The feeding behaviors of a child diagnosed with failure to thrive were assessed using descriptive analysis methodology to identify the schedules of reinforcement provided by the child's parents. This analysis revealed that the child's appropriate feeding behaviors (i.e., bite acceptance, self-feeding) were on a lean schedule of positive…

With their origins in scientific validation, behavior-analytic applications have understandably been developed with an engineering rather than a crafting orientation. Nevertheless, traditions of craftsmanship can be instructive for devising aesthetically pleasing arrangements--arrangements that people will try, and having tried, will choose to…

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a minimal intervention focusing on hypnotic discontinuation and cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for insomnia. Fifty-three adult chronic users of hypnotics were randomly assigned to an 8-week hypnotic taper program, used alone or combined with a self-help CBT. Weekly hypnotic use decreased in both…

College students (N = 151) completed three in-class mathematics assignments that varied with respect to the order of short, medium, and long multiplication problems, including a short-to-long order, a long-to-short order, and a random order. Problem order within assignments did not significantly affect work accuracy, completion time, or assignment…

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is recognized as an effective psychological treatment for panic disorder (PD). Despite its efficacy, some clients do not respond optimally to this treatment. Unfortunately, literatures on the prediction, prevention, and management of suboptimal response are not well developed. Considering this lack of empirical…

This study extends previous work on the use of differential observing responses (DOR) to remediate atypically restricted stimulus control. A participant with autism had high matching-to-sample accuracy scores with printed words that had no letters in common (e.g., "cat," "lid," "bug") but poor accuracy with words that had two letters in common…

Assigned 120 smoking cessation subjects to either intensive behavioral treatment, nicotine gum in low-contact treatment, or to combined treatment. Combined treatment produced higher abstinence rates than other conditions at all assessments. Differences were significant at 3, 12, and 26 weeks, but not at 52 weeks. (NRB)

The research evaluated whether extremely brief durations of overcorrection could be utilized efficaciously with two severely handicapped students displaying high rates of stereotypic behavior. In both studies, effects of intervention were durable. Findings suggested that very brief durations of overcorrection can be therapeutically effective while…

The study investigated the effectiveness of a program designed to teach behavior modification procedures to normal siblings of autistic children. Siblings learned to use procedures at a high level of proficiency, and in a generalization setting, resulting in improvements in the behavior of the autistic children. (Author/CL)

Analyzes codependency related, self-help literature with a dramatistic lens to explore M. Beattie's bibliotherapeutic portrayal of codependency and codependency recovery. Depicts Beattie's "stylistic medicine" for codependency recovery as a three-step, rebirth experience: (1) recognize the codependent pollution within; (2) engage in…

Nine behavior-analytic studies, each reporting data for a single participant, have shown that bizarre speech can be maintained by social reinforcement. In the current study, we controlled for a possible referral bias in this literature by including nonreferred participants with dual diagnoses. Functional analyses identified attention functions for…

A treatment with differential or noncontingent reinforcement and nonremoval of the spoon increased the acceptance of one or two of 16 foods for 2 participants with severe food refusal. These differential levels of acceptance were demonstrated empirically in an ABAB design in which A was the presentation of the accepted (preferred) foods and B was…

Recent research has shown that the noncontingent delivery of competing stimuli can effectively reduce rates of destructive behavior maintained by social-positive reinforcement, even when the contingency for destructive behavior remains intact. It may be useful, therefore, to have a systematic means for predicting which reinforcers do and do not…

Articles about systematic desensitization that appeared in mainstream behavior therapy journals between the years 1970 and 2002 were counted. Graphic displays of the data point to a sudden and lasting decline of interest in systematic desensitization among academics and researchers. A questionnaire concerning clinical use of orthodox systematic…

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…