A positive reinforcement system was designed to see if reinforcement procedures, proven effective in modifying a wide range of disruptive classroom behaviors, would be effective for children who are not particularly disruptive but who work so slowly and ponderously that they fail to make satisfactory academic progress. Subjects were five such slow…

Two experiments using paraprofessional personnel were conducted to determine effectiveness of a schoolwide token system on academic performance of trainable mentally retarded (TMR) children. The first experiment consisted of 42 TMRs in a 6-week summer program, in which reading, writing, and arithmetic were the behaviors studied. Pretest and…

Three studies were conducted to compare standard instruction with reinforcement programs for the trainable mentally retarded (TMR). In the first study, 24 TMRs were matched into two groups, with one group participating in a 6-week academic program having token reinforcement and the other group continuing in a standard teaching program. Statistical…

Nine seventh- and eighth-grade students who had a history of poor math achievement were selected to participate in the study. Base rate data was gathered which indicated the percent of time the students were engaged in behaviors relevant to the assigned academic tasks. During treatment a clock buzzer apparatus was placed in the room, and the…

After a brief discussion of the physiological effects of drugs on the human body, seven distinctive features of drug usage in the United States since the start of World War II are noted, and initiation into drug usage is described. The notion of a distinct personality type of addicts is not favored since terms used to characterize the type are not…

The hypothesis that first and second graders can improve reading skills by learning to type on electric typewriters was tested in this study. Other purposes of the research were to develop linguistic comprehension in Standard English, to produce introductory reading materials which promote phonic understanding as they fix typing-key strokes, and…

Eight papers concerning pre and inservice teacher preparation treat such topics as a behavioral approach to conducting and evaluating inservice training, the development and analysis of criterion in the evaluation of teacher preparation and certification, and group processes and personal interrelationships as they support humanistic education.…

The proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting and Conference of the National Society for Autistic Children begin with three brief statements regarding the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children. Following are the keynote address by Edwin W. Martin concerning the rhetoric and reality of the Federal response to the educational needs of…

The research of this study is directed toward finding ways to change behaviors that interfere with education for disadvantaged children. Accordingly, some pilot research was done in a disadvantaged senior high school in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1969. During the subsequent two-year investigation, the researchers were able to develop an experimental…

The emphasis of this research report was on modification of classroom behavior. After a brief introduction, the two main learning theories of Gestalt-field psychology and stimulus-response association were investigated. The importance of the individual in modifying his own behavior was stressed in Gestalt-field psychology. The importance of…

A study was conducted using positive reinforcement to increase and maintain the time spent participating in study behavior of a six-year-old female kindergarten student and to introduce the teacher to behavioral change techniques. Attending and non-attending study behaviors were observed during 30-minute independent study periods in the classroom.…

A self-instructional program in which teacher participants are asked to work individually as well as in groups is presented. Directions are provided for each activity. The program is divided into four major sections: (1)The Role of Adult Education, (2) Techniques for Building a Positive Self-Image; (3) Self-Application of Techniques, and (4)…

This study demonstrated reinforcement control over pronounced feminine behaviors in a male child who had been psychologically evaluated as manifesting "childhood cross-gender identity." Reinforcement control over cross-gender behavior was demonstrated by identifying some behavioral treatment conditions under which feminine behaviors could be…

Research shows that great success in behavior change lies in the manipulation of environmental contingencies. Efficient teaching is a function of the proper manipulation of events in the classroom. Many studies concerning classroom design, contingency contracting, and educational engineering have shown the effectiveness of the use of reinforcement…

This study on teacher attitudes and practices is a followup of 85 teachers who one year earlier had attended an institute on the disadvantaged. Two objectives of the questionnaire survey were: (1) to determine whether there was a difference between teachers' attitudes and their perception of their administrators' viewpoints and (2) to determine…