Tells the story of three high school students whose violent, confrontational behavior proved inveterate despite the meting out of various conventional punishments such as in-school suspension. Posits that some students may be untreatable through the disciplinary apparatus available to school administrators. (TB)

Functional analyses of classroom disruption were conducted during contingent teacher and peer attention conditions for three children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Attention provided by peer confederates appeared to function as a distinct form of positive reinforcement for all three children (ages seven and nine). (Author/SW)

Characteristics of Asperger syndrome are described, and behavioral and academic strategies are offered for addressing these symptoms in the classroom. Suggestions pertain to: insistence on sameness, impairments in social interactions, restricted range of interests, poor concentration, poor motor coordination, academic difficulties, and emotional…

Four staff members completed 3 questionnaires evaluating quantitative and qualitative aspects of compulsive and autistic behaviors of 17 young autistic adults in a farmstead residential facility. Results affirmed the utility and applicability of obsessive-compulsive assessment devices in evaluating behavior of autistic adults. (Author/DB)

This study investigated demographic and phenomenological characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in nine adults with Down syndrome (DS), and possible effects on adaptive behavior. Results suggest OCD is more common in the DS population than the non-DS population. Ordering and tidiness was the most common form of OCD found, and…

Rorschach protocols of 18 sexually-abused children were compared to protocols of 18 clinical controls. Dependent variables included responses with overt sexual contents, sexual symbols, and near-sexual content. Results suggested that the dependent variables, in combination, could differentiate sexually abused children from other groups. Other…

This paper examines the relationship between creation and destruction in the creative process. Findings from a study involving 60 actors and 60 criminals/delinquents (ages 10-65) indicate that the 2 populations are similar in their ability to use the creative process but criminals/delinquents do little productive with their ability. (Author/JDD)

This meta-analysis of the developmental disabilities literature on remediation of problem behaviors evaluated relations between standards of practice, intervention and participant characteristics, and treatment validity. Results largely failed to support widespread assumptions of clinical practice such as the superiority of more intrusive…

This rejoinder to critiques (EC 602 213-215) of the authors' article (EC 602 212) on stereotypy and self-injury in the disabled responds to specific objections raised, including misleading statements, failure to address other existing models, misunderstandings, and need to include neurochemical factors. (DB)

Mothers and caregivers responded to hypothetical incidents in which a four-year-old child misbehaved. Mothers and caregivers differed in their causal attributions for children's misbehavior and their affective and behavioral responses to children's failures to be altruistic. Assertions of power were likely when respondents believed misbehavior was…

Teachers of 2 children (ages 7 and 13) with autism were trained to conduct a descriptive analysis and a classroom experimental analysis of aberrant behavior. Each procedure identified negative reinforcement as a maintaining variable for aberrant behavior. Intervention based on the assessment was successfully implemented with one child and had…

This article recommends strategies to speech-language pathologists for modifying behavior problems pertaining to authority relationships within the clinical setting and which interfere with the speech/language-impaired child's progress in therapy. (Author/DB)

Early education program staff who wish to nurture special qualities of difficult children can identify those qualities; allow for children's expression of feelings; build children's self-esteem; restructure the daily schedule to help children deal with difficult times; and live out a philosophy that respects the uniqueness of each child. (BC)

This article addresses difficult and disruptive behavior of children with severe learning difficulties in British classrooms. It stresses the importance of clear policy underlying teacher training in methods of prevention, intervention, restraint, and record keeping. Principles of inservice training in behavior management skills are identified.…

Vignette methodology was used to assess acceptability of behavior modification programs by 198 members of the American Association on Mental Retardation. The strongest predictor of treatment acceptability was the respondents' own estimates of probable treatment success. Secondary predictors included the restrictiveness of the proposed procedure…