bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH COMPLEX FIVE‐COMPONENT INSTRUCTIONS1
Authors: Bucher Bradley , Mueller Horst H.
Published: March 2006

A 7‐yr‐old bilingual boy of normal intelligence, judged by his school to be deficient in carrying out complex requests, was trained to comply with five‐component instructions, e.g., “Give me/the chip/behind/the block/on blue”. Three interchangeable words or phrases were used for each component. Training proceeded in stages. First, the child was trained to identify all individual objects and actions; then to carry out requests involving only the first component, then the first two, then three, etc. On every trial, the visual setting permitted every possible response in the set. A test for generalization to nonreinforced instructions was given at each stage by giving no feedback for all instructions that included one preselected phrase. The phrase selected at each stage was one of the three that was introduced at that stage. As a further test for generalization, nonreinforced instructions were also given that included one additional component: the next to be trained (Probes Ahead). As a test for generalization across settings and instructions, several five‐component instructions were presented each session in an unused classroom. These instructions used phrases, most of which were different from those being trained, and which referred to familiar classroom objects. Results showed: acquisition occurred for each stage of training, including the full five‐component instruction; almost complete generalization of responding occurred to the subset of nonreinforced instructions; little or no generalization occurred to the Probes Ahead, where an additional untrained component was included; and little or no generalization was seen to the five‐component classroom instructions, until training began on the five‐component instructions in the training sessions. Performance was also examined for each component. Results showed that when a new component was introduced, correct performance to previously trained components declined, and was little if any superior to performance on the new component. In summary, transfer was found to untrained sentences of the same form as those being trained, even in another setting, where most of the components were different; but poor transfer was found to more complex sentences, and performance declined for previously trained components during training of a more complex sentence. Some features of the training procedure that may have affected the degree and form of transfer were discussed: the necessity for prior training in an appropriate response to the component phrases, the importance of intermixing of reinforced and nonreinforced trials, and the effects of the abruptness with which more complex sentence forms were introduced.
ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS OF ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF BEHAVIORAL TECHNIQUES
Authors: Sajwaj Thomas
Published: March 2006

Several guidelines surrounding the use of behavioral procedures have recently appeared, the best of which is that of the National Association of Retarded Citizens (NARC). Some issues and implications of the establishment of guidelines are briefly reviewed in the context of the NARC guidelines. Issues include the factual versus opinion bases for guidelines and the need to continue the development of explicit behavioral criteria for assessing staff competence. Implications for programs include the impact of guidelines on professional boundaries, administrative decision‐making, and budgeting, together with the dangers of expanding the regulatory bureaucracy. Several miscellaneous impacts are noted, including a potential for curbing innovative behavioral technology.
WHAT TYPES OF SEX‐ROLE BEHAVIOR SHOULD BEHAVIOR MODIFIERS PROMOTE?
Authors: Winkler R. C.
Published: March 2006

Rekers and Lovaas (1974) reported a study using reinforcement procedures aimed at modifying the behavior of a 5‐yr‐old who engaged in cross‐gender behavior. The use of traditional sex‐role concepts in forming target behaviors is criticized and androgynous behavior is suggested as an empirically based alternative. The pathological nature of the behavior that the study was designed to prevent is also questioned, as is the ability to predict sex‐role behavior from a 5‐yr‐old child's current behavior. These issues are raised in the context of the more general question, whom should the therapist serve?
THE EFFECT OF A TOKEN ECONOMY ON DIETARY COMPLIANCE FOR CHILDREN ON HEMODIALYSIS
Authors: Magrab Phyllis R. , Papadopoulou Zoe L.
Published: March 2006

Adherence to dietary restrictions is a recurring problem for children on hemodialysis. The effect of behavior modification in maintaining dietary control is reported for four patients aged 11 to 18 years. Weight gain, potassium level, and blood urea nitrogen were utilized as criteria measures. A token reinforcement program implemented by the hemodialysis team resulted in significant changes in the dietary pattern of the children. The average weight gain between dialysis sessions for the four subjects during treatment was reduced by 45% and the degree of weight fluctuation was lessened. Potassium levels and BUN were controlled to their appropriate level for subjects who initially exceeded the criterion level. With the withdrawal of weight gain from the contingency system, increase of weight gain between dialysis sessions was noted for all subjects.
TEACHING NONVOCAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS TO MULTIHANDICAPPED RETARDED ADULTS1
Authors: Reid Dennis H. , Hurlbut Bonnie
Published: March 2006

