Chronically disruptive students are often funneled into "watered-down" alternative schools that warehouse rather than educate them. The Atlantic County (New Jersey) Alternative High School is a successful college-based program that expects referred students to fulfill normal academic requirements while taking tuition-free college…

Violence against children is increasing; so is random student violence and disruptive behavior in classrooms. Instead of fortifying their gates, schools must teach children alternatives to violence and how to make better choices. A "humane highway" can be constructed by reducing cynicism, welcoming all students, replacing reward- and…

This essay discusses the significance functional analysis has had for applied behavior analysis of aberrant behavior. The methodology has lessened the field's reliance on default technologies and promoted analysis of environment-behavior interactions maintaining target responses as the basis for selecting treatments. It has also contributed to the…

Examines the effectiveness of a self-monitoring package on the task engagement and disruptive behaviors of two elementary school students in full-time special education classes. Results indicate that self-monitoring was highly effective in increasing task management while decreasing disruptive behavior. (JPS)

This study developed an experimental analysis procedure based on the results of a descriptive assessment, involving five parents and their children with problem behaviors. The experimental analysis required only four sessions to demonstrate a function for each subject's problem behaviors. Interventions involving functional communication training…

Describes the clinical features and epidemiology of school refusal. Focuses on the use of cognitive-behavioral approaches to treatment, as illustrated with a case study. Emphasizes the role of teachers in the identification and treatment of school refusal. (HTH)

This paper reports on the first two years of operation of an Interdisciplinary Review Committee managing the use of psychotropic medication in a training center for people with intellectual disabilities in Victoria (Australia). Clients (n=25) receiving medication to manage challenging behavior had daily doses of neuroleptic medication reduced by…

Time-based lag sequential analyses were conducted on 23 topographies of challenging behavior shown by 5 young people with severe mental retardation across 2 settings. Potential behavioral functions were identified for 21 of the 23 behaviors. Response classes were identified for four participants. Cross-validation with brief experimental analyses…

The efficacy of outpatient, weekly group treatment for 30 girls, 9 through 12 years old, who were sexually abused was examined and compared to psychological status of 15 girls waiting to begin treatment. Two inventories were administered before treatment and approximately six months later. Treatment reduced the girls' perceived anxiety and…

Describes longitudinal investigation evaluating additive model of impact of adolescent mothers' parenting practices on children. Suggests infant-mother attachment predicted behavior problems among preschool children of adolescent mothers and adolescent mothers' depression explained significant additional variance in those problems. States mothers'…

Tells the story of three high school students whose violent, confrontational behavior proved inveterate despite the meting out of various conventional punishments such as in-school suspension. Posits that some students may be untreatable through the disciplinary apparatus available to school administrators. (TB)

Rorschach protocols of 18 sexually-abused children were compared to protocols of 18 clinical controls. Dependent variables included responses with overt sexual contents, sexual symbols, and near-sexual content. Results suggested that the dependent variables, in combination, could differentiate sexually abused children from other groups. Other…

This paper examines the relationship between creation and destruction in the creative process. Findings from a study involving 60 actors and 60 criminals/delinquents (ages 10-65) indicate that the 2 populations are similar in their ability to use the creative process but criminals/delinquents do little productive with their ability. (Author/JDD)

This meta-analysis of the developmental disabilities literature on remediation of problem behaviors evaluated relations between standards of practice, intervention and participant characteristics, and treatment validity. Results largely failed to support widespread assumptions of clinical practice such as the superiority of more intrusive…

Mothers and caregivers responded to hypothetical incidents in which a four-year-old child misbehaved. Mothers and caregivers differed in their causal attributions for children's misbehavior and their affective and behavioral responses to children's failures to be altruistic. Assertions of power were likely when respondents believed misbehavior was…