The brief Student-Teacher Classroom Interaction Observation (ST-CIO) is a direct observation assessment that evaluates interactions between teachers and students. The measure was developed for use in classrooms during academic instruction to determine the frequency of teacher use of reprimands and praise toward a student, as well as the frequency…

In two studies, the systematic approach to designing functional assessment-based interventions (FABIs) created by Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, and Lane (2007) was used with high school students receiving special education services in self-contained classrooms reserved for students with persistent behavior problems. In Study 1, an AB design was used…

For years, the assumption has been that stereotypical behaviors functioned only to provide sensory or automatic reinforcement. However, these behaviors also may serve social functions. Given the unsettled debate, functional behavior assessment and functional analysis can be used to identify the exact function of stereotypical behavior and design…

Common approaches to inclusive education (e.g., co-teaching or team teaching) are based in part on an assumption that when more than one adult or professional are present in a classroom, rates of effective instructional practices and appropriate (i.e., positive) feedback can improve for students who need them most. In this preliminary study, the…

The purpose of this study is to determine frequency of approval and disapproval behaviors of teachers working in inclusive classrooms during lessons and to investigate whether teachers' approval and disapproval behaviors differ in terms of their demographical characteristics. The study group consisted of 45 teachers who worked in three public…

Prior research indicates that reinforcement of an appropriate response (e.g., compliance) can produce concomitant reductions in problem behavior reinforced by escape when problem behavior continues to produce negative reinforcement (e.g., Lalli et al., 1999). These effects may be due to a preference for positive over negative reinforcement or to…

The choice-making behavior of 2 typically developing children who engaged in problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement was evaluated within a concurrent-operants assessment that varied the quality of attention across free-play and demand conditions. The results demonstrated that it was possible to bias responding towards academic…

Research has demonstrated that a person's attraction to a stranger is influenced by experimental manipulations suggested by general behavior theory. To examine whether a neutral observer, listening to a conversation between two strangers, could be influenced by the manipulation of several learning variables, 80 female undergraduates listened to a…

The specific parenting domains measured by the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) make it particularly relevant to interventions concerned with the modification of parenting practices. This study assessed the validity and clinical utility of parent reports on the APQ using observational data of parents and children (N=56, aged 4-8 years)…

The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities' (AAIDD's) Positive Behavior Support Training Curriculum," Second Edition" ("PBSTC"), is a curriculum for training direct support personnel and their supervisors in the values and practices of Positive Behavior Support. The curriculum is designed for direct support persons and…

Behaviors observed in 47 families interacting at home were recorded in terms of interactions between a target child and other family members. The types of behaviors emitted by a target child to parents versus siblings were analyzed as were the types of responses that parents versus siblings gave to the target child's behavior. (Author/RH)

Studies in group homes have shown that behaviors suggestive of a reinforcing relationship with an adult and of adult teaching are inversely related to self-reported delinquency among group home adolescents. Adolescents (N=29) living in natural family settings completed several self-report measures of delinquency and drug use to determine whether…

Students enrolled in classes which stressed learning theory and human development served as subjects in an investigation of the predictive power of observation scores compared to more traditional predictors such as grade point average and ACT scores. A stepwise discriminant analysis was employed, using the BMDP7B program on the Sperry 1100 Univac,…