Many students attending public schools exhibit discipline problems such as disruptive classroom behaviour, vandalism, bullying, and violence. Establishing effective discipline practices is critical to ensure academic success and to provide a safe learning environment. In this article, we describe the effects of whole-school positive behaviour…

School-wide positive behavioral support (PBS) emphasizes the importance of using proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors. Positive behavior support is increasingly being used to create positive school environments. While numerous public schools have successfully adopted a PBS model, minimal…

In this article, the effectiveness of pre-service training that focuses on collaborative consultation and positive behavior support for treatment of challenging behaviors is evaluated. The effectiveness of an 8-month training program is evaluated for three participant groups: (a) 16 advanced undergraduate and master's-level students who received…

In a study of behavior modification two Down's syndrome preschool children, the first a 5-year-old boy with autistic behavior patterns and the second a 4-year-old girl whose behavior problem was to reject other children, were examined. The first S was engaged in ball catching activities with a teacher with positive reinforcement (playing the S's…

Two papers describe studies to decrease inappropriate social behaviors of severely retarded students. R. Spangler and others in "The Effect of a Time-Out Procedure on the Duration of Tantrum Behavior in a 13-Year-Old Severely Retarded Male S" report on a three phase study in which a combination of verbal instructions and a timeout procedure…

Two methods of scheduling reinforcement, differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) and differential reinforcement of low rates of responding (DRL), were investigated in two experiments that demonstrated each procedure's effectiveness in reducing misbehavior when used by teachers in school settings. A third experiment was undertaken to…

The author recounts his experience in dealing with a child of normal intelligence but an unusually short attention span and physical restlessness. (JD)

A program of cooperation between teachers and professional consultants in the field of mental health made possible the identification of children with problems and the successful modification of their behavior. (JD)

The absence of genital stimulation in a 16-year-old severely retarded male (IQ 21) was reinforced with a combination of edibles and a stereotypic behavior. Among results were that edibles alone maintained the reductions in genital stimulation, and that withholding edibles had little effect in reducing the stereotypic behavior. (Author/JW)

The "PEZ" candy dispenser has been used effectively to deliver reinforcers to moderately handicapped preschool students who display desirable behaviors. Contingency management procedures are described for using the candy dispenser to deliver reinforcers and subsequently to fade out the edible reinforcer and have the colorful dispenser itself…

Use of primarily reinforcement-based behavioral procedures decreased aggressive pinching in a 10-year-old severely retarded female to near-zero levels. Procedures included differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), DRO plus timeout, DRO plus response prevention, and differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior. Results were…

Four third-grade male students with behavior problems were given tutoring sessions by sixth-grade tutors either contingent on or not contingent on classroom on task behavior. Contingent tutoring always produced improved on-task behavior, while noncontingent tutoring did not, suggesting that tutoring was an effective reinforcer. (Author/DB)

Noncompliant behavior of a severely multihandicapped six-year-old boy was modified through systematic manipulations of an instructional antecedent. Increasing the density of instructional commands and reinforcing discrete compliant responses was found to be the most effective treatment package for controlling behavior. (Author/ABB)

Tourette's syndrome, which includes the compulsive vocalization of obscene words, has been attributed to both organic and psychological factors. Although no conclusions about the etiology of the behavior could be drawn, the operant nature of the symptoms was demonstrated in the present case study in the manipulation of responses by varying…