Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an ongoing research program conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse beginning in 1975. The integrated MTF study includes annual surveys of nationally-representative samples of 8th, 10th,…

Research shows that various pharmaceuticals can offer modest cognition enhancing effects for healthy individuals. These finding have caused some academics to support liberal use of pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) in schools and universities. This approach partially arises from arguments implying there is little moral justification for…

A range of behavior--much deemed problematic by society--is treated with behavioral methods or psychotropic medications. Although the processes associated with behavioral interventions have been investigated using conceptual, experimental, and applied analyses, less is known about the behavioral processes associated with the use of psychotropic…

This paper reports further outcome data from an evolving comprehensive program for the behavioral control of smoking. At a six-month follow up evaluation, 50 percent of the participants were fully abstinant from all forms of tobacco. Clinical and physiological correlates of success are noted and discussed. (Author)

The effectiveness of fenfluramine with hyperserotonergic autistic individuals (n=28 and ages 6-30) was evaluated. Evaluation of videotape recordings of individual behaviors suggested that fenfluramine failed to increase communicative behaviors or decrease stereotypic behaviors and inappropriate behaviors although a serotonergic effect was found in…

A seven-year-old emotionally disturbed boy with some features of the hyperkinetic syndrome was placed on a double-blind placebo control program to assess the effects of psychoactive medications (Ritalin and Dexedrine) on academic and social behaviors. (Author)

Twenty hyperactive 6- to 9-year-old children of normal intelligence were studied in a half-day laboratory classroom in a double-blind condition in which half the Ss were placed on Ritalin and half on placebo. (Author/CL)

A review of the use of psychotropic medications for people with developmental disabilities is presented. Results suggest that prescribing drugs based on topographical features of the problem behavior, without considering the function the behavior serves for the individual, contributes to variability in clinical response. Functional analysis of a…

Eighteen medically diagnosed hyperactive boys, matched individually for age, sex, teacher defined ability, and school class, took part in a double blind, placebo controlled trial of the effects of Ritalin on social behavior as measured by global rating scales. Behavior ratings by parents and teachers improved significantly when Ss were given…

The opioid antagonist naltrexone was administered to eight adults with severe or profound mental retardation and self-injurious behaviors. During naltrexone administration, there were fewer days with frequent head-banging and self-biting. Experimental subjects were also found to sleep significantly less than controls both before and during…

The author contends that the application of structure and reinforcement will effectively eliminate hyperactivity in most classrooms. If these procedures do not work it is very likely that the child does not have the component skills necessary for completing the academic materials. In this case, it is probably best to keep the hyperactive child on…

A definition of learning disorders, medical observations, diagnostic terms, the role of medication, and psychological implications and descriptions are provided. The philosophy and variations of educational programs for the neurologically handicapped are described; facets of the special class program considered are the instructional program,…