This document describes the work of the Pupil Services Branch of the Maryland State Department of Education in its efforts to assist school districts and individual schools in the state in examining the causes of student disruption and in developing programs that are aimed at impacting disruptive students and creating more effective schools. A…

This booklet is about changing human behavior in everyday settings in the school and home. The approach to human behavior outlined is called "behavior analysis," which is based on that approach to psychology called the exerimental analysis of behavior. The ABC model of behavior is explained. In this model, the A refers to the "antecedent" that…

Describes how a social worker made a group treatment program a permanent part of a small, rural, junior high school in order to aid students with behavioral problems. (Author/ED)

The effects of sociodrama on the adaptive and maladaptive behaviors of elementary school boys were examined in three groups of six boys each. One group was used as a control for the Hawthorne effect; the second, as a control for teacher expectation effects and for changes as a function of involvement with a male counselor. In the experimental…

Describes the characteristics of a child with Minimal Brain Dysfunction. Then explains how a goal can be set with such a child and tasks established to move the child toward the goal without losing momentum because of a school vacation. (EJT)

Outlines some positive steps for reducing the undesirable classroom behavior of preschool children. (ED)

Study supported in part by Grant MH-10993 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service.

A 2-year study was done on the effect of group therapy on the teacher-perceived classroom behavior of 82 hyperactive minority boys (ages 10-16 years) in a day school for disruptive children. By the end of the study, there were a minimum of four behaviors which indicated that the group therapy was accomplishing a statistically significant change in…

A study, involving six students in grades 4 through 6 who exhibited inappropriate or inadequate social behaviors, investigated the effectiveness of the Behavior Rehearsal Intervention Program in promoting social skills for pre-adolescents. Three Ss participated in an initial Placebo-Attention Control Condition followed by the Behavior Rehearsal…

The booklet provides information on a number of strategies for teachers to use in managing disruptive behaviors in the classroom. In the first section several approaches (such as token economies) are discussed that pertain to the general, comprehensive management of classes. Included in Section II are several strategies (including taking away…

The efficacy of a self-management program emphasizing self-assessment and self-recording was investigated with a class of nine behaviorally disordered boys (10-13 years old). Following baseline and untrained self-record phases, two training phases in which Ss were reinforced for accurate self-recording were implemented. A final self-record phase…

The effectiveness of the reinforcing of low rates of responding (DRL) in the reduction of unacceptable behaviors was demonstrated with two students in regular first and second grade classes. Ss were given play-time reinforcement when the total number of disruptions (such as fighting with other students) during a session were below the DRL limit.…

A contract and point system were used to decrease the pilfering behavior of an 11-year-old boy. Under the contract system, the boy kept a daily record of his progress and earned points toward a trip to the planetarium. After introduction of the contract the pilfering dropped from at least two times a week to none at all. (LS)