Autistic children and adults who are non-verbal/minimally verbal or have an intellectual disability have often been excluded from Autism Spectrum Disorder research. Historical, practical and theoretical reasons for this exclusion continue to deter some researchers from work with this underserved population. We discuss why these reasons are neither…

Descriptive assessments involve recording naturally occurring instances of behavior and corresponding antecedent and consequent events. Authors have argued for the use of two forms of descriptive assessment, structured and narrative Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence recording, because these methods may require little training. However, the extent to…

This methodological paper details the process of embarking on a follow-up study of young people with sexual behaviour problems who were known to services in the 1990s and who are now young adults in their 20s or early 30s. In the context of the importance of such follow-up work, the overall aim and objectives of the funded research project are…

Recording the antecedents and consequences of problem behavior for the purposes of conducting descriptive analyses (called "A-B-C recording") can be particularly challenging, given the multiple variables that are commonly present in the natural environment. Nonetheless, psychologists and behavioral consultants often must rely on parents and…

This paper takes as its starting point an examination of the current status of some of the concerns that were raised in the mid-1980s about methodological problems faced by educational researchers using the behavioural approach in schools. These concerns included the measurement of agreement between observers, the interpretation of raw data…

This study applied the methodology of an analog experimental (functional) analysis of behavior to the specific interaction between parents and three children with mental retardation exhibiting food refusal and related mealtime problems. Analog results were highly consistent with other forms of functional assessment data, including interviews,…

Included herein is the conference proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. The conference theme for 2013 was: The Science of Learning. The Conference featured a keynote address by Victor Benassi, Ph.D.…

The frequency of occurrence of targeted environmental events during both unstructured and structured descriptive analyses conducted with two children with severe mental retardation was compared. Results showed that procedural modifications employed during the structured descriptive analysis increased the frequency of occurrence for most targeted…

The parents of 64 children (ages 5 to 12) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), other psychiatric diagnoses, and no history of school or home problems reported the frequency of their children's sleep disturbances in a 40-item questionnaire. Retrospective data were gathered by asking parents to report on the child's behaviors for…

Means of fostering utilization of educational evaluations are reviewed. Four ongoing educational evaluation programs were examined: (1) Florida Summer Institute Program; (2) Chapter I Reading Microcomputer Component; (3) Elementary Academically Gifted Program; and (4) Laboratory for Individualized Foundation Teaching. The addition of one factor…