This is a quasi-experimental multiple baseline of behavior research study that compared the effectiveness of video modeling versus direct instruction for teaching gestural communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. There are two targeted gestures that were taught using these teaching methods; they are a protodeclarative point…

This commentary reviews five articles that apply Bayesian ideas to psychological development, some with psychology experiments, some with computational modeling, and some with both experiments and modeling. The reviewed work extends the current Bayesian revolution into tasks often studied in children, such as causal learning and word learning, and…

This is the second publication in the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) Project Plus series. Project Plus aims to inform questions of policy and practice by synthesising findings of educational interest from projects funded by the TLRI. This Project Plus focuses on literacy in the early childhood education (ECE) and school…

This study combined Social Stories with video modeling in an effort to enhance the conversation skills of a boy with Asperger's Disorder. Treatment consisted of two components: (a) observation of video taped Social Stories that included two adults modeling targeted conversational skills and (b) 5-min social interactions. A multiple baseline design…

A year after receiving his PhD in psychology from the University of Rochester, Tim Kasser accepted a position at Knox College, in Galesburg, Illinois, where he is currently professor of psychology. He regularly teaches psychology classes on personality, clinical and abnormal psychology, dreaming, and research methods, as well as an…

The present study examined effects of video modeling on generalized independent toy play of two boys with autism. Appropriate and repetitive verbal and motor play were measured, and intermeasure relationships were examined. Two single-participant experiments with multiple baselines and withdrawals across toy play were used. One boy was presented…

Children with autism may display unusual or fearful responses to common stimuli, such as skin care products. Parents of children with autism have often reported that their children will not allow the application of these types of substances to their skin and if the parent persists, the children become extremely upset and anxious. Such responding…

Investigated the effects which story books emphasizing concerns for others and those emphasizing concern for self have on altruistic behavior in children. Results indicated neither type of story influenced altruistic behavior. (Author/DB)

The purpose of the investigation was to record the behavior of 12 autistic and severely disturbed children (5 to 14 years old) after exposure to a live model exhibiting either aggressive or affectual responses toward a surrogate person. During 3-minute observation periods, Ss' responses toward a Bobo doll were scored as aggressive or affective.…

The author cites empirical evidence and studies to support the thesis that television violence is not valuable as a sublimation for violence. Maintaining that television propaganda consists primarily of violence and mis-information about human behavior, and that children copy what they see, she concludes that television has taught people how to be…

Multidimensional scaling is used to quantify the relative appeal of television characters as behavior models for children. (Author/STS)

An overview of the behaviorally-oriented fear reduction methods for children is presented. Systematic desensitization and related procedures, flooding-related therapies, contingency management approaches, modeling procedures, and self-control methods are discussed after reviewing normative and prevalence data regarding children's fears. Research…

A total of 42 middle-income kindergarten and sixth-grade children were exposed to a person modeling generosity, selfishness, or neither characteristic. As expected, younger children patterned their behaviors more on the model's example than did older children. (MP)

The effects of age, modeling, tuition, and sanctions on self-control of motor behavior were examined among children 6, 7, 9, and 11 years of age. Among the results, activation latency and inhibition error were influenced most by the actions of the model and the introduction of a negative sanction, and less by tuition. (Author/RH)