Research Findings: The present study aimed to investigate whether the trial-to-trial intraindividual reaction time variability (IIV), which reflects prefrontal cortex activity related to attentional and cognitive control, mediated the longitudinal effects of earlier harsh discipline on children's later externalizing problems. The study involved…

Students' misbehaviors at younger ages can lead to more significant issues at the high school level such as dropping out, drug and alcohol abuse, and incarceration. The purpose of this study was to examine high school students' perceptions of positive reinforcement and punishment practices in their high school's behavior system. Two specific…

Research has suggested that students from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds (e.g., students of color and those with disabilities) have received higher rates of exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) than their peers who are White and without disability. Various interventions have been implemented to address this…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is a major U.S. educational problem. Official data show that Black boys are disciplined at the highest rates of any racial and gender subgroup. Scholars suggest the "criminal" Black male image shapes teachers' views and treatment of their Black male students. Yet few studies examine the…

Time-out is a negative punishment procedure that parents and teachers commonly use to reduce problem behavior; however, specific time-out parameters have not been evaluated adequately. One parameter that has received relatively little attention in the literature is the mode of administration (verbal or physical) of time-out. In this study, we…

A survey of a convenience (nonrandom) sample of parents and guardians of children with disabilities was undertaken to document the use of restraints, seclusion, and aversive procedures. A 23-item questionnaire was presented to participants using SurveyMonkey, a Web-based program. Participants were informed of the survey by different advocacy…

Many authors recommend various praise to reprimand ratios for teachers to use to manage their classrooms (e.g., Flora, 2000; Nafpaktitis, Mayer, & Butterworth, 1985; Wheldall, 2005); however, these recommendations are based on correlational data or secondary findings from studies not directly manipulating the praise to reprimand ratio. The…

The present study evaluates the effectiveness of two time-out (TO) procedures in reducing escape-maintained noncompliance of 4 children. Noncompliant behavioral function was established via a functional assessment (FA), including indirect and direct descriptive procedures and brief confirmatory experimental analyses. Following FA, parents were…

There is a body of evidence that has linked teachers' verbal feedback to pupils with pupil behaviour. In this study teacher verbal behaviour that was directed towards those pupils that the teachers had nominated as being especially difficult to teach was examined. A series of lessons was observed in a secondary school. The quality and quantity of…