Sleep insufficiency is a major public health concern, yet the accuracy of self-reported sleep measures is often poor. Self-report may be useful when direct measurement of nonverbal behavior is impossible, infeasible, or undesirable, as it may be with sleep measurement. We used feedback and positive reinforcement within a small-n multiple-baseline…

The effects of social praise contingent on either usual (conventional) or unusual (unconventional) responses during an object uses task were assessed on measures of generalized creativity in two novel, unrelated tasks. Participants were 20 older adults, ages 63 to 89 years (M = 80.90), who were recruited from a joint skilled nursing and assisted…

This dissertation explored the effects of within-school consultation provided by mentors (i.e., veteran teachers) on new teachers' specific praise rates during teacher-directed instruction. Specific praise is an empirically-supported classroom management strategy associated with increases in desired academic and social student outcomes when…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a powerful group contingency with a history of documented empirical support. The purpose of this study was to compare two interdependent group contingencies, the GBG and a positive variation, the Caught Being Good Game (CBGG), in a school implementing school-wide positive behavior support. A kindergarten and…

This article contributes to a social psychological understanding of identity by identifying some features of the interactional organization of self-praise. Early conversation analytic work on the epistemics of self-assessment and constraints against self-praise has shown that praising oneself is an interactionally delicate matter that may leave…

This study used a multiple baseline with reversal design to assess whether visual performance feedback (VPF) influenced targeted and nontargeted staffs' use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) in a day-treatment program. This study expands on the typical VPF audience and assesses whether VPF can be effective with noncertified staff in a…

We conducted a modified paired-choice preference assessment and used a multielement design to examine the effects of noncontingent access to high- and low-preference music on vocal stereotypy exhibited by children with autism. For 3 of the 4 participants, high-preference music (a) produced lower levels of vocal stereotypy than low-preference music…

Positive psychology represents a conceptual framework that emphasizes the need to capitalize on individuals' strengths in order to facilitate optimal functioning. As applied to the educational setting, these concepts have primarily been investigated via teaching life skills to students that encourage overall wellness. School-based strategies…

The research reported here was focussed on accessing the perceptions of pre-service teachers regarding the critical factors which support highly effective learning in schools in the United Kingdom. Their perceptions were arranged into a taxonomy so that they can be used as a starting point for their reflections on the observations they make of…

Despite the popular belief that fun has a positive impact in learning contexts, empirical research on fun in the classroom has been limited. To extend research in this area, the goal of this study was to develop and validate a new scale to assess fun in the classroom and examine its relationship with student engagement. The multi-stage scale…

Check-In/Check-Out is a secondary tier positive behavior support program in which an adult mentor is paired with a student to address problem behavior and support appropriate behavior. This case study extended the implementation of the Check-In/Check-Out strategy to a residential facility for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The…

Following the implementation of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Positive Behavior Support (PBS) strategies in six Head Start (HS) classrooms, three children in two classrooms were identified who had significant behavioral challenges and met the criteria for the use of individualized PBS. The purpose of this demonstration was to evaluate whether the effects of…

The Positive Behavior Support Team at Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin) provides consultation and wrap-around services for students who exhibit significant physical or sexual aggression. Several members of the team received training in the Three Pillars of TraumaWise Care curriculum from Reclaiming Youth International. This article…

Three-tiered models of academic and behavioral support are being increasingly adopted across the nation, and with that adoption has come an increasing message that designing and implementing effective practices alone is not enough. Systems are needed to help staff to collectively implement best practices. These systems, as well as effective…

Appreciative advising is an innovative academic advising method based on the organizational development theory of appreciative inquiry. This approach emphasizes student strengths through a collaborative relationship between advisor and student using open-ended questions and focusing on positive potential. This study addressed the local problem of…