The advantages of emphasizing discrete trials "teaching" over discrete trials "training" are presented first, followed by a discussion of discrete trials as a method of teaching that emerged historically--and as a matter of necessity for difficult learners such as those with autism--from discrete trials as a method for laboratory research. The…

A study examined the extent to which parents and adolescents participating in the Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study (TADS) understood the study. The results concluded that most were well-informed, and also parents were overall better informed than adolescents.

As part of a research project aimed at the health care needs of the vulnerable community-dwelling elderly, an educational intervention was delivered to police and firefighters in worksite settings. A single educational intervention proved insufficient to produce lasting attitudinal and behavioral change as measured by follow-up surveys 3 and 6…

The article begins by discussing the literature as it relates to the perceived effectiveness of behavioural management approaches, as well as the author's experiences of implementing a behavioural approach. The second part highlights an alternative viewpoint, as derived from an empirical study, as it relates to the pupil perspective of effective…

Objective: To describe a process for developing low-literacy health education materials that increase knowledge and activate patients toward healthier behaviors. Methods: We developed a theoretically informed process for developing educational materials. This process included convening a multidisciplinary creative team, soliciting stakeholder…

School psychologists have expertise in the realm of school-based assessment and intervention for behavioral, educational, and psychological difficulties. Recent evidence indicates that many school psychologists lack evidenced based knowledge about assessment and treatment of pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Pediatric OCD is a…

This work presents a self-help, Internet-based telepsychology program for the treatment of public speaking fears. The system is comprised of 3 parts: The "assessment protocol" gives the patient information about his or her problem (i.e., amount of interference it creates in his or her life, severity, degree of fear and avoidance). The…

This digest of information on classroom techniques for managing students with behavior problems highlights ways to prevent misbehavior; establish rules; increase student motivation for academic tasks; establish token economies; decrease unwanted behavior; evaluate the role of punishment; use timeout, extinction, or response cost; use group…

The use of restitution (requiring the child to compensate for damage he/she causes) and timeout for destructive behavior was investigated with 21 emotionally disturbed children (9 to 13 years old) in a residential school and treatment program. Staff were instructed to interrupt destructive behavior as quickly as possible and use the restitution…

This study evaluated whether alcoholics who receive relapse prevention (RP) sessions in the year after a short-term behavioral marital therapy (BMT) do better at long-term follow-up than do those not receiving the additional RP. Sixty couples with an alcoholic husband, after participating in 10 weekly BMT couples group sessions, were assigned…

Thirty-five studies were originally selected to be analyzed as to behavior modification techniques used in successful weight-loss programs. From these, 14 studies were chosen that provided sufficient data, including follow-up data, and 4 studies that had no follow-up data but that did report data from the treatment time period. As a result of rank…

Counseling strategies employed by practitioners have, by necessity, often been the result of subjective observation and intuition. This article discusses a "common sense" technique--the use of lay psychology books--and proposes guidelines for use of the procedure as a viable counseling strategy. (Author)

There are a number of instructional approaches available within ABA, each of which is uniquely suited to address specific deficits in learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Clinicians can utilize a combination of Discrete Trial Instruction (DTT), naturalistic strategies, and rate-building procedures to maximize the acquisition, generalization,…

The objective of this article is to describe the practical aspects involved in adapting cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to an adolescent population in Australia. Some effective ways to use CBT with adolescents include preparing them for CBT by providing a thorough cognitive-behavioural formulation, describing the cognitive-behavioural approach…

A single case alternating treatment design was used to investigate interactions between reinforcement scheduling and the information that accompanies a shift from a high to lower density of reinforcement with a 12 year old emotionally disturbed boy. Results showed that the informational variables exerted functional control over behavior, with the…