Creating a classroom of attentive learners takes more than swift discipline. "Difficult Behavior" can help inspire positive behavioral change and healthy, productive development. Following Acknowledgments, About the Author and Introduction, the book is divided into five sections. Part I, The Role of Discipline, includes: (1) Discipline in…

A withdrawn adolescent, an outpatient at a mental health clinic, was the subject for this case report. Baseline data were collected on the frequency of the subjects' verbalizations. The subject was then instructed to record his own verbal behavior. The subject "earned" his way out of the mental health clinic by increasing his verbal behavior to an…

Inadequacies of the basic literature on punishment may limit its application in public school settings with mildly and moderately handicapped students. A large research void exists concerning such basic issues as how the timing, scheduling, type, and intensity of punishment affects children's behaviors in applied settings. (SEW)

Describes a series of experiments designed to identify why the classroom use of timeouts sometimes failed. Results indicate that both treatment integrity and the function of student behavior problems were related to treatment success and failure. Discusses implications for the function of student behavior problems, treatment selection, and other…

Used time-in and time-out to reduce undesirable behaviors exhibited by a child with severe language disabilities and by a child with a moderate mental disability combined with cerebral palsy. Unwanted behaviors were reduced dramatically shortly after the initiation of intervention. Follow-ups indicated a continued high rate of compliance. (RJM)

This position paper discusses aversive conditioning and other behavior reduction procedures. Environmental modification, differential reinforcement, timeout, overcorrection, and corporal punishment are discussed in terms of current applications, with arguments for and against their inclusion in behavior modification. Eight guidelines are offered…

A retrospective evaluation of restrictive behavior programs in a state residential facility for persons with mental retardation found beneficial behavioral effects. The behavior programs reviewed utilized isolation timeout, exclusion timeout, response cost, prone restraint, seated restraint, timeout device, nonexclusion timeout, standing…

Since camp counselors become surrogate parents, they can benefit from learning parenting skills. Parenting styles, relationship building, cabin rules, compliance, positive reinforcement, and discipline are discussed. A sidebar describes a structured time-out program for strong-willed children ages 4-11, and a disagreement program that teaches…

The mother of a 21-year-old mentally retarded boy, who also suffers from frequent petit mal seizures, describes the developmental and behavioral problems which led her to seek institutional placement. (LH)

The study was designed to determine the effectiveness of an educational crisis center (in which students stayed from a few minutes to days and weeks to recover from emotional outbursts and academic pressures) for residential school children (5-10 years old) who had learning problems with an overlay of moderate to severe emotional handicapping…

Two papers describe studies to decrease inappropriate social behaviors of severely retarded students. R. Spangler and others in "The Effect of a Time-Out Procedure on the Duration of Tantrum Behavior in a 13-Year-Old Severely Retarded Male S" report on a three phase study in which a combination of verbal instructions and a timeout procedure…

Time-out as a method of managing pupil behavior is explained. A definition and historical and philosophical perspectives are offered. The method has been used in Victoria (Australia), the United States, and Great Britain. Also considered are legal responsibilities, a time-out continuum, implementation, positive aspects of time out, and abuse and…

Use of primarily reinforcement-based behavioral procedures decreased aggressive pinching in a 10-year-old severely retarded female to near-zero levels. Procedures included differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), DRO plus timeout, DRO plus response prevention, and differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior. Results were…

The effects of teacher praise, ignoring, time-out, and parental contingencies on the number of inappropriate behaviors of two mentally handicapped (IQ's 55 and 51) male students ages seven and nine were investigated in a one-year study. Both students reduced inappropriate noise and behavior, and the frequency of inappropriate behavior remained…

Timeout from auditory reinforcement was employed to reduce rates of target responses of two mentally retarded children (9 and 11 years old). Results supported the response deceleration characteristic of timeout from auditory reinforcement and indicated its effectiveness as a response reduction technique. (Author)