Between 30 and 50% of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) do not develop vocal language deemed functionally acceptable to meet their daily communication needs. As a result, individuals with ASD may require intervention alternatives to vocal speech, such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). However, very little is known…

This quasi-experimental, mixed methods study explored student perceptions of class climate before and after implementation of a two-week social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention in elementary classrooms in Japan. The sample consisted of 131 second and third grade students. A one-time SEL lesson focusing on offering kind words to peers was…

Middle school teachers frequently struggle with positively managing student behavior. However, praise-to-reprimand ratios (PRRs) have received little research attention. PRRs studied in elementary school have been positively associated with improvements in on-task and prosocial behavior, but limited research has been conducted on optimal PRRs in…

Recent research findings (DeRosa, Fisher, & Steege, 2015) suggest that minimizing exposure to the establishing operation (EO) for destructive behavior when differential reinforcement interventions like functional communication training (FCT) are introduced may produce more immediate reductions in destructive behavior and prevent or mitigate…

Diversification trends of U.S. schools make clear the need for evidence-based practices supporting ethnically-racially diverse students. Yet, there are significant hindrances to readily identifying and summarizing findings generated from diverse classroom contexts. The current meta-analytic review was designed to address this gap in the classroom…

Middle school teachers frequently struggle with positively managing student behavior. However, praise-to-reprimands ratios (PRRs) have received little research attention. PRRs studied in elementary school have been associated positively with improvements in on-task and prosocial behavior, but limited research has been conducted on optimal PRRs in…

The experimenter conducted three experiments to compare incidental language acquisition of familiar and non-familiar stimuli, and asses the effects of specific pairing experiences on the emergence of bidirectional naming (BiN) for familiar and non-familiar stimuli. In Experiment I the experimenter assessed the numbers of accurate untaught listener…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative efficacy of non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) after behavioral functions were identified through indirect, descriptive, and experimental assessment. Participants included three preschool-age children in three center-based classrooms in a…

Background: Parenting behaviors have consistently been shown to be associated with elevated anxiety symptoms and disorders in children. However, this literature is limited as most studies have focused on global rather than specific parenting behaviors, failed to consistently account for the influence of parental anxiety, and omitted examining…

Behavior-analytic academic intervention research has gained popularity among school psychologists because it offers a unique combination of robust principles of behavior and a degree of clarity and precision about functional relationships that is unparalleled in other learning paradigms. This article reviews the literature for a type of antecedent…

Activity schedules, guided compliance, and differential reinforcement are often used to reduce transition-related problem behavior in children with autism. One potential way to increase the effectiveness of these procedures when transitioning children from preferred to nonpreferred activities is to alter the motivating operations for…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) often have deficits in independent living skills. One way to improve skills in this area is through the use of video modeling (VM) interventions. The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of two VM interventions and a third non-video-based intervention on…

Findings from a randomized controlled design study of an ability-based versus needs-based approach to response-contingent learning among children with significant developmental delays and disabilities who did not use instrumental behavior to produce reinforcing consequences are reported. The ability-based intervention and needs-based intervention…

A common recommendation for teaching skills to children with autism is to apply differential reinforcement by reserving high-quality reinforcement for unprompted responses (Sundberg and Partington in Teaching language to children with autism or other developmental disabilities, Behavior Analysts Inc., Pleasant Hill, 1998). Earlier research focuses…

Functional communication training (FCT) is a widely used and effective function-based treatment for problem behavior. The purpose of this article is to present two cases in which FCT was unsuccessful in reducing the occurrence of problem behavior displayed by two young children with an autism spectrum disorder. Both children received the same…