Criteria for evaluating behavior support programs are changing. Consumer-based educational and behavioral programs, such as School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), are particularly influenced by consumer opinion. Unfortunately, the need for and use of social validity measures have not received adequate attention in the empirical literature…

Nurture groups are a form of provision for children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties. The study examines the interactions between children and staff--in particular, the frequency and effects of verbal and non-verbal praise--and discusses how this contributes to its effectiveness as a positive intervention instrument…

We examined the behavior-altering effect of the motivating operation on challenging behavior during leisure activities for three individuals with severe disabilities. Prior functional analyses indicated that challenging behavior was maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention or tangible items for all participants. During leisure…

This study examined whether direct, interval-by-interval measures of treatment integrity would make it possible to distinguish whether equivocal intervention results could be attributed to the intervention itself, or to poor implementation. Josh, an eight-year-old 3rd grader, performed at or slightly above his peers' academically, yet engaged in…

Nicotine replacement products are commonly used to promote smoking cessation, but alternative and complementary methods may increase cessation rates. The current experiment compared the short-term effects of a transdermal nicotine patch to voucher-based reinforcement of smoking abstinence on cigarette smoking. Fourteen heavy smokers (7 men and 7…

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of two trainings designed to increase the competencies of professionals to develop high quality positive behavior support plans for students that engage in problem behaviors that interfere with theirs and/or others' ability to learn. Training one consisted of training attendees on six key…

Objective: Aggression is common in children and adolescents admitted to psychiatric inpatient units. Few interventions for reducing aggressive behaviors have been identified. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a milieu-based behavioral management program on the frequency of aggressive behaviors in a child and adolescent mental health…

Child care workers in an institution for severely/profoundly retarded children were trained to use prompts and increased toy availability. On the average purposeful activity level of the children increased from 10 percent to a mean of 70 percent during treatment while stereotyped or harmful behaviors decreased from an average of 20 percent to 70…

Direct instruction was effective in teaching second grade students to identify and report peers' day-to-day prosocial behaviors. Interdependent reinforcement and publicly posted progress feedback procedures were effective in increasing and maintaining these behaviors. Discussion focuses on developing and implementing proactive programs to prevent…

Although the principles governing the application of positive reinforcement to classroom situations remain clear and theoretically consistent, practical problems arise during application that are not easily anticipated. This paper focuses on one practical issue: the selection of appropriate reinforcers to use in inner city high schools. The paper…

Analysis of videotapes of training procedures with 12 developmentally disabled adults in a horticultural day work program found an overall staff emphasis on selectively attending to workers' successful behavior with evidence of both efficiency and effectiveness of this approach. (Author/DB)

The challenge of providing effective treatment services for the growing population of HIV-positive individuals who are also dually diagnosed with substance use and mental disorders has only recently been recognized as an important public health concern affecting both HIV treatment and prevention. This article describes a treatment model that was…

The specific parenting domains measured by the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) make it particularly relevant to interventions concerned with the modification of parenting practices. This study assessed the validity and clinical utility of parent reports on the APQ using observational data of parents and children (N=56, aged 4-8 years)…

In this study of four hyperactive elementary children, the effects of painting and physical activities on attention-to-task were observed. Both techniques brought improvement, the pleasure of the activities seeming to provide an intrinsic reward which the children internalized, bringing increased attention-to-task to other classroom activities.…

The article describes a cross-age peer teaching project which sought to explore the potential of peer teaching in encouraging disruptive secondary school pupils to participate more positively in school. Two Year 9 girls from a challenging urban secondary school were selected to teach a group of Year 6 pupils in the nearby primary school. The Year…