This study examined the recent research dealing with humor, praise, and criticism in the classroom and evaluated the results with respect to the early adolescent. It is posited that the use of humor, praise, and criticism can both positively and negatively affect the academic achievement and social growth of students at the middle level of…

Findings showed an interaction between mands (instructional directions) and response type. Only when a mand was given during performance of the sorting task did the frequency of SIB increase. The contingent application of verbal praise had a minor, though systematic, effect in reducing the frequency of SIB. (PHR)

A study of the relationship between presence or absence of sleep deprivation, allergy symptoms, and the rate and function of problem behavior in three adolescents with moderate to profound mental retardation found that problem behavior was negatively reinforced by escape from instruction, and both allergy symptoms and sleep deprivation influenced…

Functional analyses of problem behaviors were performed with three individuals with severe intellectual disabilities. Results indicated that the problem behaviors were maintained either when the behavior resulted in escape from difficult tasks or when the behavior resulted in access to preferred items. Training in functionally equivalent…

Describes a demonstration that recreates the central features of taste aversion (learning to avoid distinctively flavored food or drink paired with gastrointestinal illness) research. Rats are allowed to drink a saccharine flavored solution and then are given an injection of sodium chloride. They associate the unpleasant effects with the solution.…

This article suggests that students with emotional/behavioral disorders may use disruptive behaviors to escape and avoid teacher instructional language for which they do not have comprehension skills and thus find aversive. Teacher instructional language thus maintains aberrant behavior through a negative reinforcement paradigm. Recommendations…

This research examines 480 current event-explanation units using the CAVE technique (Schulman, Castellon, & Seligman, 1989) to note the relationship between positive and negative explanatory style and achievement of prospective early childhood and upper elementary female teachers. This study found a significant positive relationship between…

This learning module, which is intended for use in in-service training for vocational rehabilitation counselors, deals with methods of increasing client behaviors that do not occur often or fast enough. The following topics are discussed: basic approaches to increasing the extent and frequency of desired behaviors; ways of changing environment;…

The study sought to identify effective procedures for facilitating initial imitative vocal behavior in mentally retarded children, thus accelerating the initial stages of language acquisition. Three groups of Down syndrome children ages 6 months to 4 years (N=15) served as subjects in an examination of the relative effectiveness of three…

The concept that teacher beliefs about future student achievement may actually influence the subsequent performance of students provides the basis for a model of teacher expectation communication which uses attribution theory as explanatory links in the communication process. These model links were tested in a two-year study involving 16 third-,…

Cited are two studies which analyzed the reinforcing effectiveness of verbal evaluative comments on educable retarded and handicapped elementary school children. In the first study, a two-choice push button discrimination, it is reported that Ss consistently chose a button which avoided the verbal comment "wrong", but made no significant…

Ten schizophrenic and autistic children who exhibited self destructive, tantrum, echolalic, and self stimulatory behaviors were treated by reinforcement therapy. Reinforcement withdrawal, in the form of interpersonal isolation contingent upon self-destruction, and electrical shocks served to extinguish these behaviors in some children.…

Experimental and ethological studies were undertaken to clarify the role of positive and negative evaluations in the control of the child's performance on laboratory and classroom learning tasks. The results indicate that "social reinforcers" are effective to the extent that they communicate to the child unambiguous information on the adequacy of…

As schools evolve improvement plans in keeping with higher standards and expectations and increased accountability, most planners recognize they must include a comprehensive focus on addressing barriers to student learning and promoting healthy development. A growing volume of research on the value of schools, families, and communities working…