Children who have reading disabilities are prone to become emotionally maladjusted due to the humiliation of poor reading ability and the anxiety over gaining peer approval. Adding to the child's problems are negative parental reactions. Suggestions for remedies are given. (JN)

All persons, regardless of current stage of lifespan development, stand to benefit greatly by an improved understanding of aging and the aged. Instruction about aging can and should be integrated within existing health curricula. (CJ)

The behavior modification procedure, carried out at mealtime with a ten-year-old retarded boy who had spastic cerebral palsy, consisted of differential reinforcement and punishment, and resulted in substantial decreases in tongue thrust (reverse swallowing) and food expulsion, and a large increase in observed chewing. (Author/DLS)

Training involved instruction, performance feedback, role-playing, and social and monetary reinforcers. Among the findings were that training resulted in improvement in all 12 types of target behavior, and that treatment effects were rapid and were generally sustained after treatment had been discontinued for four weeks. (Author/DLS)

Examining the relationship of teachers' human relations skills to certain personal characteristics, classroom observations by independent observors, and ratings by supervisors and students, this study indicated certain positive relationships, suggesting more emphasis be placed on facilitative response and less on discriminatory activities in…

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of interagent, inconsistent discipline on aggression in young boys. (MP)

Guidelines are offered for the teacher who must modify socially unacceptable behavior in an emotionally disturbed child. (JD)

This study of five young children with developmental delays or chronic health problems and with aberrant behaviors identified reinforcers that maintained aberrant behavior, used functional communication training to teach participants to gain reinforcement using mands, and implemented treatment involving choice making via manding. (JDD)

Three experiments were performed to study the relationship between reinforcer quality and behavioral momentum by varying reinforcer quality in two applied experiments and a basic laboratory experiment with rats. A study of two adolescent boys with mental retardation showed that compliance increasing effects could be improved by reinforcing…

To deal with difficult campers, meet with them at an unexpected place and time, and have as many adults present as campers. Begin with a story, then have each camper share a positive story. Discuss positive possibilities and ask for honest accountability. Frame the solution realistically, get agreement for change, and close with affirmation.…

A study used a computer game to examine behavioral momentum in 10 individuals (ages 7-20) with developmental disabilities. Different rates of reinforcement were programmed in two alternating components signaled by distinctive cues. Resistance to disruption by an alternate source of reinforcement was greater in the component with the higher…

This article presents and compares current research practices surrounding the use of rewards in classroom management. A motivational model emerges of the use of extrinsic rewards with special needs learners to build intrinsic motivation. Teachers' use of praise as the focal point to multiple rewards and students' need for equity are also…

The study found significant improvements in behavior when a profoundly mentally retarded blind subject was reinforced with music. The young woman also discriminated among different types of music, and behavior rates varied accordingly. (Author/DB)

The relative effectiveness of three procedures for increasing vocal response to prompt in 15 preschool children with Down Syndrome was compared. Light-dimming and visual screening, when combined with positive reinforcement, were both found to be significantly more effective than positive reinforcement alone. (Author/JDD)

Twenty single-subject investigations on early language interventions were reviewed. Treatments, including direct reinforcement of verbalization, mand-model, and time delay, were generally successful. Specific generalization training procedures were also supported. (Author/DB)