This study extends previous work on the use of differential observing responses (DOR) to remediate atypically restricted stimulus control. A participant with autism had high matching-to-sample accuracy scores with printed words that had no letters in common (e.g., "cat," "lid," "bug") but poor accuracy with words that had two letters in common…

The number of children classified with autism in US schools has risen sharply over the past decade. School psychologists are being called upon with increasing frequency to assist in the identification, assessment, and treatment of these children. The diagnostic complexities and heterogeneity of the disorder make dealing effectively with this…

Cognitive and behavioral interventions have been cautiously recommended as "best practice" in the treatment of pathological gambling. Behavioral interventions, using a range of techniques, have been the most commonly evaluated approach to the psychological treatment of pathological gambling. The recent literature evaluating behavioral treatments…

Early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been established as an effective treatment for autism. However, the complexity and intensity of EIBI programs make it difficult to fully report all critical aspects of the independent variable. Consequently, scientific reports of EIBI outcomes have been criticized for providing less than…

A positive reinforcement contingency increased opioid abstinence during outpatient dose tapering (4, 2, then 0 mg/day during Weeks 1 through 3) in non-treatment-seeking heroin-dependent volunteers who had been maintained on buprenorphine (8 mg/day) during an inpatient research protocol. The control group (n = 12) received $4.00 for completing…

Children with Down syndrome are at an increased risk for engaging in challenging behaviour that may present problems within community, leisure, and educational settings, and, in many instances, precludes them from accessing these environments. Factors contributing to the occurrence of challenging behaviours include characteristics associated with…

Precursor behaviors are innocuous behaviors that reliably precede the occurrence of problem behavior. Intervention efforts applied to precursors might prevent the occurrence of severe problem behavior. We examined the relationship between precursor behavior and problem behavior in three individuals with developmental disabilities. First, a…

Previous reviews of outpatient interventions for adolescent substance abuse have been limited in the extent to which they considered the methodological quality of individual studies. The authors assessed 31 randomized trials of outpatient interventions for adolescent substance abuse on 14 attributes of trial quality. A quality of evidence score…

Objective: Sound clinical judgment is the cornerstone of medical practice and begins early during medical education. The authors consider the effect of personality characteristics (hostility, anger, cynicism) on clinical judgment and whether a brief intervention can affect this process. Methods: Two sophomore medical classes (experimental,…

Suicide behavior is a serious clinical problem worldwide, and understanding ways of reducing it is a priority. A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out to investigate whether Cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) would reduce suicide behavior. From 123 potential articles, 28 studies met the entry criteria. Overall, there was a highly…

Studies of behavior modification interventions for disruptive behavior in schools have generally focused on classroom behavior with less research directed toward child behavior in other school settings (e.g., cafeterias). The present report documents the effect of a group contingency intervention with a random reward component, targeting…

This case study reports the effect of teachers completing and posting an Engagement Report on maintaining their use of a behavioral intervention designed to facilitate the engagement of a pre-school child with developmental delays. The Engagement Report recorded instances of child engagement during the day. Teachers posted the Report where the…

The role of context in the development of child aggression was studied. The effects of peer aggregation and group composition on aggression development in intervention contexts and classroom contexts were compared using 71 elementary school children. We hypothesized that, due to peer group effects, group-trained children would benefit less from a…

Repeated reading is an effective intervention that has been demonstrated to remediate reading problems in children. The parent tutoring literature has shown that this intervention is effective in the home environment as well as the school environment. One primary difference between home-based and school-based interventions is that a consultant is…

Students are coming to schools with increasingly diverse academic, social, and emotional needs. Meeting each child's social and behavioral needs can be challenging and overwhelming, especially in the era of high-stakes testing. No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA) mandate the…