Responds to article by DuPaul and Eckert on generalization and maintenance of behavior change resulting from packaged social skills training programs. Agrees with DuPaul and Eckert and focuses commentary on identification and discussion of issues raised by suggestions to reprogram school environments to promote and change social behavior. (NB)

Responds to article by DuPaul and Eckert on generalization and maintenance of behavior change resulting from packaged social skills training programs. Discusses failure to obtain generalization from two perspectives: topographical generalization and functional generalization. Suggests that generalization programming based on functional analysis…

Nine comprehensive observations were conducted of 24 preschoolers (8 with disabilities) in free play settings, with social behavior categories based on the work of Strain. Comparison of partial and complete observational records demonstrated that at least five observations were required to represent the children's social behavior adequately.…

A study of sixth grade boys and their families hypothesized that boys who were prone to high levels of distress but low or moderate levels of self-restraint would be particularly unlikely to agree to make considerable efforts to complete tasks that were not especially enjoyable. Results supported the hypothesis. (RH)

Thirty-seven adults with mental retardation and 46 other people from the community participated in videotaped role plays involving 3 social skills (following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating to resolve conflicts). There were high positive correlations between the behavioral checklist scores and the evaluations of community…

This article offers information and suggestions to administrators on dealing with cults on college campuses. Reasons why students are vulnerable to cults as well as cult recruitment techniques and ways to help students make informed choices are considered. Print, organizational, and videotape resources are identified. (DB)

In one experiment, kindergartners and second and fourth graders made quantitative predictions about how many items children would share based on information about the children's previous behavior. In a second experiment, kindergartners' quantitative predictions were more consistent with the behavioral information than were their dichotomous…

Among 424 urban Puerto Rican high school students, 12 percent of males and 10 percent of females had smoked in the previous month. Past smoking and intentions to smoke were associated with exposure to smokers during recreation and smoking behavior of close friends but not family members. Contains 27 references. (SV)

Argues against the unity principle of time and space in terms of objectives of the educational system: enhancement of learning, sociability, and autonomy; socialization to the labor force; propagation of social norms; and concept of identity. Suggests that declining impact of these in Western society necessitates new schooling structure that…

This article describes incidental teaching of social behavior, which improves the peer interactions of young children through a naturalistic teaching tactic that can be used separately or along with other social skills interventions. The article offers a rationale, examples of incidental teaching, and helpful hints for implementing the method.…

This study investigated the effects of teaching sociodramatic scripts on interactions among three triads, each containing two typical preschool children and one child with autistic characteristics. Results supported the inclusion of systematic training of scripts to enhance interaction among children with and without disabilities during…

Analysis of the discourse demands across the school year within a recurred event, "Circle Time," is presented to show how three and four year olds learned to be conversationally appropriate partners within a group, how the teacher's interactional patterns shifted as students learned, and how participation in the subevents added differing…

Some studies indicate that individuals recognize conventional norms as social contrivances; others, that individuals reify social formations as something other than social products. Questions about comparatively transparent rules and the use of simplistic questions for complex phenomena give an exaggerated portrayal of individuals' awareness of…

Investigated prosocial behaviors (i.e., helping, sharing) of 37 nonhandicapped and handicapped adolescents in public schools. Found that adolescents with handicaps displayed more prosocial behavior than did nonhandicapped; however, nonhandicapped adolescents perceived themselves as engaging more in prosocial behavior than did handicapped peers.…

Twenty-six precocious preschoolers exhibited high frequencies of dramatic and associative play. Girls engaged in more cooperative and less solitary play than boys. Elder children participated in more solitary, parallel, and less cooperative and less dramatic play than younger peers. The higher intelligence quotient group undertook less…