Alternate forms reliability of the Behavioral Relaxation Scale (BRS; Poppen,1998), a direct observation measure of relaxed behavior, was examined. A single BRS score, based on long duration observation (5-minute), has been found to be a valid measure of relaxation and is correlated with self-report and some physiological measures. Recently,…

Kleptomania is a serious disorder that affects a small percent of the general population and a larger percent of the clinical population. It is frequently accompanied by other co-occurring problems, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and substance abuse. Currently, little research on effective treatments exists; although…

In two experiments, dysphoric and nondysphoric students first concentrated on either self-focused or other-focused phrases and then performed an ostensibly unrelated task involving the interpretation of homographs with both personal and impersonal meanings. In Experiment 1, they constructed sentences for the homographs; dysphoric students'…

Background: Distinct cognitive models and treatments have been developed for people without intellectual disability with a wide range of anxiety disorders. However, these have not been reported as applied to people with intellectual disabilities. In fact, much of the cognitive therapy literature for people with intellectual disabilities does not…

Whereas cognitive-behavioral (CB) therapy sessions aim to be instructive and encouraging, psychodynamic-interpersonal (PI) sessions aim to be exploratory and may be emotionally painful. Raters rated degree of pleasure and arousal in each sentence of client speech in CB and PI sessions (N=18) that therapists had identified as particularly helpful.…

This article describes two models for thinking about the purposes of health education--a medical model and an education model--and traces how concerns about the validity of research have driven preference for the medical model. In the medical model, the purpose of health education is to develop effective interventions that will prevent people from…

Cognitive theories posit that exposure-based treatments exert their effect on social anxiety by modifying judgmental biases. The present study provides a conservative test of the relative roles of changes in judgmental biases in governing social anxiety reduction and addresses several limitations of previous research. Longitudinal, within-subjects…

The present study investigated the effects of differential negative reinforcement of other behavior (DNRO) on problem behavior evoked by music in a 7-year-old child with pervasive developmental disorder. Following an auditory stimulus assessment, DNRO was used to reduce problem behavior to near-zero levels. Results are discussed in terms of…

The feeding behaviors of a child diagnosed with failure to thrive were assessed using descriptive analysis methodology to identify the schedules of reinforcement provided by the child's parents. This analysis revealed that the child's appropriate feeding behaviors (i.e., bite acceptance, self-feeding) were on a lean schedule of positive…

Ethical guidelines for behavior analysts state that functional assessment should be used before implementing treatment plans. In this paper, we discuss the ethical implications of this position using self-injurious behavior in people with developmental disabilities as a focus. Evidence is reviewed that suggests that treatment based on results of a…

With their origins in scientific validation, behavior-analytic applications have understandably been developed with an engineering rather than a crafting orientation. Nevertheless, traditions of craftsmanship can be instructive for devising aesthetically pleasing arrangements--arrangements that people will try, and having tried, will choose to…

This article presents a reply to the response made by Carl Binder that was critical of the authors' review of rate-building procedures. For the most part, the authors were disappointed in Binder's reply because they believe it muddied the focus of their review: an examination of the "experimental" evidence for the procedures used and suggested by…

In response to states' interest, NECTAC (National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center) queried Part C and Section 619 Coordinators regarding certification or endorsements for personnel working with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how states provide services for children diagnosed with ASD. Responses were received…

In recent years there has been increased focus on evaluating the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for cancer patients. Among the several limitations inherent to these programs of research, few studies have targeted patients with well-diagnosed clinical depression and little is known about factors that best predict treatment outcome and…

Psychologists, social workers, and school counselors are increasingly adding neurofeedback (NFT), a controversial alternative or complementary therapy to their treatment plans for patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. NFT involves training the patient in self-regulation of brain wave patterns, employing a standard diagnostic…