In education, as in the area of mental illness, the first application of behavior modification began with the treatment of the severely retarded and the autistic. By 1970 behavioral principles were being applied to normal children in the home and regular classes in schools. While behavior modification has been accepted to some degree in special…

Mentally retarded individuals may have chronic emotional problems or emotional responses to such stress and conflict situations as attending separate classes, moving to a new living situation, or being separated from family. Frequently service networks for mentally retarded persons do not consider the need for emotional assistance, as demonstrated…

This report focuses on future directions in behavioral school-based interventions with delinquents. It begins by reviewing the theoretical relevance of school-focused interventions in delinquency prevention/intervention efforts and the behavioral school-based delinquency prevention/intervention programs reported in the literature to date. It looks…

Children with Attentional Deficit Disorder (ADD) are characterized by chronic inattention and impulsivity. There recently has been an increased interest in treatment regimens which attempt to alter ADD children's learning and behavioral styles by focusing on cognition and directly observable behaviors. A study was undertaken to evaluate a…

The study explored behavioral procedures for developing the skill of standing from a chair for a severely mentally retarded 11-year-old nonambulatory girl and an 86-year-old man residing in a nursing home for the elderly. Functional assessment and programing determined the specific instructional needs of each S. A changing criterion design was…

Because students with stage fright are numerous, different from their college peers, and capable of being helped, the University of Illinois has created stage fright sections within the basic speech course. To meet the behavioral objectives of the course, the student should be able to define stage fright and recognize its common symptoms, describe…

The paper reviews studies on performance objectives, task analysis, and prompting and instruction sequences as they relate to the education of handicapped students. The initial section, on performance objectives, reviews the development of the Vocational Behavior Checklist and the Subsequent Independent Living Behavior Checklist. The next step in…

In this study, nutrition therapy was found to be an important variable in the successful treatment of alcoholism. Traditional treatment methods, such as psychological and institutional approaches, social and group therapy, and chemotherapy, are noted. Research on nutritional needs of individuals has led to an orthomolecular concept which holds…

In observations of three brain injured children (20, 32, and 24 months old), the authors found a strong association between reinforcement density and cooperative behavior during physical therapy sessions. The results suggested that the delivery of reinforcement per se has substantial effects on behavior. When large amounts of noncontingent…

THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTING STUDENTS IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IS EXPLORED. COUNSELORS ASSIST STUDENTS IN LEARNING HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS. A DECISION SHOULD BE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF THE PROCESS USED TO ARRIVE AT IT RATHER THAN IN TERMS OF THE RESULTING CHOICE. KNOWLEDGE OF ALTERNATIVES, POSSIBLE OUTCOMES, AND THE PROBABILITY FOR SUCCESS OF…

Hyperactive children (N=20) and their families that completed 4 months of parent training were compared with children (N=20) and their families that disengaged prematurely. Results from scales measuring emotional adjustment, personality, and intellectual functioning, indicated that children and parents who remained in treatment were older and…

A behavioral consultation school psychology service model is presented which provides a vehicle for services and communication of process and outcome measures in program evaluation research. The consultation model promotes process and outcome evaluation, leads to use of an applied research technology, and provides a communication technology for…

The question of what it means to be "scientific" in the broadest sense is explored, and this information is used as a basis for evaluating the past, present and future of behavioral therapies. (Author/BP)

In the long run, the scientific therapies will prove more efficient for more people more of the time and will produce less harmful results. To the degree that the "unscientific" therapies last, they will have certain usable aspects incorporated into the remaining "scientific" systems. (Author)