This study found consistently reduced levels of problem behaviors with three students (ages 5-11) with severe autism and/or mental retardation when the students were given opportunities, during a session, to make choices among instructional tasks and reinforcers. Choice-making opportunities did not impact the rate of correct responding on…

A ninth-grade student with cerebral palsy began to exhibit behavior problems in the classroom, and his parents disagreed in their problem-solving approach. Family counseling helped the boy improve his behavior, and helped the parents to realize that their adolescent son was struggling with the issue of independence. (JDD)

Guidelines are presented for individualizing daily schedules or routines to reflect better the preferred lifestyles of persons with severe handicaps. Four dimensions that can be systematically manipulated to address challenging behavior are presented, including timing of routines, form of the activities, pattern of succession of activities, and…

A systematic examination of the desired outcome of discipline is important before developing a discipline structure. Discipline goals should be based on: (1) appropriate developmental expectation; (2) societal expectations of the individual; and (3) a mechanism for helping youngsters formulate goals for their own behavior management. (JDD)

This practicum was designed to establish behavioral and assessment criteria for dealing with seriously emotionally disturbed elementary students enrolled in self-contained emotionally handicapped (EH) units. A primary goal was to provide out-of-field EH teachers with an objective tool for continuously assessing students' individual behavioral and…