Family relationships seem to be of particular importance to an aging parent's psychological well-being. Feelings of burden experienced by an adult daughter, however, may interfere with the nature of her relationship with her aging mother and may have a potentially deleterious effect on the mother. To test this hypothesis, a study was undertaken…

This manual is designed to teach nutrition concepts to young children. The information is centered around three principles: (1) nutrients are inside foods; (2) nutrients perform specific functions in the body; and (3) behavior modification is effective in strengthening individual and family eating patterns. At the beginning of each unit, an…

A knowledge of an individual's preferences is essential to create an effective reward or reinforcer program for individuals who have either a need to reduce maladaptive behaviors or to increase adaptive behaviors. The goal of the Missouri Automated Reinforcer Assessment (MARA) project is to develop an efficient yet thorough automated reinforcer…

This paper presents a case study of a young girl diagnosed as autistic and having a history of tantrums, who was grouped with six other students with mild to moderate disabilities. Intervention plans developed by her teacher and a consultant addressed the girl's needs for more positive social and communication skills, focusing on increasing…

A behavior modification program was implemented to improve attendance and punctuality patterns of kindergarten students attending a small, rural elementary school. Also incorporated into the intervention were self-esteem and parent involvement components. Motivational strategies used were: a token economy; group-oriented behavior management…

The study examined the effects of instruction in new behavior on behavioral change in behaviorally or emotionally handicapped students by comparing Ifd (intensity, frequency, and duration) behavior scores of students who received special behavioral instruction (N=360) with students not receiving this instruction (N=360). The study also…

The generalization of specific social skills to new environments by four elementary aged learning-disabled students was studied using a modified multiple baseline, single-subject research design. During one spring semester, each student was trained for 12 weeks in the use of a specific social skill (such as compliance, cooperative play, or…

The philosophy and key concepts, goals and objectives, components of effective classroom management, behavior modification techniques, and a positive approach to classroom management are discussed in this paper. Principles and procedures of classroom management are discussed and ways in which they may be adapted to existing classroom practices are…

Preliminary results of a study of the extent to which training health visitors in behavior modification techniques improves the effectiveness of their work with families of young children are presented. A total of 14 health visitors were recruited and assigned to training and delay-of-training groups. Selected from case loads, participating…

Recent smoking treatment programs have shifted emphasis from initial cessation rates to long-term abstinence, with aversion therapy and coping response training having had the most success. A smoking cessation treatment consisting of rapid smoking and behavioral counseling was supplemented with two maintenance treatments. After completing the…

A survey (Jevne, 1981) conducted to determine Canadian counselor competencies revealed that, of the nine areas considered important for counselor training, the 304 respondents in the field of counseling ranked training in consulting as sixth in importance. Prompted by these results, a literature review was conducted to determine if consulting was…

Group contingencies is a technology for using peers to influence behavioral change through contingencies; the use of contingent interdependent group rewards for specific group behaviors has been of interest to behavioral researchers. To sort out the effects on quiz scores and peer social interaction (PSI) of group contingencies based on academic…

The study attempted to decrease the talking-out behavior and increase the pre-writing skills of a 7-year-old educable mentally retarded boy in a special school for children with orthopedic handicaps. Differential reinforcement of other (DRO) behaviors was used during 30 minutes a day four times a week. Appropriate behaviors of the subjects and…

This paper summarizes a diverse body of literature on Achievement Place, a community-based program for juveniles in group home settings. The program's Teaching-Family treatment model is described in detail as a base for presenting findings about its ability to change behaviors. Preliminary data from follow-up studies of attempts to extend the…

Paskewicz (1984) believes that the language individuals use conveys information about the possibility of change, independent of content. To test this notion, consultant-consultee verbal interactions were analyzed. Advanced doctoral students in school psychology (N=4) served as consultants; consultees were 19 parochial school teachers each of whom…