Contingency contracting and group counseling were provided to 26 mildly to moderately handicapped middle school students with high rates of truancy. Subjects exhibited attendance gains after treatment; gains were not maintained at followup but attendance rates were still higher than the rates of control students. Measures of academic performance…

Describes treatment using combination of behavioral techniques, contingency management with positive reinforcement, and stimulus fading for kindergarten girl who was referred to school counselor because of her unwillingness to verbally communicate with her teacher and peers. Discusses how counseling techniques produced desired outcomes, expanding…

In this case study, music was applied noncontingently and contingently across four settings with an adolescent male with autism, to reduce aberrant, repetitive vocalizations. The intervention was associated with dramatic reductions in the primary aberrant behavior and reductions in two other aberrant behaviors. Task performance was differentially…

Results of a functional analysis indicted that the hand mouthing of a woman with profound mental retardation was maintained by multiple sources of control (sensory stimulation and access to a leisure item). Hand mouthing, though maintained by automatic reinforcement, was also susceptible to social contingencies when exposed to them during…

A case study illustrates how the ongoing data-based monitoring of timeout use by parents enhanced the treatment of an 8-year-old boy, referred because of noncompliance in the home. Maintaining the timeout record enabled rapid refinements in the timeout procedure by providing a feedback mechanism to the therapist, identification of the need for…

An adolescent with severe mental retardation and cerebral palsy who displayed attention-maintained destructive behavior was exposed to noncontingent reinforcer delivery (NCR) with a high-preference or a low-preference stimulus while reinforcement for destructive behavior with attention remained in effect. NCR without extinction was effective only…

This paper discusses how to set up and implement a token economy system for students with behavior disorders in a classroom setting. The available literature is reviewed, and it is concluded that token economies have been proven effective in improving behavior among students with social and academic deficits. (Author/PB)

In the present study, behavioural treatment is described of three school-aged children with severe feeding problems caused by (surgically corrected) anatomical disorders of the digestive system. Two children showed food refusal and were tube-fed whereas the third child showed extreme food selectivity. During treatment, shaping, (non)verbal…

If manufacturing a safer cigarette is technically possible--an open question--then mandating that tobacco manufacturers improve the safety of cigarettes would likely have both positive and negative implications for the nation's health. On the one hand, removing toxins may reduce the incidence of smoking-related diseases and premature mortality in…

A learning situation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given but is independently discovered by the learner is often considered "discovery learning." Recently, learning scientists have been able to make explicit some of the conditions under which such independent discovery is likely to occur (Andronis, 1983; Epstein,…

In this paper, self-control strategies are conceptualized as existing on two intersecting continuums of more or less individual control and increasing complexity depending on individual need. Behavioral self-control strategies for young children require external supports to assist children in learning the skills necessary to practice and implement…

The adult cerebral cortex can adapt to environmental change. Using monocular deprivation as a paradigm, we find that rapid experience-dependent plasticity exists even in the mature primary visual cortex. However, adult cortical plasticity differs from developmental plasticity in two important ways. First, the effect of adult, but not juvenile…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of contingency mapping, a new visual support strategy designed to enhance clients' understanding of the contingencies associated with functional equivalence training (FET). The study was conducted in a general education classroom with an adolescent boy with autism who engaged in prompt dependent behavior. A…

Despite the severity of bipolar disorder (BP) and the amount of attention the psychosocial treatment of BP among adults has been given (e.g., Basco & Rush, 1996; Miklowitz, Frank, & George, 1996), no published outcome study or psychosocial treatment manual to date exists for children with this disorder. Based upon what is known about the…

A multiple probe design with probe conditions across behaviors was used to evaluate effectiveness of constant time delay on teaching snack and drink preparation skills to children with mental retardation. In addition, generalization effects across settings, time, and materials, and maintenance effects were examined. Three students between the ages…