A training program for teaching communication skills to nonvocal retarded adults was evaluated in three experiments. The four subjects were severely disabled physically and had never demonstrated functional speech. Each person was taught to use either a prosthetic head pointer or to point with a hand in using a communication board for expressive language. Following baseline in Experiment I, coordination training was implemented, consisting of instructions, manual guidance, praise, feedback, and practice. Each person demonstrated a higher frequency of accurate pointing to designated areas on the board during coordination training than during baseline. In Experiment II, identification training, consisting of instructions, praise, feedback, and practice was introduced after baseline. Subjects pointed more frequently to specific word‐photograph combinations to correspond to descriptive verbal labels after introduction of identification training. Social validation measures in Experiment III indicated that the communication board skills were functional in providing a method of expressing a choice of a leisure activity to people who previously could not understand the subjects' communication attempts. The acquired skills maintained throughout a seven‐week followup period.
COLLEGE STUDENTS AS CONTINGENCY MANAGERS FOR ADOLESCENTS IN A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP READING SKILLS1
Authors: Schwartz Geraldine J.
Published: March 2006

Behavior‐modification procedures and an individualized tutorial program were used to remediate reading skill deficits in seventh‐grade adolescent subjects. Forty‐two college students were trained as reading tutors and contingency managers to use reading diagnostic and remedial materials, and to develop contracts and reinforce positive verbal responses toward reading. Significantly greater increases in reading scores of experimental groups, compared to control groups, substantial improvement in target behaviors, and significant changes in verbalizations toward reading were observed after 10 weeks of treatment. Six‐month followup studies showed that all groups had consolidated their gains and that grade scores continued to improve. The improvement of the experimental subjects remained significantly ahead of the control subjects.
FUNCTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE USE OF PROCEDURAL TIMEOUT AND AN EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE1
Authors: Plummer Sandi , Baer Donald M. , LeBlanc Judith M.
Published: March 2006

Two single‐subject experiments were conducted with students in special preschool classes. In Experiment I, the subject's disruptive, appropriate, and inappropriate play behaviors were measured as a function of three independent variables: reinforcement, a typical timeout procedure, and regularly paced teacher instructions. In an ABA reversal within a multiple baseline across two teachers, all three independent variables comprised the A conditions and procedural timeout was omitted in B. Experiment II examined a second subject's appropriate and inappropriate eating as a function of the same three variables. Two teachers conducted baseline and paced instruction‐plus‐reinforcement conditions in multiple baseline across teachers. Subsequently, one teacher performed a series of reversals and replications with various combinations of a typical timeout procedure and reinforcement mixed with paced instructions. The results of both experiments suggest that timeout did not produce response decrement in a punishment paradigm, but rather produced response increment in a negative reinforcement paradigm. These results prevailed, even though a reinforcer was operating in the environment before introducing timeout. Paced instructions (delivering instructions to the child at a set pace regardless of the child's behavior) appears to be an alternative when timeout is not effective and, in conjunction with reinforcement, was demonstrated to reduce inappropriate behavior to near zero.
RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHER ATTENTION AND THE “GOOD BEHAVIOR GAME” IN MODIFYING DISRUPTIVE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Warner Steven P. , Miller Frank D. , Cohen Mark W.
Published: March 2006

A variety of behavioral procedures have been employed in recent years to modify disruptive classroom behavior. Such methods have been developed with the belief that curtailing disruptive behavior would strengthen positive classroom performance. In this study, two procedures, the good behavior game and the teacher‐attention method, were compared to determine short‐run effectiveness. Four teachers (two fourth‐grade and two fifth‐grade) implemented both methods in their classrooms over a five‐week period. Presentation of methods was alternated in a counterbalanced design to control for order effects. Each of the four classrooms consisted of 25 students. A time‐sampling procedure was used to record the presence or absence of disruptive behavior within 15‐second intervals. Disruptive behavior was defined as any talking‐out or out‐of‐seat behavior without permission. The results indicated that both procedures were effective in modifying disruptive classroom behavior, but that the good behavior game reduced disruptive behavior significantly better than the teacher‐attention method. In addition, all teachers preferred the game to the teacher‐attention procedure. This reaction seemed related to the effort involved in initiating the two activities. The good behavior game required less effort on the teacher's part. However, use of the game alone raises certain ethical considerations. One such issue involves abuse of peer pressure. Also, there is a possibility that negative rules may tend to promote resentment. Positively stated rules would ameliorate that problem. Another relates to the possibility that some teachers might be carried away by the ease of the game's implementation to the extent that behavior control becomes the primary objective in the classroom. As a result, one might consider use of the game to maximize short‐term change, but then phase out this procedure in favor of another method (e.g., teacher attention) for long‐run effects.
THE EFFECTS OF KNOWN‐ITEM INTERSPERSAL ON ACQUISITION AND RETENTION OF SPELLING AND SIGHTREADING WORDS1
Authors: Neef Nancy A. , Iwata Brian A. , Page Terry J.
Published: March 2006

