The effectiveness of a peer-modeling treatment in the modification of impulsive cognitive style and in the improvement of academic performance in the areas of reading, spelling and arithmetic is investigated in this study. In four single case experiments, eight fifth grade children identified by the Matching Families Figures Test Form 20 (MFF20)…

Twelve papers focus on issues involving severe behavior disorders in the schools and autism. The following papers are included: "Behavioral Ecology--A Unifying Strategy for the '80s" (F. Hewett); "Academic Skill Development--The Promise of Modeling Strategies" (R. Gable, J. Hendrickson); "Future Directions in Self-Control Research" (R. Rueda);…

Noting that teachers wishing to increase students' listening skills must focus on modification of specific causes of ineffective communication behavior rather than theorizing about generic symptoms, this paper describes a competency oriented approach for improving listening skills. The paper first provides a rationale for improving listening…

Assertive training is a set of procedures that the counselor can use to help clients, in particular women, to achieve a greater sense of freedom and personal satisfaction in a wide variety of life situations. Especially in the world of work, the occupational behavior of women is often hampered not only by existing structural barriers but also by…

The paper addresses the nature of the physical environment of classrooms for young handicapped children. Research is cited on the factors important in successful interventions in five areas (sample subtopics in parentheses): social interaction (materials that promote interaction, staff-child ratios); language learning (importance of engaging…

Families experiencing severe conflict are often unable to effectively implement applied behavioral procedures due to interfering emotional responses (anger, blaming, anxiety and depression) and behavioral responses (yelling, crying and physical fighting), which often reduce effective implementation of applied behavioral procedures. Specific…

Englewood Learning Center in Chicago provides programs for severely and profoundly handicapped children (5 to 17 years old) in an urban area where many families live in subpoverty conditions. The program requires families to be involved in the individualized education program process and in the whole range of educational services. The program…

Two adolescent boys with a history of rapidly increasing obesity participated in a behavioral weight reduction program. The multi-dimensional treatment package consisted of those behavioral techniques most often shown to be effective in treating obese adults (programed behavior management and stimulus control instructions, self monitoring of daily…

FIFTY-FOUR TEST-ANXIOUS COLLEGE FRESHMEN FROM STANFORD UNIVERSITY WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE OF THREE GROUPS--(1) A DESENSITIZATION GROUP WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALIZED ANXIETY HIERARCHIES, (2) A DESENSITIZATION GROUP WORKING WITH A SINGLE STANDARD HIERARCHY, AND (3) A NO-TREATMENT CONTROL GROUP. THE CRITERIA CONSISTED OF SELF-RATINGS OF ANXIETY…

Since a fundamental problem of acting--fear--is a fundamental human problem, the basic job of acting teachers is to help their students become the kind of people who can act. Acting teachers need to help their students cast off their fears, free their bodies and their imaginations, and learn all the skills of self-knowledge, self-control, and…

Kindergarten children were exposed to a behavior modification training activity involving perceptual scanning, which was designed to increase the field-independent mode of perception. The training was evaluated, based upon a group of 18 experimental subjects and a control group of 17 children. Subjects in the training group were individually…

In an urban/rural area with a high demand for children's services but limited resources, an outreach service using standardized treatment strategies was evaluated. The basic intervention strategies consisted of three elements: (1) establishment of specific goals; (2) use of Time-Out; and (3) use of praise and attention to increase desireable…

Behavior therapists view psychopathology differently from dynamically oriented therapists, in that behaviorists are taught to regard symptoms primarily as sets of learned behaviors rather than cues to underlying psychological disorders. Even though there is a split among behaviorists as to which procedure is best to follow, there are some special…

The author describes a counseling technique which: (1) is based upon behavior theory and treats acts and thoughts as operants, and anxiety as a respondent controlled by classical conditioning; (2) entails in vivo desensitization, requiring the construction of a hierarchy of anxiety-producing situations which can be enacted; (3) uses peer- or…

Learning Counseling, a special, small-group type of academically oriented counseling for underachieving high school students, counseled 819 students in the Pittsburgh Public schools during 1969-1971. Materials to train teachers to become Learning Counselors were developed: a manual, a series of video tapes, several casebooks, and 4 essays…