Choice-making produces were used to identify response-reinforcer relations during assessment and treatment phases with two children (ages 4-6) with pervasive development disorders who displayed severe behavioral problems. Results were used to develop preliminary treatment packages in which access to positive reinforcement was contingent on…

Evaluated effects of a reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) intervention on arithmetic performance of 12 low-income, underachieving elementary school students. Results indicated that merely teaming students and providing them with positive attention for constructive team activities had no clear effect on arithmetic performance. RPT condition that…

This article presents answers to common questions about use of contingency contracts for behavior management with students needing individualized programs in academic or social-emotional areas. A methodological format for developing contracts, a planning worksheet, and a sample contract are included. (DB)

This article uses preliminary data from 51 direct-care staff members and approximately 190 residents of a facility for nonambulatory individuals with profound mental retardation, to illustrate the roles of social, ecological, and regulatory contingencies of reinforcement and their potential counterhabilitative effects on residents. Results…

Replication of a previous descriptive study indicated widespread use of corporal punishment with mildly handicapped students at every grade level in 371 schools. Among data-based findings were that, despite research on the effective use of punishment, corporal punishment was not typically delivered either immediately or consistently. (JW)

A case study is presented of a seven-year-old girl with severe to profound mental retardation who exhibited excessive handmouthing. Contingent sensory reinforcement was successfully used to reduce her handmouthing to substantially lower levels. (Author/JDD)

This study evaluated effects of noncontingent and contingent protective equipment as treatment for self-injurious hand mouthing by two women with profound mental retardation. Behavior change appeared to be effected in both conditions. Results suggest either a punishment or a timeout interpretation, rather than an extinction interpretation, for the…

Three severely retarded persons displaying self-injury, stereotypy, or aggression were trained to emit a communicative response that solicited reinforcement. Results showed that consequence procedures were required in addition to reinforcement. Treating aberrant behavior through use of functional analysis to identify maintaining contingencies and…

Three students (ages 5-10) with profound intellectual, sensory, and physical disabilities were taught to activate a communication device to request the continuation of activities in which they were involved. The intervention consisted of a consistent response interval and increasing time delay paired with decreasing physical assistance in…

Two cooperative learning techniques are presented for achieving carryover of speech and language skills: a speech-language peer homework monitoring system; and a contractual system among the student, the clinician, and the student's class in which group contingencies foster cooperative interactions. (JDD)

Two elementary boys in a deaf education resource room who did not complete a writing assignment within the allotted time were subsequently given tokens contingent upon their starting promptly. The use of tokens was effective in reducing response latency. (Author/PB)

The effects of three classes of reinforcing stimuli were compared across three students with profound intellectual disabilities. A multielement design with no baseline and final "best treatments" phase was used to measure the frequency of single-switch activations by each student across treatments. The three interventions were Treatment A, adapted…

Students in four sections of an undergraduate educational course (two large and two small sections) took out-of-class practice exams prior to actual exams for each of five course units. Each course unit consisted of five class sessions focusing on a specific developmental theme. Some sections received practice-exam credit based on the number of…

Learning to associate a conditioned (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) results in changes in the processing of CS information. Here, we address directly the question whether chemical appetitive conditioning of "Lymnaea" feeding behavior involves changes in the peripheral and/or central processing of the CS by using extracellular recording…

Three experiments show latent (or incidental) learning of salt-cue relationships using a conditioned cue-preference paradigm. Rats drank a salt solution while confined in one compartment and water in an adjacent, distinct compartment on alternate days. When given access to the two compartments with no solutions present, sodium-deprived rats…