In this study, junior high students receive group desensitization for their problems of test anxiety; improvement was measured by changes in grade point average. (Author)

Author examines the implications of a major scientific work of behavioral ressearch and concludes that positive reinforcement techniques will make possible the creation of an open classroom, that, in itself, will minimize the negative effects of control. (Author/RK)

Refutes R. Douglas Greer's contentions that behavior analysis is the best avenue for improving teaching and learning effectiveness. Maintains that, despite its success in the laboratory, behaviorism has limited application to the study of instruction in today's schools. (Author/MJL)

The paper argues that behavioral research with children might have more impact if experimenters paid more attention to assessment of long term maintenance effects, dissemination, and social validity of behavioral programs. Selected illustrative studies from the child behavior modification literature are reviewed and suggestions offered. (DB)

This paper identifies critical components of recent organizational quality improvement programs and specifies how applied behavior analysis can contribute to quality technology. Statistical Process Control and Total Quality Management approaches are compared, and behavior analysts are urged to build their research base and market behavior change…

The effects of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement on pedaling a stationary exercise bicycle were examined with 3 obese and 3 nonobese 11-year-old boys over a 12-week period. The intervention resulted in systematic increases in rate of exercise for all subjects. (Author/DB)

This commentary on EC 605 189 discusses assumptions of gentle teaching, its use of supportive behavioral techniques, and criticisms of gentle teaching. The paper concludes that gentle teaching is distinct from applied behavior analysis (ABA) in its unconditional valuing and focus on mutual change and is congruent with ABA in use of several…

This article reviews applications of the applied behavior analysis ideas of B. F. Skinner and others to persons with both mental retardation and emotional disturbance. The review examines implications of behavior analysis for operant conditioning and radical behaviorism, schedules of reinforcement, and emotion and mental illness. (DB)

This paper describes a project of Communidad Los Horcones (Mexico), dealing with alternatives to contrived or artificial reinforcement. The paper proposes the use of natural reinforcement, which can be individualized and received without the mediation of another person and which contributes to making the natural consequences of behavior…

This commentary on EC 603 646, a paper describing a natural reinforcement project of Communidad Los Horcones (Mexico), argues that natural reinforcement is best when the learning objective produces a natural reinforcer and when the natural reinforcer is more powerful than any competing punishers inherent in the task or reinforcers for competing…

Issues that impact on the ability of behaviorists to be effective in solving social and community problems are discussed, including use of legislative initiatives to bring about behavior change, sustaining interventions with local resources, and the possible rewards from employing collaborative methods in behavioral research. (JDD)

This paper responds to commentaries on an original article which proposed decreasing the training of applied behavior analysts as if they were going to be researchers, because most are not. The paper supports high quality research but opposes inculcating proresearcher, antipractitioner values in graduate education and recommends trying harder to…

Describes a behavior analytic program for preschool children with autism, the University of California, Los Angeles, Young Autism Project. It reviews outcome data, replication and dissemination efforts, frequently voiced concerns, and future directions. It concludes that, based on existing scientific evidence, increasing the availability of…

This study applied functional behavioral analysis to the destructive behaviors of two young boys with multiple disabilities including behavior disorders. Results suggested that the subjects' destructive behaviors were sensitive to both escape and attention as reinforcers. Results support the importance of establishing operations in determining the…

This article reviews two instructional strategies, derived from applied behavior analysis, designed to develop meaningful social relations for children with autism. The literature on the implementation and effectiveness of teaching peers to be intervention agents and using group-oriented contingencies is reviewed. Emphasis is on the social…