The use of aversives as a method for behavioral intervention in U.S. public schools has been a persistent concern and often subject to litigation, particularly among students with disabilities. The use of aversives (restraint, seclusion, and corporal punishment) have been supported in some cases due to their perceived necessity to keep children…

While it may seem almost intuitive that offering rewards to students will yield better results, that is not how it works; the result often is the opposite. The paradox of rewards is that their effect often has a limited impact on students, who then will lose curiosity; it also makes them feel as if they are being controlled--a negative motivating…

Argues that the one portion of behavior modification that educators least understand is negative reinforcement. Discusses the advantages of this technique. (FL)

The article discusses the uses of mechanical vibration for stimulating, rewarding, and suppressing behaviors of multiply handicapped blind children. Suggestions for further research and refinement of the techniques are made. (Author)

The author attempts to clarify the difference between punishment and negative reinforcement and suggests that negative reinforcement should be used only as a last resort as a disciplinary tool. (KC)

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…

This article examines the concept of negative reinforcement in relation to the maintenance of off-task and disruptive behaviors in classrooms. Suggestions are given for determining whether negative reinforcement (in the form of escape from the instructional task) or teacher attention is maintaining the behavior. Suggestions for making tasks less…

Two studies involving five students (ages 9-17) with autism found that stereotypy was multiply determined or occurred across all assessment conditions (attention, demand, no-attention, and recreation conditions) and that the presumed association between response topography and behavioral function may be less important than previously realized.…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine educators' attitudes toward corporal punishment and its alternatives in a variety of school settings throughout the Southwest; and (2) to explore the relationships between respondents' attitudes and such independent variables as dogmatism, sex, experience, level of education, job description,…

Eight behavioral management terms/concepts commonly encountered in the special education literature are defined and discussed in terms of commonly occurring confusions. They are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, extinction, differential reinforcement of other behavior, timeout, response cost, and overcorrection. (DB)

Presents the negative-reinforcement paradigm as a framework with potential to guide development of interventions that increase desirable and decrease undesirable behaviors of students with disabilities. Studies involving children with emotional and behavioral disorders are presented to convey the importance of teachers' awareness of the paradigm's…

This article examines and evaluates the various ways school personnel can assist and work effectively with children with attention deficit disorders. Classroom management procedures and behavioral interventions are outlined, such as setting clear rules, using a token economy, contingency contracting, applying consequences, teaching self-management…

This brief paper describes a Behavioral Intervention Program (BIP) in Georgia in 1995-1997 that provided services at the local level for 88 students with severe and challenging behaviors. Under the program, students with severe behaviors are identified at the local level and referred to the BIP through a request for service process. The local…

Explores how theories concerning socialization mechanisms may be operationalized and tested. Provides a preliminary test of this strategy using 57 boys being treated for conduct problems. Results indicate that the role of both negative reinforcement and affect dysregulation play a part in the development of a child's antisocial behavior. (RJM)

This paper cites ethical provisions and professional standards that affect the selection of behavioral interventions that will benefit exceptional individuals without undermining their dignity. A three-category system that classifies behavioral interventions on the basis of their intrusiveness or restrictiveness is presented. Interventions are…