Bullying begins in the preschool years and presents a public health concern for children of all ages with negative outcomes observed for victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. With an eye on intervention, research suggests that reading and discussing books may help to encourage perspective taking and compassion for others, even at an early age.…

Abstract: Punishment is any stimulus change following a response that decreases the probability of that response occurring in similar situations in the future. Punishment-based techniques (i.e., techniques developed based upon the functional definition of punishment) are effective at decreasing undesired behavior. Despite the documented…

Background: School-based sleep education programmes can promote the importance of sleep health and may improve adolescent sleep. To date, only limited research has examined the feasibility of integrating sleep programmes into the school curriculum. Objectives: This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the…

The use of systems of rewards and sanctions within behaviour policies has now been adopted formally in UK schools. Such systems potentially represent competing theoretical ideas when considered alongside current approaches to teaching and learning. There is also opportunity for inconsistent use of rewards and sanctions resulting from the absence…

Students in six sections of a large undergraduate class were asked to record their class comments on notecards in all course units. Additionally, in some units, they received points toward their course grade based on their reported comments in class discussion. The study was conducted over a two-semester period, with slight variation in both the…

Tested a response cost procedure, compared with Ritalin treatment, on hyperactive elementary school children to determine effectiveness in reducing hyperactive behavior and in increasing academic performance. The cost program alone and combined with medication were effective in reducing off-task behavior and in increasing academic performance.…

Background: Embedded instruction and discrete-trial training are both recommended for teaching children with autism, but there is little research available comparing the two. The present study compared embedded instruction with discrete-trial training for a 12-year-old boy with autism. Method: An initial functional analysis indicated that the…

Two elementary boys in a deaf education resource room who did not complete a writing assignment within the allotted time were subsequently given tokens contingent upon their starting promptly. The use of tokens was effective in reducing response latency. (Author/PB)

Experienced elementary teachers (N=98) described their general strategies for coping with perfectionist students told how they would handle incidents depicted in two vignettes portraying problems of perfectionism at school. Most of the teachers were oriented toward sympathetic responses featuring support, encouragement, assistance, and attempts at…

Operant and cognitive behavior modification procedures were used to decrease impulsive aggressive responding by six hyperaggressive children, aged 7-11, in interpersonal problem situations. The procedures sought to improve participants' alternative response repertoires and develop internal speech as a self-control mechanism. Compared to controls,…

High-probability requests were provided to two boys (age seven) with behavior disorders and severe disabilities as an antecedent to delivering a low-probability request. Results showed an immediate increase in appropriate responding when the intervention was delivered. Generalized responding and response maintenance were also exhibited.…

This study evaluated the Task Demonstration Model for teaching discrimination skills with three teachers and their students (adolescents and young adults with moderate to severe mental retardation). The intervention required students to respond simultaneously. Students increased their percentage and rate of correct responding as well as their…

Three individuals with multiple severe disabilities were taught an appropriate response to problem behaviors, but the response was less efficient than the problem behavior on physical effort, schedule of reinforcement, or stimulus-reinforcer time delay. The response did not compete successfully with the problem behaviors until a new, more…

Although educators often provide opportunities for students to engage in active academic responding, in many situations, students either cannot or will not respond. In the current article, we analyze the reasons students fail to respond. Practical procedures educators can use to prevent "can't do" problems are provided. "Won't do" problems are…

Data gathered from 42 secondary school speech communication teachers and their students formed the foundation for a study that examined the relationship between: (1) differential use of Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs) by teachers trained or untrained in communication in instruction and (2) learning of students of varying quality levels.…