Self-injury (SI) is defined as the act of deliberately destroying one's own body tissue without suicidal intent in a way that is not widely socially acceptable and is not as a result of mental retardation, autism, or other developmental delays. The review of the self-injury literature focused on the definition, prevalence, and other basic aspects…

The current study used a programmatic dissemination model as a guiding framework for testing an evidence-supported treatment (EST) for child anxiety disorders in the school setting. The main goal of the project was to conduct the first of a planned series of partial-effectiveness tests (group-design randomized controlled trials) evaluating the…

Objective: At present, the most frequently investigated psychosocial intervention for borderline personality disorder (BPD) is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and long-term effectiveness of DBT. Method: Systematic bibliographic research was undertaken to find relevant literature from online…

Studies involving physical exercise and individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were reviewed. Systematic search procedures identified 18 studies meeting predetermined inclusion criteria. These studies were evaluated in terms of: (a) participant characteristics, (b) type of exercise, (c) procedures used to increase exercise, (d) outcomes,…

One child with developmental disabilities was taught to mand for attention by saying "excuse me." Treatment effects were extended to multiple training contexts by teaching the participant to attend to naturally occurring discriminative stimuli through differential reinforcement of communication during periods of the experimenter's nonbusy…

Background: Given the long-term morbidity of juvenile-onset major depressive disorder (MDD), it is timely to consider whether more effort should be dedicated to its primary and secondary prevention. Methods: We reviewed studies of prodromal symptoms that may herald a first episode pediatric MDD and considered whether that literature has made an…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of functional communication training on elopement when consultation support is delivered via desktop videoconferencing. An ABAB design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of functional communication training to reduce the elopement of a preschool student with autism. Intervention development,…

The amount of services delivered by school psychologists through consultation is increasing as is the number of students with challenging behaviors in the classroom. In this type of delivery model, the school psychologist works as a consultant to the teacher who will actually deliver the intervention to the student. The purpose of this research…

This study investigated the impact of a school-based mentoring program on at-risk students' office referrals, unexcused absences, and school attitude. Students who participated in the mentoring program had statistically significant reductions in office referrals and statistically significant improvements in school attitude. Based on an analysis of…

Behavioral parent training is an efficacious treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, single-mother households are at high risk for poor outcomes during and following behavioral parent training. This study randomly assigned cohorts of 120 single mothers of children (ages 5-12 years) with ADHD to a waitlist control…

The academic and social challenges facing public schools are enormous. For example, the pressure to meet the demands of the current high-stakes testing environment and reach adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals has arguably never been greater (Luna & Turner, 2001; Sanders, 2003). The energy devoted to academics has supplanted the little time spent…

The widely disseminated clinical method of motivational interviewing (MI) arose through a convergence of science and practice. Beyond a large base of clinical trials, advances have been made toward "looking under the hood" of MI to understand the underlying mechanisms by which it affects behavior change. Such specification of outcome-relevant…

On-task behaviors are examined for three elementary-aged children who had impaired language and challenging behaviors that compromised their classroom participation and inclusion. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used. Each participant showed improvements in on-task behavior following Social Story[TM] intervention. Participants…

This study investigated the relationship between problem behaviors and academic variables in classrooms. Functional behavioral assessments conducted with two fourth grade students indicated that academic variables occasioned and maintained problem behaviors. Two behavior support interventions were developed for each participant. One intervention…

Discovering whether children prefer reinforcement via a contingency or independent of their behavior is important considering the ubiquity of these programmed schedules of reinforcement. The current study evaluated the efficacy of and preference for social interaction within differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and…