The use of well‐documented procedures such as shaping, differential reinforcement, and fading may not be the most practical for teaching certain academic behaviors. An alternative procedure of interspersing trials on previously trained items with trials on unknown items has been suggested, but its effects on acquisition and retention have not been systematically examined. This study investigated the effects of interspersing known items during training on new tasks. Six mentally retarded adolescents were given pretests on spelling and sightreading words, which were divided into pools of learned and unlearned items. Training and baseline conditions were implemented concurrently, using a multi‐element design. During interspersal training sessions, 10 known words from the pretest were alternately presented with each of 10 test words that were incorrect on the pretest. The ratio of previously mastered words to test words was gradually reduced. During baseline sessions, 10 different test words were presented without alternation of previously known words. During this condition, a procedure involving high‐density social reinforcement contingent on task‐related behaviors, but not necessarily correct responses, was later introduced, followed by a return to the original noninterspersal baseline. During all conditions, test words were deleted and replaced after meeting a mastery criterion of three consecutive correct trials. Retention tests were administered over learned test words for all conditions, at specified intervals. Results showed that both acquisition and retention of spelling and sightreading words were facilitated by the interspersal procedure. All subjects acquired more words during the interspersal condition than either the high‐density or baseline conditions. The effectiveness of the procedure may possibly be attributed to better maintenance of attending behavior to unknown items as a function of the inclusion of known items, which directly increase the amount of reinforcement for correct responses during the early stages of skill acquisition.
COMMUNITY APPLICATIONS OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY: TRAINING WRITERS OF INSTRUCTIONAL PACKAGES1
Authors: Fawcett Stephen B. , Fletcher R. Kay
Published: March 2006

A community education program, to develop a variety of performance competencies in large numbers of neighborhood residents, requires a technology for preparing learning units administerable by community members themselves. The effects of a writing manual, designed to teach nonprofessionals to prepare such instructional packages, were analyzed in two experiments. Experiment I employed a multiple‐baseline design across three university student trainees. The results showed that appropriate program writing increased by 75% after completion of the manual. The results of Experiment II, with two low‐income neighborhood residents serving as trainees, showed that packages produced by trained writers resulted in a greater increase in skill activities than sets of training stimuli produced by untrained writers.
THE EFFECTS OF MODELLING ON THE CONTINGENT PRAISE OF MENTAL RETARDATION COUNSELLORS
Authors: Gladstone Bruce W. , Spencer Christopher J.
Published: March 2006

A multiple‐baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of a simple modelling procedure on the contingent praise of five counsellors while they conducted hygiene‐training sessions in toothbrushing and hand‐and‐face washing with severely retarded children. After varying numbers of baseline sessions, each counsellor watched a model who conducted a series of toothbrushing sessions, in which he conspicuously praised correct toothbrushing responses and approximations to correct responses. No modelling occurred during hand‐and‐face washing sessions. As a result of several exposures to the model's performance, levels of response‐contingent praise provided by four of the five counsellors during toothbrushing sessions increased sharply over baseline. The levels of counsellor praise showed parallel increases during hand‐and‐face washing sessions. A two‐week followup showed that the levels of praise obtained through modelling were maintained in the model's absence.
THE ANALYSIS OF GROUP CONTINGENCY DATA
Authors: Neumann Joseph K.
Published: March 2006

