Educational interventions based on the principles of behavior analysis are highly effective for establishing skills in young children with autism. As a first step in program development, the child's current skill level is determined by evaluating performance on tasks drawn from a preestablished curriculum. However, few specific guidelines have…

The motivation of students is an important issue in higher education, particularly in the context of the increasing diversity of student populations. A social-cognitive perspective assumes motivation to be dynamic, context-sensitive and changeable, thereby rendering it to be a much more differentiated construct than previously understood. This…

Significant advancements have been made in the development of procedures to systematically identify preferred stimuli that may function as reinforcers for persons with developmental disabilities. Indirect assessment procedures include care provider and client interviews, whereas direct assessment procedures involve systematically exposing…

Emotional and behavioral problems of students in the classroom have been rated as a major concern for teachers, administrators, and the public (Hardman & Smith, 2003; Macciomei, 1999). Without effective behavior management, a positive and productive classroom environment is impossible to achieve. The most effective model for producing behavior…

Effective management of disruptive behaviors in schools is a national concern. While substantial resources are often allocated toward individual students who exhibit challenging behavior, less emphasis is placed on preventative interventions in common areas such as hallways, cafeterias and playgrounds. The purpose of this study was to determine…

Throughout the United States, schools and entire school districts are implementing school-wide positive behavioral supports. This systemic, team-based approach often employs assessment tools such as The Effective Behavioral Support Survey (Sugai, Todd, & Horner, 2000) as part of its implementation to improve school-wide discipline. The EBS…

Increasing attention is being given to the fact that positive behavior support (PBS) not only affects individual quality of life but branches out to affect family quality of life as well. This article provides a brief overview of family quality of life, citing specific information from the "Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale". An analysis…

Communication is the cornerstone of any successful leadership enterprise, including education leadership. It is counterintuitive to think that an excellent education leader could possess a keen vision and have no ability to communicate that vision to students and staff members. Discovering and implementing the rules of communicating effectively…

Baron and Galizio (2005) reviewed and updated Michael's (1975) observations concerning the problems surrounding the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement. In the end they concluded that the valence is unjustified. However, despite the fact that the logical and empirical underpinnings of the distinction have been questioned for…

The relation between the rate of a response ("B") and the rate of its reinforcement ("R") is well known to be approximately hyperbolic: B = kR/(R + R[subscript o]), where k represents the maximum response rate, and R[subscript o] indicates the rate of reinforcers that will engender a response rate equal to half its maximum value. A review of data…

As the number of schools implementing systemic, schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS) processes expands (nationally, at least 5,000 schools are participating), increasing attention is being paid to the efficacy of implementation. This article describes a case study of the experiences of Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project, which used…

In this article, the authors examined (a) the accuracy of teacher nominations in identifying (N = 178) high school students with externalizing, internalizing, comorbid, and typical behavior patterns, as well as students who were receiving special education services for high-incidence disabilities, (b) the level of treatment fidelity and access to…

Commencing each class session with a class quiz, which emphasizes the previous week's work and is supported by immediate feedback, encourages students to revise their notes ahead of the session, undertake more reading and keep pace with course progression. It reduces the necessity for any spoken review of the previous week's work, provides…

The present study uses the PEM approach to synthesize the effectiveness of treatment on disruptive behaviors and simultaneously tests whether the higher validity of the PEM approach than that of the PND approach is repeatable. A hand search of the "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis" was conducted, and reference lists from reviewed articles were…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a buddy skills package on the social interactions between a preschooler with autism and her peers. Following baseline, the children participated in 8 sessions of training that focused on the strategies of Play, Stay, and Talk. An intervention consisting of teacher feedback, praise, and picture…