The monograph describes a systematic attempt to develop language behavior in a nonverbal autistic 4.5-year-old boy who was essentially unresponsive to environmental stimuli of any kind. The 45-session intervention focused on teaching him to attend, increasing his responsiveness to people, effecting discriminative responses to a variety of…

A home-based reinforcement program was instituted with three underachieving fourth graders who exhibited inappropriate behavior. Each day the children brought home a workbook assignment indicating percentage of correct responses and parents provided reinforcement for correct items and for improvement over time. Effectiveness on completion of daily…

Chronic self-injury is a psychopathology which afflicts some persons with severe mental retardation. The self-injurious acts may be carried out to avoid completion of a task, or the behavior may be intrinsically reinforcing. Professional responses have included use of restraints, psychopharmacology, placement in more restrictive settings, and…

An informal study examined the impact of a simple behavior modification procedure on the reading habits of second and fifth grade students. Behavior modification theory was pared down to two rules ("reinforce proper behavior" and "reinforce anything close to proper behavior") so that no additional burdens would be placed on…

Adolescents are particularly open to the influences of interventions that restructure their attitudes and self-concept. This study assesses the influence of martial arts training that incorporates a philosophy of life along with strict discipline. The hypothesis was that such training could positively influence juvenile delinquents and contribute…

The paper is intended as a guide to the levels curriculum for teachers of emotionally handicapped secondary students. The levels curriculum is introduced as a motivational system for behavioral improvement based on a series of steps with increasing student priveleges and responsibilities. Students develop individual goals and learn communication,…

The publication presents five articles dealing with research and methodology for teachers of behaviorally disordered children. In the first paper, R. Gable et al. describe "A Classroom-based Curriculum Validation Process for Teaching the Behaviorally Disordered," which focuses on static and dynamic evaluation of curricular materials. E. Anderson…

Effects of brief time out on the biting behavior of a 21- month-old boy enrolled in a day care setting was examined. The Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS; Durand, 1983) was used to determine the function of the child's biting. A parent report survey, the MAS assesses disruptive behavior using a Likert-type scale and discriminates the function of a…

This student workbook is intended for use in helping teenage and adult basic education (ABE) students reduce their anxiety over tests in general and over the General Educational Development (GED) test in particular. Exercises are provided to help students analyze and understand their feelings about and while taking tests, recall the childhood…

Two newsletters focus on alternatives for community living and approaches to teaching social skills to children and youth with disabilities. The first issue provides information on some family support services and community-based living arrangements that are currently available for children with severe and profound handicaps or chronic illnesses.…

A nomothetic assessment of the drive-by shooting in inter-barrio gang violence was conducted. Available data on drive-by shootings were organized using the model of behavioral assessment suggested by Kanfer and Saslow (1969). The model included seven areas of analysis: initial assessment, clarification of the problem, motivation, development,…

Recent reports indicate that a significant number of college-age women suffer from bulimarexia. To investigate the success of experiential-insight, behaviorally-oriented therapy groups in helping college students cope with eating disorders, 26 students (25 females, 1 male) participated in 1 to 10 weekly therapy sessions. The groups, which were…

Little research has examined the practical techniques employed by psychologists working with children. To examine current practices in child psychotherapy, licensed psychologists in the state of Texas completed questionnaires about mental health intervention efforts with prepubertal children. Almost half of the 724 respondents indicated that they…