Considered the opposite of tattling, "Tootling" is a positive peer-reporting procedure in which students report their classmates' positive prosocial behavior instead of inappropriate behavior and employs other well-established behavior analytic principles. This study examined the effects of Tootling on students' behavior in three…

A series of four studies (employing combinations of multiple baseline and reversal designs) examined the effects of both antecedent and consequent events on the social interactions of four primary grade withdrawn children. These four experiments were conducted during the first year of pilot-testing a program aimed at increasing the social…

The study evaluated the effectiveness of positive social teacher approval contingent upon prosocial behavior by two abused preschoolers toward peers with similar background. Using a single subject ABAB research design, results supported the relationship between positive social teacher approval and increased positive student behavior, decreased…

Contingent praise by classroom teachers was used to cue and reinforce cross-sex cooperative play in 2 nursery school classes of 4-year-old children. Results suggested that previous learning and/or current classroom contingencies may reinforce same-sex playmate choices when teachers do not deliberately reinforce play between boys and girls. (JMB)

Using prompting and reinforcement procedures, five severely retarded individuals were trained and employed as client care workers to provide verbal and physical interaction and leisure materials to nonambulatory, multiply=handicapped residents of a mental retardation facility. Levels of interaction equalled or exceeded those displayed by exemplary…

An alternating individual and group-oriented reinforcement contingency did not generate consistent levels of supportive peer behaviors between two preschoolers with handicaps and their socially competent peers. Two socially competent children were then taught to deliver supportive prompts to their peers during dramatic play, increasing the…

A survey of 44 students (grades 4-10) with behavior disorders, 14 special educators, and 15 teacher assistants evaluated the social validity of level systems (behavioral management interventions applied to shape students' social, emotional, and academic behaviors to pre-established levels). While students were the most negative group, they…

This study of interactions between three severely withdrawn, autistic preschool children and six nonhandicapped peers found that peers can be effectively taught strategies to increase appropriate social behaviors of autistic classmates, and a group-oriented reinforcement contingency is an effective complement to teacher-prompted interventions and…

This paper describes a series of experiments which indicate how different reinforcement systems affect cooperative, competitive, and individualized learning structures. Following a brief literature review of prior research, the experiments investigated (1) individual reinforcement for peer tutoring and (2) shared-group reinforcement for peer…