The data analyses utilized in group contingency projects are reviewed. Previous studies are cited to emphasize advantages of nonconsolidated (“individual”) over consolidated analyses. Several procedures are described that enable applied researchers to incorporate nonconsolidated data analyses in group contingency studies.
POLICE EVALUATION RESEARCH: AN EXPERIMENTAL AND COST‐BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF A HELICOPTER PATROL IN A HIGH CRIME AREA1
Authors: Schnelle John F. , Kirchner Robert E. , Macrae John W. , McNees M. Patrick , Eck Richard H. , Snodgrass Stana , Casey Joe D. , Uselton Paul H.
Published: March 2006

The significance of a helicopter patrol procedure directed toward prevention of home burglaries was evaluated from experimental and cost‐benefit perspectives. The helicopter patrolled one city zone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for two 12‐day periods. Each 12‐day period was separated by a baseline period in which only normal patrol‐car levels were maintained. Significantly reduced burglary levels during the intervention periods, compared to baseline periods, documented the experimental significance of the helicopter procedure. The cash costs of implementing the patrol procedure were compared to two estimates of the resulting cash benefits. This latter cost‐benefit analysis was supplemented by a discussion of the intangible costs and benefits of the helicopter procedure. Taken together, these analyses documented that the marginal costs of the helicopter intervention were exceeded by all estimates of benefits.
TEACHING FOSTER GRANDPARENTS TO TRAIN SEVERELY HANDICAPPED PERSONS
Authors: Fabry Pamela L. , Reid Dennis H.
Published: March 2006

Five foster grandparents were taught training skills for use in their daily interactions with severely handicapped persons in an institution. Following baseline, specific teaching procedures consisting of teacher instructions, prompts, modelling, and praise were implemented. The grandparents' frequency of training three skill areas increased as the specific teaching was implemented in multiple‐baseline format. The total amount of training continued as teacher instructions, prompts, and modelling were terminated and praise continued, although the grandparents spent their training time emphasizing only two of the three skill areas. Teacher presence was gradually reduced over an 11‐week period, with no decrease in grandparents' frequency of training. Four of the foster grandchildren, all profoundly retarded and multiply handicapped, demonstrated progress throughout the study. Results were discussed in light of the available contributions of foster grandparents in institutional settings and maintenance of staff training.
THE TIMEOUT RIBBON: A NONEXCLUSIONARY TIMEOUT PROCEDURE1
Authors: Foxx R. M. , Shapiro S. T.
Published: March 2006

Recently, the use of timeout rooms has been questioned by various agencies, and some have adopted policies that prohibit or greatly restrict exclusionary timeout. The present study developed a timeout procedure that did not require removal of the misbehaver from the learning environment. The procedure was applied to the disruptive behaviors of five severely retarded children in an institutional special‐education classroom. An observer prompted all teacher behaviors related to the procedures to assure their precise implementation. After baseline, a reinforcement‐only condition was implemented. Each child was given a different colored ribbon to wear as a tie and received edibles and praise every few minutes for good behavior and for wearing the ribbon. When timeout was added, a child's ribbon was removed for any instance of misbehavior and teacher attention and participation in activities ceased for three minutes or until the misbehavior stopped. Reinforcement continued at other times for appropriate behavior. An ABCBC reversal design was used to demonstrate control of the behavior by the conditions applied. On average, the children misbehaved 42% and 32% of the time during the baseline and reinforcement conditions respectively but only 6% of the time during the timeout conditions. A followup probe during the new school year revealed that the teacher was able to conduct the procedure independently and that the children's disruptive behaviors were maintained at low levels. The practicality and acceptability of the procedure were supported further by the successful implementation of the procedure by a teacher in another state and by responses to a questionnaire given to 40 mental health professionals. The ribbon procedure appears to be a viable form of timeout, provided that disruptive behaviors during timeout can be tolerated within the setting, or a backup procedure such as exclusionary timeout is available when needed.
THE VALIDATION OF PROCEDURES TO ASSESS PREVOCATIONAL TASK PREFERENCES IN RETARDED ADULTS
Authors: Mithaug Dennis E. , Hanawalt David A.
Published: March 2006

