Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by an obsessive concern over a perceived flaw in bodily appearance. If a minor flaw does exist, the patient displays unwarranted distress. This preoccupation typically leads to compulsive behaviors, such as mirror checking or mirror avoiding, camouflaging, and seeking reassurance from others…

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an illness characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts, images, or impulses (i.e., obsessions) and by repetitive mental or behavioral acts (i.e., compulsions) performed to prevent or reduce distress. Efficacious treatments for OCD include psychotropic medications and exposure and response prevention…

Functional behavior assessment and function-based support have increasingly been used in school settings in the past decade. This increased use has come under scrutiny from some experts who have argued in the past that function-based support has not yet been proven to be effective in typical school settings with students without severe…

As a way to better understand the process of change that occurs in stuttering, Craig [Craig, A. (1998). "Relapse following treatment for stuttering: a critical review and correlative data." "Journal of Fluency Disorders," 23, 1-30] compared the behavioral changes that people who stutter often experience with and without treatment to those that…

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports model, first introduced into public schools, has been extended to alternative settings. This article highlights applying PBIS to day treatment and residential treatment education programs increasingly challenged to serve seriously emotionally disturbed youth whose risk factors have become more…

Although stereotypy is one of the key diagnostic features of autism, few studies have compared stereotypic behavior in children with autism and typically developing children. The present study employed direct observational measurement methods to assess levels of stereotypic behavior in 2-, 3- and 4-year-old children with autism or pervasive…

The investigation consisted of a review and summary of 25 epidemiological studies of behavior disorders from 16 foreign countries. The countries were Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, France, West Germany, Bulgaria, Uganda, and Sudan. The findings show that prevalence rates…

Advantages and disadvantages of environment-focused methods (such as operant and parent training techniques) and of person-focused approaches (such as social skills training) with aggressive children are examined. A synthesis of the two approaches is urged. (Author/CL)

Two achievement tests--the Peabody Individualized Achievement Test (PIAT) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)--were administered to emotionally disturbed and behavior-disordered children in an inpatient psychiatric setting. The results of this study suggest that these two measures might be used interchangeably in every area but…

The article discusses the multifactorial causation of behavior disorders after head injury, arguing that management strategies must be based on an understanding of their general nature and on specific knowledge of the individual's history and injury. (DB)

Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont's (1987) implicit definition of correspondence classes is fundamentally procedural. A contingency-space analysis, on the other hand, is independent of specific procedures and focuses attention on problems inherent in some procedural definitions. It addresses the issue of distinguishing specific instances from classes.…

Significant relationships were found between behavioral disorders and early reading achievement and current reading achievement in 45 behavior disordered and 45 normal secondary students. Results revealed a pattern of relatively poor reading achievement associated with behavioral disorders and continuing, poor performance in reading at the…

Two studies involving 76 nonhandicapped (Study 1) and 31 emotionally disturbed and 63 nonhandicapped students (Study 2) suggested that predominantly right-hemisphere cognitive-mode individuals are at greater risk for learning and/or behavior problems than are left- or integrated cognitive-mode individuals. Hypotheses for this finding are offered.…

Results of a survey conducted in nine districts of British Columbia indicated that less than 1% of the total student population was funded under the severe behavior problems category. Only one district required specific training in special education for their teachers. Inservice training and program evaluation methods varied from district to…

Traditional behavioral strategies used with adolescents with behavior disorders are reviewed and nontraditional approaches incorporating behavioral and cognitive psychology into social skills training and anger control training are described. (CL)