The changing role of the psychologist in an institution for handicapped children is discussed. Adaptation of tests, selection of instruments, and the importance of interview techniques are considered in a section on assessment. Programing aspects, including dealing with stereotyping behaviors and self abuse and helping teachers locate resources,…

Discussed are findings of a review of 21 research reports concerned with the use of environmental music with mentally retarded persons. It is explained that the literature in two data bases was searched and relevant reports examined. The reports are organized into general findings (seven reports), use of music in contingency management (nine…

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the role of cognitive factors in behavior modification. In order both to nurture this development and influence the dialogue between semantic-cognitive therapists and behavior therapists, a newsletter was begun. The newsletter, which will appear annually, summarizes ongoing research projects…

This paper examines the problems in definition of punishment at the construct level, comparing the common use meaning of the term with a behavioral definition and contrasting two definitions used within the field of psychology. The paper discusses whether punishing stimuli must be physically painful, the appropriate use of painful stimuli, and…

A young child who has not been taught to obey the directives of his parents or his teachers is liable to suffer serious consequences in a sometimes hostile environment. Teacher organizations tend to support retention, or reinstitution, of the possibility of using corporal punishment as one means of correction or control. Ultimately, the case for…

This paper delineates models of drug abuse prevention education that have been indicated in the literature during the past six years, and discusses the research related to each. The nine models were considered according to: (1) basic premises, (2) positive and negative salient criticisms, and, (3) implications and modes of application for drug…

Two inpatients, one with a circumscribed phobia for dentists and dental offices and another who had been diagnosed as suffering from an anxiety neurosis, were treated with a flooding procedure. A simple flooding technique which dealt with only the symptom contingent cues was sufficient to change behavior in the former case, but for the relatively…

The research reported in this document was an attempt to replicate the study by Wish, Cautela, and Steffen, and to test the effects of covert reinforcement on overt behavior. The subjects were 50 college students who were presented the task of estimating the diameter of each circle in a series presented by slide projector. Pre- and post-treatment…

The bibliography presents approximately 70 citations (1958-1972) dealing with parents as behavior modifiers. Arranged alphabetically by author's name, the listings usually contain title, source, date, and pagination information. (CL)

The Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS) is a behavior rating instrument designed to provide information about the way mentally retarded individuals maintain their personal independence in daily living and how they meet the social expectations of their environment. This study attempted to explore the existence of typology of retardates based upon their…

Innovative models for education are often quickly adopted. Behavior modification, or operant conditioning, is an example of a technique which has been widely used because, when properly applied in the classroom, it "works." However, the application of a technique should be carefully thought through in terms of the meaning of the behavior in…

To investigate the resistance to extinction in mentally handicapped children under conditions of stimulus variation, three experiments involving mildly retarded children were conducted. Test procedures were altered somewhat in each case (the new learning task chosen for the second experiment being a reversal shift of experiment one), and the third…

In an experiment to test the effectiveness of discrimination training--contrasting good and poor teacher behaviors and demonstrating the stimulus occasions for these behaviors--as compared with feedback from an instructor in microteaching, a discrimination model for a limited class of teaching behaviors was devised and subjects were divided into…

This manual is designed to help parents apply reinforcement theory in managing their children. The program explains how parents can systematically use consequences to teach children in positive ways. Units include: When to Reinforce; How to Reinforce; Reinforcement and Punishment in Everyday Life; and Why Parents (and Teachers) Goof; the Criticism…

To test the effectiveness of the minicourse (an instructional microteaching package) in changing specific teacher behaviors, 20-minute pre- and postminicourse video-taped recordings of each of the 48 participating teachers' classroom lessons were made and were scored by trained raters. Further, to insure rater objectivity, delayed postcourse video…