Physical activity has many benefits, but many individuals with developmental disabilities fail to exercise regularly. Procedures in which consequences were arranged for exercising, alone or as part of a treatment package, have consistently increased physical activity by members of this population. We review 19 studies that arranged such…

Inappropriate mealtime behavior (IMB) is a type of feeding challenge within the broader class of food refusal. The purpose of this study was to critically analyze the efficacy of interventions for the treatment of IMB through a meta-analysis of research using single-case experimental designs. We examined the extent to which different interventions…

The present study evaluated treatment acceptability for behavioral interventions addressing challenging behaviors with Chinese caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Factors influencing treatment acceptability (i.e., severity of challenging behavior and Chinese child-rearing values) were investigated. Caregivers of children aged…

Functional communication training, an intervention for challenging behavior rooted in principles of applied behavior analysis, has copious empirical support dating back to the mid-1980s for autistic individuals. Recently, there has been a concerted effort to thin reinforcement delivery during functional communication training using…

This paper presents a conceptual framework to understand the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) through the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The Nurtured Heart Approach and the Self-Determination Theory are discussed and the parallels are drawn between the two, to provide a theoretical foundation to NHA and support for its effectiveness,…

Studies with adults suggest that implicit preferences favoring White versus Black individuals can be reduced through exposure to positive Black exemplars. However, it remains unclear whether developmental differences exist in the capacity for these biases to be changed. This study included 369 children and examined whether their implicit racial…

The current study used differential reinforcement and shaping to increase the variety of foods accepted by children with autism who demonstrated significant feeding inflexibility. Participants were introduced to four new food items via a hierarchical exposure, which involved systematically increasing the desired response with the food item. Level…

Despite the growing research that demonstrates that the use of corporal punishment with children is harmful, many Nigerian parents still utilise such methods without realising the implications. Because of lack of a strong evidence-based programme to serve local needs, we developed a community-based parenting education programme (PEP) to help…

We evaluated the effects of providing positive reinforcement for task completion, signaled via the presence of a tangible item, on escape-maintained problem behavior displayed by three typically developing children during one-time 90-min outpatient evaluations. Brief functional analyses of problem behavior, conducted within a multielement design,…

Few studies have been conducted in Greece, which focus on the education of children with multiple disabilities (motor and intellectual disabilities, ID). Four children between the ages 9 and 15 with multiple disabilities (motor and ID) were selected to be taught social skills. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide training with regard…

The current meta-analysis examined the evidence for interventions to improve compliance of students with disabilities in school settings. Experimental investigations that investigated compliance or non-compliance and took place with students in a school setting who were between birth and 23 years old were evaluated using the Council for…

Background: The work of group care workers in residential youth care is often described as professional parenting. Pedagogical interventions of group care workers influence the quality of care for looked-after children. Objective: The aim of the current study was to observe the pedagogical interventions of group care workers within residential…

A brief training package consisting of pre-teaching of appropriate grocery item--gathering skills and reinforcement for appropriate behavior was used to teach a child diagnosed with autism to remain in a store and participate in shopping without exhibiting tantrums. The training package began with teaching the necessary component skills and…

No studies of parent-implemented behavior interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have purposefully examined their effectiveness and acceptability with African American families. The present study used a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of parent-implemented differential…

This study is part of a programmatic line of research into the use of basic positive reinforcement procedures for improving working memory in children with autism spectrum disorders. The authors evaluated the effects of multiple exemplar training, utilizing positive reinforcement, on performance of a "digit span backwards" task--a test of working…