The effectiveness of long and short verbal commands in inducing correct responses in three schizophrenic children

Abstract

This study assessed the effectiveness of long vs. short stimuli on the percentage of correct responses of 3 schizophrenic children. Studies (Lovaas et al., 1966; Browning & Stover, 1971) have demonstrated the effectiveness of very short commands in teaching imitative speech and compliance to schizophrenic children. Observations have shown that teachers ' commands vary; some use commands of 2 or 3 words, others much longer commands. No studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of either method in dealing with schizophrenic children in academic settings. This study assessed the different sets of stimuli with 3 different teachers. It was found that the 3 children did have a higher percentage of correct responses to short commands. Individually, the percentage of correct responses seemed to be related to IQ. Thus, regardless of teacher, children with low IQs responded much better to commands of 1–4 words.