Three persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were matched with four community participants for leisure activities. Community participants were trained and were given specific interactions suggestions. Integrated social contacts were measured using a multiple-baseline design across participants. Results suggest that social integration can be…

Five adolescents with autism, 5 control participants, and 4 child controls received rewards for varying their sequences of responses while playing a computer game. In preceding and following phases, rewards were provided at approximately the same rate but were independent of variability. When reinforced, variability increased significantly in all…

Provides details of a response cost procedure to eliminate a nine-year old's public masturbatory behavior. Treatment was based on a procedure used by Pianta and Hudson and it incorporated the mother's and daughter's interest in art activities. Treatment reduced undesired behavior while increasing desired academic and social behaviors. (RJM)

Reviews practical issues involved in the behavioral treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Traditional treatment strategies, non-behavioral treatment approaches and their efficacy, behavioral methods of treatment, and best treatment practices are outlined. A summary sheet of treatment methods and best treatment practices is…

Mood disorder subjects have a selective deficit in recognizing human facial emotion. Whether the facial emotion recognition errors persist during normal mood states (i.e., are state vs. trait dependent) was studied in one male bipolar II patient. Results of five sessions are presented and discussed. (Author/EMK)

This article on the use of applied behavior analysis with students who have autism focuses on discrete trial training (DTT) to develop new forms of behavior, new discriminations, advanced skills, and manage disruptive behavior. Cautions include the need to combine the method with other interventions, provide intensive DTT during early phases of…

This study examined whether problem behaviors of three adults with profound mental retardation, which had been maintained by continuous reinforcement schedules, could be extinguished more rapidly than those maintained on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement. No significant differences in extinction rate were found between the two conditions.…

This paper examines behavior interventions for echolalic behavior in children with autism, including verbal prompting (focusing on the echolalic behavior itself) and the cues-pause-point procedure (which employs the child's prerequisite skills to teach correct verbal responses). A review of the literature indicated that both techniques were…

Behavior modification and assertive discipline approaches use rewards and negative consequences (extinction procedures) to deal with students' maladaptive behavior. Behavior modification has significant limitations, as it treats symptoms, not causes; yields only short-term benefits; has limited transfer value for other environments; and values…

Presents details of Instant Alert Hypnosis procedure as an adjunct to neurotherapy in the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Discusses AD/HD diagnostic issues, demographics, traditional treatments, neurological basis, EEG assessment, implications for the use of hypnosis, and the efficacy and promise of neurotherapy with and…

Tested use of instant alert hypnosis on 16 children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Found that EEG beta-theta ratio means were significantly higher in trials of neurotherapy combined with alert hypnosis than neurotherapy alone. Beta was significantly enhanced, whereas theta was inhibited. Identified improved treatment efficacy and…

A study assessed the effectiveness of using objects of obsession as token reinforcers to increase task performance of three children (ages 7-9) with autism. Results indicated that percentage correct on task performance was higher when objects of obsession were used as tokens as opposed to when typical tokens were used. (Author/CR)

All too often, one behavioral intervention is used universally to handle a variety of problem behaviors, regardless of the function of the misbehavior. This article describes how a functional assessment of behavior can be used to identify the purpose of misbehaviors and plan effective behavioral interventions. (Author)

This paper identifies six factors that affect fidelity of treatment in relationship to functional behavioral assessment (FBA) in the classroom setting including: (1) understanding the function of and the contextual variables that support target behavior, (2) adult knowledge of effective interventions, and (3) adult acceptance of the intervention.…

Examined the impact of participating in an incentive-based employee health promotion program on modifiable health risk factors over 4 years. Data from physiological and self-report measures indicated that modifiable health risks improved over time (smoking, physical activity, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and seat belt use). Cholesterol…