Background: There is a growing body of literature that indicates positive outcomes of group treatment approaches to intervention for communication difficulties in chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). The published research to date examines face-to-face group intervention. Aim: This study draws on one of these approaches, 'Improving Natural Social…

Interventions based on functional analyses may result in better treatment outcomes than those using arbitrary reinforcers. However, functional analyses may be impractical in some situations, or an immediate intervention may be necessary while a functional analysis is being conducted. In these situations, delivering the social reinforcers most…

This proof of principle study was designed to evaluate whether excessively high rates of social approach behaviors in children with Angelman syndrome (AS) can be modified using a multiple schedule design. Four children with AS were exposed to a multiple schedule arrangement, in which social reinforcement and extinction, cued using a novel…

The authors present a model of interactive social psychological and relational feedback processes leading to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk reduction behavior change among active drug users trained as Peer Health Advocates (PHAs). The model is supported by data from qualitative interviews with PHAs and members of their drug-using networks…

This study examined the effectiveness of video modeling to teach a preschooler with autism to imitate previously mastered and not mastered actions during song and toy play activities. A general case approach was used to examine the instructional universe of preschool songs and select exemplars that were most likely to facilitate generalization.…

Joint-attention-type intervention strategies have been identified as effective scaffolds for increasing social engagement in children with autism. Imitating children with autism within child-led social routines has increased children's attention and active participation in social interaction. The current study expands on this research by…

Whether explicitly acknowledged or not, behavior-analytic principles are at the heart of most, if not all, empirically supported therapies. However, the change process in psychotherapy is only now being rigorously studied. Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP; Kohlenberg & Tsai, 1991; Tsai et al., 2009) explicitly identifies behavioral-change…

A contingency management procedure using both positive and negative reinforcement was used to strengthen cooperative behavior in five children (ages 3-6) during a series of restorative dental treatment sessions lasting from 15-60 minutes. Baseline levels of disruptive behavior as high as 90 percent were reduced to less than 15 percent. (JW)

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a planned program designed to enhance the self concepts of primary children having negative self concepts. The data indicated that the self concepts of 30 children in kindergarten through grade four were enhanced through a sequentially planned program of elicitation of positive…

During prebaseline observations, three students diagnosed with autism were unable to make social initiations to another individual. The ability to make initiations would be considered a "pivotal response" in that it would allow an individual to come into contact with a wide variety of social reinforcement. A multiple-baseline design was…

A study conducted functional analyses of the pica of three young children. The pica of one participant was maintained by automatic reinforcement; that of the other two was multiply-controlled by social and automatic reinforcement. Preference and treatment analyses were used to address the automatic function of the pica. (Author/CR)

The present study sought to evaluate the effects of feedback and positive social reinforcement on the performance of restaurant drive-thru window order-takers in asking customers to "upsize" their order at a specific prompt. A multiple baseline across settings was followed by the introduction of an intervention of weekly performance feedback and…

This monograph provides a variety of positively focused techniques for effectively managing behaviors of students with emotional/behavioral disorders in the classroom. Each section focuses on a specific behavior management technique and includes a brief description of the technique, an explanation of why the particular technique works, conditions…

A program of behavioral practice, assertiveness training, and social and contrived reinforcers was successful in establishing and maintaining automobile safety belt use by 16 children (ages 4-7) who never used them during a five-day preobservation period. Safety belt use occurred during 76%-90% of follow-up observations after two-three months.…

In this paper, we review definitional issues related to stereotypy, behavioral interpretations of stereotypy, procedures for determining operant function(s) of stereotypy, and behavioral interventions for stereotypy. In general, a preponderance of the assessment literature suggests that most forms of stereotypy are maintained by automatic…