The final report of a project on teaching and management techniques with severely disturbed and/or retarded children presents analysis of single subject research using contingent imitation of the child as an intervention technique. The effects of this technique were examined on the following behaviors: toyplay and reciprocal imitation, self stimulation, academic skills, rocking behavior, and stereotypic behavior. Results are said to have been negative or ambiguous, suggesting that the therapeutic uses of imitation as a consequence are of limited utility. The use of vicarious prompts (i.e., reinforcing a well-behaved child contingent on another child's misbehavior in the hope that the reinforcement would prompt the observing misbehaving child to improve) is said to have been effective, but only when the behavior of the group was already fairly well controlled. Also included is a guide for teachers in managing and teaching the severely disturbed and retarded, with sections on positive and negative reinforcement, stimulus control, extinction, punishment, use of the unexpected (including imitation of the child and humor), and self control. (CL)