The trend in school psychology services is a shift from an emphasis on an assessment-based paradigm to one of consultation problem-solving and behavioral intervention. A critical component of consultation-derived interventions and behavior change is "treatment integrity." Treatment integrity (or fidelity) refers to the extent to which an…

The study assessed the effects of redesigning the classroom physical environment to minimize stimulation on the occurrence of self-stimulation, on-task behavior, inappropriate behavior, and inactivity with 3 autistic males (16, 16, and 26 years old). Self-stimulation and inactivity decreased and on-task behavior increased. (Author/DB)

Discussed are the determinants of environmentally responsible behavior, the attitude-behavior discrepancy problem, how environmental attitudes are formed and changed, and the effects of individual differences on appropriateness of educational techniques. (CW)

Paradoxical techniques in counseling consist of directing clients to practice the symptom which is causing them psychological distress. Both impression management theory and reactance theory have been advanced to explain the efficacy of such techniques. To examine the effectiveness of paradoxical techniques according to impression management and…

A long-term followup (from 26 to 57 months) of echolalia and correct question-answering was conducted with six mentally retarded adult subjects identified from three previously published studies. Echolalia was lower than in baseline in 80.6 percent of the followups. Issues related to the study of maintenance are discussed. (Author/DB)

Psychotropic drug use in a large Massachusetts public facility for mentally retarded adults was reduced to and maintained at approximately 20 percent over an eight-year period during which a monitoring and evaluation procedure (including interdisciplinary team review, identification of target behaviors, and concurrent alternative forms of…

The study assessed whether 4 students (ages 9-13) with severe autistic disabilities could learn to use a self-management treatment package to reduce stereotypic behavior. Use of the procedures greatly reduced levels of stereotypic behavior. Improvement also occurred for extended periods of time in new settings without the presence of a treatment…

The conflict between viewing aversive therapeutic interventions with mentally retarded persons from either an ideological or scientific perspective is examined. It is concluded that some of those who reject aversive therapeutic interventions do so out of a poor understanding of behavioral science and a primarily ideological frame of reference.…

This paper comments on James Mulick's paper (EC 232 032) and views Mulick as rigidly committed to the behavioral paradigm, selectively evaluating data, and misrepresenting the opposition. Because aversive procedures are not wholly effective, positive, educative interventions are encouraged. (DB)

Physical aggression among institutionalized mentally retarded persons arouses great social concern. To examine the effectiveness of four-point mechanical restraints and a positive adaptive symbol program in the reduction of high frequency, high intensity aggression, three institutionalized severely mentally retarded adolescents (2 females, 1 male)…

Comparison of the relative effectiveness of part versus whole teaching strategies for students (N=24) with moderate and severe mental retardation found positive (but not significant) effects favoring the part method. Students taught by the part method exhibited less excess behavior than did students taught by the whole method. (Author/DB)

This case study of a severely hyperactive, moderately retarded 4-year-old boy evaluated the efficacy of methylphenidate, fenfluramine, and placebo over a 2.5-year period. Initially, methylphenidate was clinically effective in decreasing overactivity; however, it was later shown to exacerbate the child's symptoms. Fenfluramine was found to produce…

A visually-impaired 17-year-old was videotaped in a work setting before and after vocational training. The videotape was shown to 35 graduate students and student teachers, whose ratings of the student's vocational competence validated behavior changes (e.g., job task accuracy) resulting from the training as being clinically important. (Author/JDD)

The article reviewed research on professionals', consumers', and others' judgments of the restrictiveness, social acceptability, and estimated frequency of use of procedures to decrease problem behaviors of disabled persons. Most respondents agreed that more restrictive procedures should be used as a last resort and that less restrictive…

Implementation of a token economy system with a time-out backup consequence in a highly structured self-contained elementary classroom for children with emotional and behavior disorders demonstrated a strong functional relationship between the intervention system and improvement in the students' behavior. (Author/DB)