Classroom management is one of the key components for successful instruction and affects both instructors and learners. Although most frequent discipline strategies in schools involve punitive actions, research suggests that using positive statements to teach and reinforce desirable behaviors is more appropriate and effective. A form of a…

Many children with autism show very little interest in academic assignments and exhibit disruptive behavior when assignments are presented. Research indicates that incorporating specific motivational variables such as choice, interspersal of maintenance tasks, and natural reinforcers during intervention leads to improvements in core symptoms of…

The effects of social interaction skill interventions on the social behavior of four preschool children with behavioral handicaps were evaluated. Findings indicated unique effects for social skills training and contingency management intervention. Results are discussed in relation to the role of reciprocal interaction and behavioral trapping for…

Cognitive and academic behaviors promoted by an ongoing, long-term Direct Instruction preschool project for poverty level children (N=109) are described. Children who received two years of training achieved at substantially higher normative levels than children trained for only one year and this advantage continued in first and second grades.…

An adolescent female with multiple handicaps and severely disruptive behavior participated in a functional assessment linked directly to specific revisions in her school curriculum. The assessment and intervention produced substantial and durable reductions in the student's longstanding and severe behavior problems. (Author/JDD)

Two studies evaluated effects of First Step to Success, a collaborative home and school early intervention program designed for kindergartners who show signs of emerging antisocial behavior. Two sets of 5-year-old male twins were the subjects of the 4-year studies. Exposure to the First Step program produced powerful behavior changes that were…