt ained with nonhuman organisms could be duplicated in young normal and retarded children; (d) the demonstration that Skinner's operant labora tory method could be adapted to study young children in field situatio ns; (e) research showing that operant principles can be successfully a pplied to the treatment of a young autistic boy with a serious visual handicap; (f) laboratory studies showing that mothers can be trained t o treat their own young children who have behavior problems; (g) an in -home study demonstrating that a mother can treat her own child who ha s behavior problems; (h) a demonstration that operant principles can b e applied effectively to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to children with retardation; and (i) publication of a book, Child Develo pment: A Systematic and Empirical Theory, in collaboration with Donald M. Baer, by Prentice Hall in their Century Psychological Series.