Social-learning procedures for increasing attention and improving basic skills in severely regressed institutionalized patients.

Seven severely debilitated and chronically institutionalized forensic psychiatric patients were enrolled in intensive shaping classes as part of a comprehensive social-learning treatment program. Results compiled over 1 year reveal that six of these patients demonstrated marked improvements in their ability to attend to basic academic tasks and five also showed consistently high rates of successful task completion or increased rates over time. Evidence for the generalization of these effects comes from the fact that all four of the residents who went on to regular academic classes demonstrated consistently high rates of successful task completion. Recommendations are made for further applications of intensive shaping procedures for such severely impaired subgroups.