A social skills training program, with the components of individualized performance standards, response-specific feedback, self-monitoring, and group rewards, was conducted with three mildly retarded black mothers identified as child maltreaters. The game contingencies effectively increased the mothers' ability to identify the most effective…

Examined how group counseling that emphasized eliminating self-defeating behavior affected self-esteem and locus of control among learning disabled children. Indicated that participants in the group counseling sessions felt better about themselves and had more internal perception of locus of control than did control group participants. (ABB)

Results of a series of three experiments with four developmentally disabled males (ages 7-13) who exhibited hand flapping and body rocking indicated that some forms of repetitive stereotyped behaviors may serve social functions (e.g., escape from aversive situations), and that teaching a functionally equivalent communicative alternative can be an…

Examines Garfield and Bergin's "Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change," which emphasizes that marital and family therapy are a type of psychotherapy. Analyzes major findings about nonfamily psychotherapies, applying them to family therapy, and draws conclusions regarding therapists' thinking, emphasizing need for studying applicability of…

Investigated were the effects of a jogging program on talking out and out of seat behaviors exhibited by six elementary-aged behaviorally disordered students in a resource room setting. Results indicate a decrease in the occurrence of both behaviors following jogging for five of the six students. (Author/JDD)

Three mothers of handicapped children were taught to imitate their child's behavior; subsequently the number of mands displayed by the mothers during play sessions were measured. Results showed increases in the percentage of sample intervals during which mothers imitated their children and showed that, as imitations increased, mands decreased.…

The medical pharmacology course at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine has changed from a poorly attended course in which students depended on "canned notes" and had bad rapport with faculty members to a course in which attendance is high and the canned-notes system has been abandoned. (Author/MLW)

A survey of 339 teachers (grades K-12) found lack of motivation and poor parental support to be the biggest discipline problems. Nearly 90 percent worked with a stated/written discipline policy. Approximately 75 percent believed that corporal punishment should continue. Verbal reprimands were the most common behavior change method used. (VW)

Videotaping to promote self-monitoring was used to successfully reduce the incidence of self-injurious behavior in a 15-year-old behavior disordered subject within both the resource room and regular classroom settings. (DB)

Presents studies on primates and human infants suggesting that maternal depression may predispose the infant to chronic depression. Findings also suggest that the effect of early separations from the mother may provide a model for reactive depression in the infant. (Author/BB)

Discusses the causes of insomnia, its detection, and various types of treatment. (SRT)

This experiment explored the mediating functions of attributional and self-efficacy variables on achievement outcomes for skill training treatments offered in conjunction with attributional feedback. Children who were identified as learned helpless and deficient in division skills received training on division operations either through modeling…

An evaluation procedure designed to measure the effects of university-organized continuing medical education (CME) courses on participants' prescribing behavior was examined. Copies of prescriptions were analyzed to establish real behavior compared with the physicians' self-reports. (Author/MLW)

Analyzes behavior of three adolescents following three months of targeted family problem solving training. Findings reflect incomplete understanding of the controlling variables and suggest systematic study of the variables during intervention to reduce behavioral variability and to increase understanding of adolescent drug use. (SA)

This study addresses four issues in the evaluation of nutrition education programs: (1) the reliability of knowledge, belief, and behavior scales; (2) the effectiveness of programs targeted to the general public; (3) the longitudinal effects of nutrition education interventions; and (4) the relationship between changes in the cognitive, belief,…