Devotion of Dr. Barrett Towards Her Research
The purpose of the Fernald State School was:
We are here to help each of our residents to develop his maximum potential, i.e., to grow physically, emotionally and academically as much as it is possible for him to do so.
Aims of Fernald (Barrett, 1968)
The contributions of Dr. Barrett and activities of her research lab was articulated in “Behavior Prosthesis Laboratory: Contributions and current activities (Barrett, 1979).”
The followings are cited from “Behavior Prosthesis Laboratory: Contributions and Current Activities (December, 1979),” written by Dr. Barrett.
The Behavior Prosthesis Laboratory was established at the Fernald School in 1963 with support from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the National Association for Retarded Citizens and the Mental Institute of Mental Health.
Improved habilitation of severely behaviorally handicapped persons in the community as well as the institution continues to be its mission. Its approach includes automatically programmed behavior-analytic and instructional environments; 1:1 tutorials; instruction in group settings; training of institution and community teachers, peer tutors, parents, and direct care personnel; and consultation for university, community agency and institution personnel both locally and nationally.
Its contributions to residents and staff of the instruction, as well as to the Commonwealth and to the field of metal retardation in general, have included:
--- ongoing analysis of a) variables that maximize effectiveness of instruction and b) behavior of retarded learners that must be remediated or prosthesized for credible outcomes,
--- automated environments offering residents repeated opportunities to obtain preferred reinforcers while their basic behavioral deficits are being remediated or prosthesized,
---a wide variety of preacademic, academic, social, prevocational and vocational instructional sequences developed in the first self-contained behaviorally oriented classroom for “custodial” children -- a classroom that served as a model for institution and community classrooms across the country,
--- sequential operational description of the steps involved in both prosthesis and content task analysis in instructional design and in criterion-referenced, curriculum-based assessment,
--- a manual describing an information storage and retrieval system including a series of forms for standardized recording of daily instructional procedures,
--- continuing refinement and evaluation of newly developed instructional procedures and sequences with particular reference to their facilitative effects on both acquisition and mastery of increasingly “normal” skills,
--- design and construction of prototype recording, signaling and behavior measurement devices for field application,
--- design and construction of prototype remedial and prosthetic devices to meet specific needs of handicapped persons and their teachers,
--- sponsorship of lecture and film presentations at Fernald by leading researchers in the field of applied behavior analysis,
--- seminars and workshops for institution teachers and their supervisors, for ward personnel, for community teachers and for local ARC’s,
--- consultation and technical assistance to the major Habilitative departments on the grounds, to community agencies serving retarded people and to staff from other DMH and Department of Education facilities -- both institutional and community-based,
--- formal graduate training and regular in-service training of teachers of severely handicapped residents,
--- a resource library of reprints that is being continually updated with acquisitions relevant to analysis and modification of retarded behavior,
--- reports on new findings and new products and their application in both behavior management and instructional technology,
--- hosting of monthly Data-Sharing meetings for Boston area teachers, psychologists and other professionals for presentation/ discussion of instructional and administrative data and other programmatic information,
--- publication of a) studies ranging from laboratory analysis of basic operant behavior characteristics and remedial and prosthetic variables to classroom tactics for generality training to cure of encopresis by parents in their own home, b) reviews of new texts in applied behavior analysis, and c) a monthly newsletter describing the contributions from Data-Sharing sessions,
--- presentations of new developments and findings at professional meetings.
