This paper summarizes brief functional assessments of 79 cases of people with developmental disabilities and self-injurious, aggressive, stereotypic, or other aberrant behavior. Outcomes were evaluated across three variables: (1) referring topography, (2) control over behavior, and (3) the identified maintaining conditions for aberrant behavior.…

This paper examines aspects of the traditional implementation of behavior analysis that are counterproductive to teacher use and identifies practices that promote greater teacher use, including entering the system and working with school personnel, developing classroomwide applications rather than single-student interventions, and sustaining…

This response to EC 603 649 highlights issues in graduate training of behavior analysts, including the need for research on behavior analysis training programs, the use of an apprenticeship model, the proportion of graduates produced at different degree levels, and the need for a distinction between applied research and service delivery. (JDD)

Argues that teachers can either completely prohibit aggressive play in school, which is often difficult, or allow children to channel their aggression into certain types of aggressive play. Examines how increasing violence among youth questions previous assumptions about the implications of violent play. (MDM)

This literature review examines trends in research and theory on vocational behavior from two perspectives: counseling psychology and organizational behavior. Important distinctions and areas of convergence between the two are discussed. A 213-item bibliography is provided. (SK)

This study investigated the relationship between self-restraint (e.g., entanglement of limbs in clothing or furniture) and self-injurious behavior (SIB) using functional analysis with five males with severe mental retardation. Results suggested that self-restraint, like SIB, may be maintained by idiosyncratic contingencies. (Author/DB)

This paper discusses the practice of social validity assessment in applied behavior analysis, proposes elements that should be included in state-of-the art assessment procedures, offers a taxonomy of consumers to guide the construction and circulation of assessments, and suggests strategies to improve social validity assessment. (JDD)

This review of behavioral research on teaching individuals with profound multiple handicaps found that behavior change has resulted from contingency management interventions, but the behavior changes cannot be described as beneficially affecting the individuals' quality of life. Explanations for this are offered, and suggestions for future…

Compares Singapore students' composing behaviors and abilities in (1) hand-written and (2) computer essays using a spelling checker. Results indicate that the spelling checker benefits those students whose initial writing ability is poor and whose writing is blocked by an emphasis on the mechanical aspects of writing. (Author/AEF)

Following an initial school inservice workshop on functional assessment and differential reinforcement procedures with five children having severe behavior problems, on-site technical assistance was provided to local school personnel working in transdisciplinary teams. Functional analysis was effective in identifying individual maintaining…

Introduces the inspection-time (IT) measure in psychology, and argues that its much-replicated correlation with intelligence quotient (IQ) and its potential for theoretical tractability has more potential for the understanding of individual differences in cognitive ability than other indices of human information processing. It summarizes studies…

Presents a review of empirical studies on the classification of attempted suicide over the period 1963-93. Investigated whether there is research evidence for a valid classification of homogeneous subgroups of suicide attempts. Found two clearly distinguished subgroups (characterized by mild and severe suicide attempts) which constitute the…

Social identity theory holds that social group memberships become part of the psychological self, affecting thoughts, feelings, and behavior. However, tests of this hypothesis have mainly involved judgmental dependent measures. A method is suggested that can provide more direct evidence. Discusses use of that method. (KW)

Explores the disconnect between applied behavioral research and classroom-managed applied behavioral research. Results suggest that an intervention developed from the theory of behavioral momentum can be implemented within the context of a classroom and affect positive change in academic compliance among children identified for learning/behavioral…

Examines relationship between childhood sexual abuse and victimization in adulthood using a sample of university women. Analysis shows that there is a significant association between women who were abused in childhood and adult victimization. Reports that the odds of revictimization in adulthood were greater for women who were abused in childhood…