This article reviews general classes of variables which help to maintain aberrant behavior including attention seeking, sensory and perceptual consequences, and access to materials or activities. Suggestions for a methodology providing a comprehensive functional analysis are offered which include descriptive analysis, hypothesis forming,…

Twenty children with autism received either an imitative or contingently responsive interaction with an adult. The contingency condition appeared to be the more effective way to facilitate a distal social behavior (attention), whereas the imitative condition was a more effective way to facilitate a proximal social behavior (touching). (Contains…

Under a state plan to turn around James Lick High School, a persistently failing school in San Jose, low-performing students in those grades will be put in intensive skills classes, leaving some of them little time to pursue science, social studies, physical education, and other core subjects. Students must take required state tests in science and…

The authors utilized Applied Behavior Analysis to examine the effects of using tokens with response cost (the Checkbook Management System) on decreasing the inappropriate speaking-out behaviors of a 14-year-old special education student. After functional behavior analysis indicated that the most likely function of the behavior was attention…

The manual provides information on practical ways for managing the behavior of emotionally disturbed and autistic children. The importance of routine and structure as well as of caring is emphasized in a chapter on building an atmosphere for learning. Assessment is seen to begin with teachers evaluating their own attitudes about behavior and then…

This article discusses an eight-week experimental classroom at the Malcolm Price Laboratory school at the University of Northern Iowa in which two teachers attempted to do some prescriptive teaching with 10 intermediate grade boys who had a history of disruptive behavior in the classroom. Contingency management techniques were used. (RC)

The paper reviews 34 behavioral treatment studies (1967-1983) examining reduction of aggressive behavior in mentally retarded people. Research reviewed was limited to treatment of physically aggressive responses such as hits, kicks, bites, chokes, scratches, and throwing objects by persons designated as mentally retarded. Among results reported…

The effects of two types of contingency contracts and self-pacing on student performance in a personalized system of instruction (PSI) class were examined. Forty-seven college students in a principles of educational psychology class were randomly assigned to either a short contract, long contract or self-pacing group. One group of students signed…

Examined the effects of two time-out (TO) procedures (within-room and out-of-room), on compliance and oppositional behavior. A total of 24 5-year-olds and their mothers were observed in three experimental conditions, pretraining, training, posttraining. Both out-of-room and within-room TO reduced oppositional behavior and increased compliance.…

Utilizing a social learning approach the Georgia Department of Offender Rehabilitation has implemented a performance-based correctional management model based on the assumption that only self-rehabilitation is viable. Earned Time System (ETS) provides resources and motivational opportunities for inmates to assume personal responsibility for their…

Discussed is the application of behavior management techniques to problem behaviors of normal children in the home or school. Examples are given of such techniques as behavioral contracting between child and adult, reduction of undesirable behaviors through withdrawal of reinforcers ("bother sticks" and "temper tickets"), the use of a timer to…

Two paradigms (rewards and verbal prompts, and timeout procedures), both making social consequences contingent upon the S's behavior and both requiring the S to practice the desired response, were used to reduce inappropriate language in a 33 year old resident of a center for the developmentally disabled. Data from the morning and afternoon…

Reward contingencies and other extrinsic constraints on behavior can lead to reduced levels of interest in and/or decreased engagement in a target activity in a subsequent noncontingent situation. It has been hypothesized that this effect is caused by a change in the self-perceived locus of motivation from intrinsic to extrinsic. It follows from…

This paper presents a pilot study designed to suggest an experiential interpretation of the development of extreme activity levels in infants (specifically, hyperactivity) and to demonstrate that general activity in infants may be influenced by the reinforcement contingencies established by mothers. Subjects were three 13-week-old infants. Operant…

This paper addresses some of the practical ways by which students can be given information about the adequacy of their responding. The author views this information as all that is frequently necessary to alter an inappropriate behavior. Thus, he considers feedback to be the first step in most behavior management programs. Studies to determine how…