This article reviews research on the effectiveness of four categories of intervention when implemented in public schools with adolescents and young adults diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The study's inclusionary criteria include a setting of public schools, participants aged between 12 and 22 years, and the investigation of an…

Three adolescents with traumatic brain injury performed a physical therapy task in the absence of programmed consequences or duration requirements. Next, the experimenter gave the participants the options of a smaller immediate reinforcer with no response requirement or a larger delayed reinforcer with a response requirement. Self-control training…

Individuals with autism often lack motivation to engage in sustained physical activity. Three adolescents with severe autism participated in a 16-week program and each regularly completed 30 min of cycling at the end of program. This study investigated the effect of a self-regulation instructional strategy on sustained cycling, which included…

Learning disabled adolescents can become more responsible for their social and academic performance by learning to monitor themselves. Self-monitoring activities can involve self-assessment, self-recording, and self-reinforcement. Procedures for establishing a self-monitoring approach are discussed. (CL)

Predictions about impulsive and self-controlled choices were tested in an ABAB design with five moderately and mildly mentally retarded children (12 to 15 years old). Generally, more impulse choices occurred under free-choice conditions, as predicted by the generalized matching law. (Author)

Manipulation of mechanical restraint properties were conducted in separate studies with two profoundly retarded adolescents who exhibited both self-restraint and self-injurious behavior. Techniques included prompting, differential reinforcement, and stimulus fading. Results suggested that stimulus fading and transfer may be valuable components in…

Surveyed 100 nondrinking adolescents utilizing a behavior analysis questionnaire designed to assess influences on learning not to drink. Results suggest that parents who did not drink had a strong influence. Effective modes of self-control were also discovered; teenagers revealed assertiveness skills in saying "no" to peer pressures. (Author/JAC)

Three case studies demonstrated excessive alcohol drinking in adolescents could be reduced by self-monitoring and extrinsic reinforcement procedures. Behavioral interventions resulted in complete abstinence for a male with 10 years of excessive alcohol abuse. However, alcohol abuse increased markedly for two females once intervention procedures…

Students with an internal locus of control functioned well under a variety of conditions while students needing extrinsic reinforcement functioned well only when feedback was provided by the experimenter. (MM)

Observed the accuracy of self-recording of on-task behavior by five special education students. Found high accuracy when reinforcers were used, but accuracy declined sharply in the self-reinforcement condition after repeated exposure. (FMW)

The first of two studies with two adolescent students with serious emotional disturbances examined the interaction between unequal rates of reinforcement and equal versus unequal delays to reinforcer access on performance of math problems. The second study examined the interactive effects of reinforcer rate, quality, and delay. (Author/DB)