Stefan Ramaekers and Joris Vlieghe's "Infants, childhood and language in Agamben and Cavell: education as transformation" is an insightful discussion of an important facet of educational experience. In the article, they consider a Fred Astaire dance sequence from the 1953 Vincente Minnelli film, "The Band Wagon," in combination…

In June this year, Wellesley High School became a focus of attention worldwide, following a graduation speech made by a teacher at the school. Departing from the traditional rhetoric of such ceremonies, English teacher David McCullough told the assembled graduates that they were neither special nor exceptional, but may well believe they were…

Dr. Frank Gresham provides his reflections on a long and productive career in providing support to children with significant challenges. Dr. Gresham also provides his thoughts on the future of the field.

John R. Staver's article calling for a constructivist epistemology to maneuver between the disparate ways of knowing between science and religion prompts this response. This paper acknowledges Staver's scholarly analysis of the issue. Scientific and religious conflicts do present prominent challenges because these are profound but often-monolithic…

Recently the environmental movement has seen much success and progress under a newly-framed green paradigm. Yet, despite the proliferation of national attention to, and public interest in, the go-green mentality, environmental education still seems to be stuck within the old environmental paradigm. This critical essay shares lessons that…

In this commentary on the paper by the Bank Street Reading and Literacy Alumnae Group, Korthagen states that, while it provides an excellent example of how fruitful professional development can be when it is grounded in the needs and strengths of the people involved; regretfully, many traditional approaches to professional development are based on…

We argue for the utility of a functional definition of stereotypy based on evidence of both sensory automatic and socially mediated reinforcement contingencies in the occurrence of stereotypy in children with autism. A predetermined sensory function of stereotypy is often invoked in the behavioral literature and the term "self-stimulatory…

Over the past 25 years, Gallup polls have consistently reported that disruptive behavior and discipline problems are some of the top concerns of school staff and community members. In fact, problems with classroom management are among the most common reasons that teachers leave their jobs. In response, many schools are turning to more formal…

Framed in terms of the Third Mission, the "enterprise" or "entrepreneurial" university has increasingly become normalised in public policy; however there remains much contention about the implication of third stream activities. There is little rigorous evidence as to whether the Third Mission adversely affects teaching and/or (basic) research.…

In this article, the author discusses the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement and some additional considerations. He states that the concept of negative reinforcement has caused confusion, and he believes that the difficulty stems from conventions of ordinary speech, in which the term "negative" usually denotes the opposite of…

This article presents the argument presented by the author regarding the views of Baron and Galizio (2005), which provide an accurate and very clear version of the author's arguments against the use of the positive-negative reinforcement distinction in behavior analysis. Here, the author points out few things to add to Baron and Galizio's (2005)…

In this article, the author discusses and presents seven possibilities that describe how symmetry principles are reflected in behavior analysis. First, if there are apparently no functional distinctions to be made between positive and negative reinforcement, then reinforcer effectiveness (by various measures) is invariant under a simple inversion…

In a previous issue of "The Behavior Analyst," the authors discussed the ambiguities that surround the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement. Seven distinguished behavior analysts commented on their article. The authors believe that this dialogue represented a constructive step toward clarification of an important concept within…

Encouragement is a very effective means of enhancing appropriate behavior in others. Before one can be encouraging, one must recognize how people discourage others through verbalizations, actions, attitudes, beliefs, one's position in the family, and school. Schools discourage students through expectations, grades, report cards, competition,…

The Major Contribution intended to situate positive psychology in counseling psychology's past and future and in the complex world we live and work in today. The four reactions (Frazier, Lee,& Steger; Gerstein; Linley; Mollen, Ethington,& Ridley) provide new insights into how counseling psychology has and will contribute to the study of human…