The group of papers on memory reactivation and consolidation during sleep included in this volume represents cutting edge work in both animals and humans. They support that the two types of sleep serve different necessary functions. The role of slow wave sleep (SWS) is reactivation of the hippocampal-neocortical circuits activated during a waking…

We report the case of an 11-year-old boy with autism who demonstrated urinary incontinence that appeared to be maintained by social contingencies (adult attention and escape from activity "demands"). Although he wet himself frequently, he also used the bathroom appropriately and made many self-initiated toileting requests. Intervention was…

Although applied behavior analysis has made a significant contribution in the area of challenging behavior, to date, researchers have not systematically investigated the episodic severity of behavior as a dependent variable. "Episodic severity" is defined as the measure of intensity or gravity of a behavioral incident. Research up to now has…

The ability of a reinforcer to maintain behavior decreases as a hyperbolic function of its delay. This discounted value can help explain impulsivity defined as the choice of an immediate, small reinforcer over a delayed, large reinforcer. Human operant studies using consumable reinforcers such as videos have found impulsivity with delays under 1…

Fingernail biting is a habit that is developed by numerous people, especially children and teenagers. Many clinicians believe that the habit of fingernail biting stems from nervousness or anxiety. Students, especially students with disabilities, can be easily distracted from instruction, can become the target of negative peer attention, and can…

Special educators frequently provide consultation for parents and general education teachers who are struggling to manage student behavior. One intervention often discussed is the use of rewards to increase student motivation. While research has shown that well-designed incentive systems can provide an effective intervention, poorly designed…

Verbal and physical aggression are risk factors for community placement of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Depending on the motivations involved, treatment typically consists of psychotropic medications and psychosocial interventions, including contingency management procedures and anger management training. Effects of a…

Significant progress has been achieved in the development and evaluation of evidence-based psychological treatments for eating disorders over the past 25 years. Cognitive behavioral therapy is currently the treatment of choice for bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, and existing evidence supports the use of a specific form of family therapy…

Significant shifts or discontinuities in symptom course can mark points of transition and reveal important change processes. The authors investigated 2 patterns of change in depression--the rapid early response and a transient period of apparent worsening that the authors call a depression spike. Participants were 29 patients diagnosed with major…

Subgroup analysis of children (5-12 years) with autism enrolled in an 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of risperidone for pervasive developmental disorders. The primary efficacy measure was the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability (ABC-I) subscale. Data were available for 55 children given risperidone (n = 27) or placebo (n =…

Factors that influence choice between qualitatively different reinforcers (e.g., a food item or a break from work) are important to consider when arranging treatments for problem behavior. Previous findings indicate that children who engage in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands may choose a food item over the functional reinforcer…

This article reports on 2 studies investigating a response-to-intervention (RTI) approach to behavior support in 2 second-grade classrooms. The results suggest that a slightly more intensive but efficient targeted intervention ("check in and check out") was effective in supporting the social behavior success of 4 students whose problem behaviors…

In this article, we examine two schools that successfully adopted school-wide positive behavior interventions and highlight some of the common features that contributed to their success. As part of our analysis, we draw upon the theoretical literature on organizational change to discuss factors that supported these successful school-wide reform…

This study examined the effectiveness of Sensory Stories on "circle time" behaviors in preschool children with autism. This single-system ABA design with a convenience sample of four participants consisted of one week for each A phase and two weeks for the B phase. The intervention phase (B) consisted of reading a Sensory Story from one…

A descriptive analysis was conducted on studies on the behavioural treatment of drooling (published between 1970 and 2005). The 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria described 53 participants (mean age 14y 7mo, [SD 4y 9mo]; range 6-28y). Sex of 87% of the participants was reported: 28 male, 18 female. For 60% of the participants the degree…