Examined contingent positive and negative reinforcement and adaptive behavior and mood among 36 chronic, psychiatric outpatients who received either contingent positive token reinforcement to improve daily living skills, negative reinforcement procedure based on removal of free-tokens, or no treatment. Found significant differences between control…

Reviews literature on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in children and adolescents, emphasizing clinical presentation, evaluation, and treatment options. Notes that patients with OCD show remarkable similarities in clinical presentations, and have distinct profiles on cognitive, behavioral, and psychological measures. Concludes that advances in…

Discussion of cognitive behavioral interventions with abused children and adolescents covers use of cognitive therapy with adults, therapeutic processes in cognitive therapy, involvement of parents and carers in cognitive behavioral therapy, and cognitive schema and maltreatment. Application is made to types of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual)…

Assesses the effects of a psychoeducational group for adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Results show that the group experience has statistically significant effects in improving organization skills by helping participants examine and change their thoughts, feelings, and actions to improve time management and task…

A study found simultaneous prompting procedures were effective in teaching environmental word identification to five students (ages 6-11) with moderate intellectual disabilities and that they were able to acquire additional instructive feedback stimuli presented on either a continuous or an intermittent presentation schedule, regardless of…

Difficulties with a wide range of social interactions are experienced by children with ADHD. Fifty children and adolescents were tested for ability to recognize the six basic facial expressions of emotion. Results are reported; implications for remediation of social skill deficits commonly seen in children with ADHD are discussed. (Author/EMK)

Individuals (n=177) who had participated in an 18-month trial of behavioral interventions involving food provision and financial incentives were examined 12 months later. Food provision, but not financial incentives, led to better weight loss than standard behavioral treatment, but over 12 additional months of no-treatment follow-up, all treated…

Comments on the exchange between N. S. Jacobson and S. D. Hollon, I. Elkin, R. D. Gibbons, M. T. Shea and B. F. Shaw, and R. J. McNally highlight issues of continuing controversy in the comparison of drugs versus psychotherapeutic interventions. Discusses the best way to control for things such as the allegiance effect and the role of pill…

Inspired by William Glasser's Reality Therapy ideas, Control Theory (CT) is a disciplinary approach that stresses people's ability to control only their own behavior, based on internal motivations to satisfy five basic needs. At one North Dakota high school, CT-trained teachers are the program's best recruiters. (MLH)

Determines the effectiveness of a structured free-time contingency for a 12-year-old male with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The overall outcome indicates increases in compliance and on-task behavior during the structured free-time condition. These procedures were effective and easy to implement in a special education resource room for…

This article discusses the use of a neural systems perspective to explain some of the behavioral impairments in autism and why some methods work the way they do. It suggests some optimal or even new ways of improving the behavioral treatment of autism and coupling it with other treatment methods. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Although clinical and empirical data have been offered about sexually aggressive children, few have suggested the necessary components of clinical treatment protocols for them. This article reviews the plausible etiologies and the correlates of sexual aggression by children to delineate the necessary treatment elements for them and their families.…

Describes a model of service delivery for children with autism and pervasive developmental disorders that seeks to prevent at-risk students from being placed residentially and to return those who live in residential school to less restrictive environments. Describes the organization and critical components for the Family Support Program. Discusses…

This commentary discusses the successful partnership between the parents and the school in addressing the challenging behaviors of a 9-year-old boy with severe disabilities. Stages of the successful partnership and characteristics of behavior support plans that have good contextual fit are described. (Author/CR)

Eight experts in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) provide personal examples of their own successes and failures in applying REBT to themselves. The experts actively talked to themselves both rationally and irrationally. Rational self-talk was more prevalent in the examples of how REBT was successfully used by the experts. (GCP)