Recent reviews highlight limitations in the evidence base for early interventions for children with autism. We conducted a systematic review of controlled studies of early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI) for young children with autism. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria (including two randomized controlled trials). At group level,…

Cognitive therapy for OCD is an empirically validated alternative to the more widely used and validated behavioral therapy for OCD. The cognitive approach is based on the premise that belief systems contribute importantly to the development and maintenance of all types of OCD. By identifying and challenging maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, and core…

Chronic absenteeism is a problem encountered by many human services organizations. Large-scale intervention projects to reduce staff absences have incorporated applied behavior analysis methods but there are few studies in the extant literature. In the present study, the authors record staff absenteeism at a specialized school for students with…

School practitioners and educators are frequently challenged by the diverse and pervasive academic, social, and behavioral needs of children at risk for and with emotional disturbance. The present article examines the outcome literature on school-based prevention and intervention programs by systematically reviewing the key treatment interventions…

Parents of 210 preschool children (age 2-5.7) and their clinicians were asked to describe their expectations for therapy and the changes they observed following treatment. Based on content analysis of the parents' and clinicians' responses, it was apparent that the comments aligned with the World Health Organization's (WHO) International…

This study examined the impact of a tailored nutrition intervention at 3 and 6 months postintervention. In all, 357 Latinas were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a control condition comprised of previously developed Spanish language targeted materials, (2) tailored print materials, or (3) tailored print materials accompanied by…

Background: There is much interest in the use and prevention of unnecessary restrictive behavioural procedures; however, accurate estimates of their use are lacking. The Healthcare Commission and Commission for Social Care Inspection (2007) recently reported such data from a large sample of units administered by the National Health Service (NHS).…

Background: Self-restraint is a pervasive phenomenon among individuals who engage in self-injurious behaviour (SIB). Materials and Methods: The present study examined the use of clothing as a socially acceptable alternative to self-restraint to reduce SIB and other topographies of self-restraint in an adolescent diagnosed with autism. Two separate…

There is considerable support for the effectiveness of psychotherapies regardless of their individual theoretical underpinnings. They all evidence substantial positive outcomes, particularly if they contain common elements. These include a therapeutic relationship within an appropriate setting, a rationale for why the client is unhappy or…

Great strides have been made in the development of skills and procedures to aid children with developmental disabilities to establish maximum independence and quality of life. Paramount among the treatment methods that have empirical support are treatments based on applied behavior analysis. These methods are often very labor intensive. Thus,…

The current study investigates the comparative effects of sensory-integration therapy and behavioral interventions on rates of self-injurious behavior (SIB) in a 9-year-old boy with diagnosis of autism. A functional analysis was conducted to identify the variables maintaining the self-injurious behavior. This analysis demonstrated that SIB was…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a family-centered positive behavior support approach to the amelioration of food refusal behavior in a child with autism. The study was conducted with the child and his family in their home. It employed an empirical case study design with one meal routine: snack time. Following…

A sexual assault intervention was designed using applicable research from social psychology (i.e., social norms). Undergraduate men were randomly assigned to the experimental intervention or an active control condition. Attitudinal and behavioral data were collected preintervention, post-intervention and at a one month follow-up. Significant…

Every day administrators and teachers issue increasing numbers of disciplinary referrals that document problematic behaviors in the classroom. When placed in in-school suspension (ISS) because of disciplinary reasons students lose valuable academic instruction time and their academic achievement is negatively impacted. ISS produces little, if any,…

Many authors recommend various praise to reprimand ratios for teachers to use to manage their classrooms (e.g., Flora, 2000; Nafpaktitis, Mayer, & Butterworth, 1985; Wheldall, 2005); however, these recommendations are based on correlational data or secondary findings from studies not directly manipulating the praise to reprimand ratio. The…