This 1-year study investigated use of isolation timeout as a behavioral control intervention with 156 students with emotional disturbance in a special educational facility. Results indicated that 13,000 separate timeouts occurred over the year. Average time in isolation was 23 hours per student. Older students in more restrictive settings spent…

This review of behavioral research on teaching individuals with profound multiple handicaps found that behavior change has resulted from contingency management interventions, but the behavior changes cannot be described as beneficially affecting the individuals' quality of life. Explanations for this are offered, and suggestions for future…

Assessed teachers' (n=89) acceptance of Good Behavior Game (GBG), interdependent group contingency. Found GBG as acceptable as positive reinforcement and response cost. Neither target children's ages, behavior problem severity, nor stated procedure rationale affected ratings. Found positive relationship between acceptability and use of positive…

Functional assessments were conducted for two Irish individuals with severe disabilities and aberrant behavior. A modified attention condition was introduced, which involved both parents interacting with a third person. Aberrant behavior occurred only in the modified attention condition. Successful treatment consisted of delivery of attention on a…

Reinforcers lose their effectiveness when they are presented repeatedly. Early researchers labeled this loss of effectiveness as "satiation" without conducting an experimental analysis. When such an analysis is conducted, "habituation" provides a more precise and empirically accurate label for the changes in reinforcer effectiveness. This paper…

This study examines the effects of using response cost in combination with positive reinforcement procedures in helping two second grade students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder maintain their attention in the classroom. This involved the loss of reinforcers/points contingent upon inappropriate behavior in the classroom, in addition…

Children evidencing conduct disorders comprise the bulk of clinical referrals. Longitudinal studies have found that the prognosis for these children is poor in that the majority exhibit antisocial behavior in adulthood. In order to compare two methods of treatment, relationship-based and contingency management, 53 children (33 boys, 20 girls),…

This report outlines the limitations and weaknesses of singlecase, time-series research designs, of which the ABAB design is one of the widely used. An alternative design, the simultaneous treatment design, proposed by Browning and Stover (1971), has several advantages over the ABAB design. The design enables an experimenter to simultaneously…

Presented is the case study of a multiply handicapped institutionalized boy (3.8 years old) with presenting problems of self-injury, refusing food, and inability to walk. (IM)

School discipline need not entail corporal punishment. It is not necessary to subject school children to a role model of aggressive behavior by their teachers and principals. Instead, education in Canada should reflect the most advanced state of research, knowledge, and moral development by using alternative forms of discipline. (JHZ)

Exposed students in four second-grade classes exhibiting disruptive behavior to response cost programs with varying initial reinforcement and fine levels. Results indicated all treatments were highly effective, as all groups underwent maximum behavioral change. Suggests degree of aversiveness of procedure did not appear to be strongly related to…

Attention is given to the variety of behavioral problems encountered, in both case studies and group programs. Important issues in mental retardation and parent training are examined in light of the studies reviewed. (Author)

Maintains that parents and physicians should adopt a tender love, rather than a tough love, approach when dealing with adolescents with behavior problems. The discussion is highlighted by a case study of a 15-year-old boy. (BB)

In this case study, music was applied noncontingently and contingently across four settings with an adolescent male with autism, to reduce aberrant, repetitive vocalizations. The intervention was associated with dramatic reductions in the primary aberrant behavior and reductions in two other aberrant behaviors. Task performance was differentially…

Results of a functional analysis indicted that the hand mouthing of a woman with profound mental retardation was maintained by multiple sources of control (sensory stimulation and access to a leisure item). Hand mouthing, though maintained by automatic reinforcement, was also susceptible to social contingencies when exposed to them during…