White noise generators were turned on at 75 dB at bedtime and kept on all night to treat resistance going to sleep and night wakings in one-year-old toddlers. In a multiple baseline design four sets of parents recorded duration of resistance going to sleep, number of night wakings, completed surveys of their child's feeding and sleeping patterns…

Addresses the value of behavioral techniques in relation to children's maladaptive fears. Summarizes how such techniques are used in the home, in school, and in health care settings; discusses theoretical explanations of the success of behavioral interventions. Outlines variables that may affect outcome of maladaptive fear prevention programs.…

We conducted a brief (8 days) functional analysis to identify sources of control over persistent saliva-play displayed by a 6-year old child with autism in a school setting. The functional analysis suggested that saliva-play was maintained by automatic reinforcement, leading to an intervention evaluation (3 days) that compared two methods of…

Insulin-dependent diabetic children and their parents were trained in behavioral self management and conducted behavior change projects designed to enhance compliance with the medical regimen and reduce diabetes-related conflicts. Participating families experienced fewer arguments concerning diabetes, and the children displayed an increase in…

Parents' reasons for failing to keep appointments at a child behavior management clinic were investigated. Explanations given frequently included: poor health status of parent or child, inadequate transportation, competing home and work responsibilities, and sudden crises. Further research is needed to assess the effects of interventions intended…

Two developmentally disabled children were held in seated position during application of timeout procedure. For autistic-like girl procedure produced dramatic reduction in tantrums and aggressive behavior and for mentally retarded boy reduced aggression. For both, immobilization timeout proved more effective than reinforcement methods alone. (CMG)

A youngster who excessively watched television was placed on a modified token economy: earned tokens were used to activate the television for set periods of time. Positive effects resulted in the child's school work, in the amount of time his family spent together, and in his mother's perception of family social support. (KH)

Reviews individual and group studies describing the application of behavior therapy techniques to the management of 41 electively mute children. Updates previous reviews of treatment techniques, examines criteria influencing application of specific techniques to individual children, and evaluates evidence as to relative effectiveness of different…

The recalcitrant spitting of a blind, deaf, and retarded adolescent was eliminated with a behavioral intervention consisting of positive reinforcement for not spitting and facial screening for spitting. The social and academic implications of modifying such behaviors are discussed. (Author/CMG)

Reports on a follow-up mail survey of the continuing use of behavior modification procedures learned by 30 families who had participated in a training program for parents of autistic preschool children four to seven years previously. More than half no longer used formal behavior modification procedures. (PS)

By watching and responding to the way a shill answered "yes-no" questions about food items, a developmentally delayed preschool boy greatly improved over his poor base-line "yes-no" answers to these same items. He was also able to give correct answers subsequently during generalization probe sessions. (PS)

Describes four experiments conducted using a children's storybook and related games designed to help overcome fear of the dark. These materials incorporate behavior modification principles of fear reduction, including modeling, counterconditioning, shaping and hierarchical approach. Overall, the materials were found to be therapeutic,…

The present study suggests that parent training alone, or methylphenidate alone, are both sufficient to produce noticeable, clinically significant improvements in behavior of hyperactive children. The research did not show, however, that a combination of treatments is any more effective than either treatment alone. (Author/GC)

For a seven-year-old autistic boy, contingent jogging caused a significant decline in frequency of out-of-seat behavior that was maintained for 12 months. Unlike many other behavior suppression techniques, contingent exercise is safe and does not humiliate the client. (Author/LHW)

A three-year-old child with developmental handicaps was taught attention, imitation, and toy manipulation behaviors. Observation on 10 targeted behaviors showed that from the time the intervention program commenced, the child increased her attention to persons and objects and markedly decreased her level of self-stimulation and self-injury. (GC)