Many neurological and psychiatric disorders are characterized by deficits in cognitive flexibility. Modeling cognitive flexibility in mice enables the investigation of mechanisms underlying these deficits. The majority of currently available behavioral tests targeting this cognitive domain are reversal learning tasks that require scheduled food…

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…

Resistance and the lack of fidelity or integrity in the use of rewards and praise are commonly cited in the behavioral consultation literature, particularly when teachers are asked to manage student behavior using frequent rewards and praise in a systematic manner. There are multiple potential reasons for resistance and lack of implementation…

The prevalence of autism and related disorders, now categorized under the common thread of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is increasing, with one in 88 children being diagnosed each year. With this increase in prevalence comes an urgent need for interventions that will address the behavioral and learning challenges faced by children with ASD in…

From an applied behavior-analytic perspective, aggression in people with intellectual disabilities is mostly maintained by social reinforcement consequences. However, nonsocial consequences have also been identified in functional assessments on aggression. Behaviors producing their own reinforcement have been labeled "automatic" or "nonsocial" in…

The number of schools implementing school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) practices nationwide is increasing, but still little is known about the fidelity with which teachers implement SWPBS practices in the classroom. Specifically, data are needed that reflect the consistency with which classroom-based SWPBS practices are implemented, as…

Purpose: This study presents an application of the theoretical domains framework (TDF; Michie et al., 2005), an integrative framework drawing on behavior-change theories, to speech-language pathology. Methods: A multistep procedure was used to identify barriers affecting caregivers' implementation of shared-reading interventions with their…

Learning "how to be a Haut Gap student" is one of the basics at Charleston's Haut Gap Middle School. Along with reading, science, and mathematics classes, every student at Haut Gap Middle School takes a course in how to be a Haut Gap student. For most students, the class is 40 minutes a day for nine weeks. But it can last 18 weeks for…

"Bella is a 5-year-old girl with autism who attends a reverse inclusive preschool class. She primarily uses gestures and a communication binder to communicate with others. In addition, she is not toilet trained even though her teachers and her parents have tried numerous attempts over a 3-year period to train her. Bella also has gastrointestinal…

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is a systems-level intervention designed to prevent the occurrence of problem behavior and increase social competence. A growing body of research documents that SWPBS reduces problem behavior and improves academics (e.g., McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner, 2006), yet documentation of the feasibility…

Schools are often in need of low-cost, high-impact strategies to improve student behavior in school common areas. While many behavior management programs exist, there are few resources available to guide the implementation of these programs and ensure they are grounded in evidence-based strategies. Therefore, the current study had two primary…

Using rewards to impact students' behavior has long been common practice. However, using reward systems to enhance student learning conveniently masks the larger and admittedly more difficult task of finding and implementing the structure and techniques that children with special needs require to learn. More important, rewarding the child for good…

Bullying behaviors are a growing concern in U.S. schools. We present here a behavioral approach to bully prevention utilizing a schoolwide intervention. Bully prevention in positive behavior support (BP-PBS) teaches students to withhold the social rewards hypothesized to maintain bullying. A single-subject multiple baseline design across 6…

In Spring 2010, the Delaware Education Research and Development Center conducted an evaluation of Delaware's PBS project, an initiative focused on developing a school-wide system of strategies to reduce behavior problems and foster a positive school climate. The study focused on facilitators and barriers to PBS implementation, and also included…

In Spring 2010, the Delaware Education Research and Development Center conducted an evaluation of Delaware's PBS project, an initiative focused on developing a school-wide system of strategies to reduce behavior problems and foster a positive school climate. The study focused on facilitators and barriers to PBS implementation, and also included…