Three severely retarded young adults between the ages of 19 and 21 years participated in a prevocational training program, and worked regularly on six different tasks during the scheduled six‐hour day. The study attempted to assess each subject's preferences for the six tasks: collating, stuffing, sorting, pulley assembly, flour‐sifter assembly, and circuit‐board stuffing. In Phase I, the procedure consisted of randomly pairing each task with all other tasks in a two‐choice situation that required the subjects to select one task from each pair combination to work for a seven‐minute period. The selection procedure consisted of presenting two representative task objects on a tray and requesting the subject to pick up one object and place it on the work table. The object selected represented the task worked for that period. The 15 possible pair combinations were presented randomly every two days for a period of 34 days to determine the preferences. During the validation phase (Phase II), each subject's least‐ and most‐preferred tasks were paired separately with moderately‐preferred tasks. As expected, these manipulations confirmed the baseline data, as choices for the moderately‐preferred tasks decreased when consistently paired with the preferred tasks and increased when consistently paired with the least‐preferred tasks.
BEHAVIORISM: PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?1
Authors: Holland James G.
Published: March 2006

The form frequently taken by behavior‐modification programs is analyzed in terms of the parent science, Behaviorism. Whereas Behaviorism assumes that behavior is the result of contingencies, and that lasting behavior change involves changing the contingencies that give rise to and support the behavior, most behavior‐modification programs merely arrange special contingencies in a special environment to eliminate the “problem” behavior. Even when the problem behavior is as widespread as alcoholism and crime, behavior modifiers focus on “fixing” the alcoholic and the criminal, not on changing the societal contingencies that prevail outside the therapeutic environment and continue to produce alcoholics and criminals. The contingencies that shape this method of dealing with behavioral problems are also analyzed, and this analysis leads to a criticism of the current social structure as a behavior control system. Although applied behaviorists have frequently focused on fixing individuals, the science of Behaviorism provides the means to analyze the structures, the system, and the forms of societal control that produce the “problems”.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VERBAL INSTRUCTION ON TEACHING BEHAVIOR‐MODIFICATION SKILLS TO NONPROFESSIONALS1
Authors: Sepler Harvey J. , Myers Sharie L.
Published: March 2006

The effectiveness of a mastery criterion, lecture‐based training program for teaching behavior modification to sheltered workshop personnel was evaluated. Staff performance was assessed in terms of: (1) verbal proficiency, as determined from a pre‐ and posttraining written exam, and (2) application proficiency, as measured by the frequency and appropriateness of staff responses to client behaviors. A direct count was made of the number of positive, negative, and neutral statements following client appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, and the number and type of client behaviors ignored. Thus, it was possible to determine the extent of generalization from classroom to applied settings, as well as the appropriateness of lectures for training specific performance skills. Lecture units introduced stimulus control procedures, shaping‐chaining, and contingency management. Characteristic features of the training program were frequent testing, study objectives, immediate remediation, and contingent reinforcement. Verbal instruction was shown to be effective in improving subjects' verbal skills concerning behavior‐modification principles, while only partially effective in improving application skills. There was an increase in the total number of staff‐client interactions observed for all subjects, but only two of the response classes emphasized in the training program (reinforcing desirable client behavior and ignoring undesirable behavior) showed considerable improvement over pretraining levels. Despite this partial improvement, verbal instruction alone was shown to be insufficient for teaching the full range of behavior‐modification skills required to function effectively in applied settings.
ALPHABET LETTERS AS TOKENS: TRAINING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN LETTER RECOGNITION AND LABELLING DURING A TOKEN EXCHANGE PERIOD1
Authors: Kincaid Michael S. , Weisberg Paul
Published: March 2006

In token economies, we typically consider the instructional opportunities available during the periods of token delivery, but may overlook educational opportunities available at the time of token exchange. The present studies examined the use of labelled tokens and routines in the token exchange period to teach alphabet letter recognition to economically disadvantaged preschool children. The children earned points for a variety of academic behaviors in an early morning classroom setting. At no time were alphabet letters introduced or taught during class. Later, during a midmorning token exchange period, operated according to a department store model, the children were given their points in the form of poker chips inscribed with upper‐case alphabet letters. They were required to discriminate among these lettered chips before exchanging them for backup reinforcers sold in four or five stores. To assess alphabet letter knowledge, probe evaluations were periodically conducted in which questions requiring alphabet letter recognition and labelling were asked. The answers to these questions were not reinforced. Alphabet letter training during token exchange periods consisted of having a child display the lettered chips, whereupon a teacher asked a number of recognition‐type questions. Wrong answers were corrected, and correct answers praised. The child was allowed to exchange the tokens when the number required for a purchase had been recognized correctly. The periodic probe evaluations revealed consistent increases in correct alphabet letter recognition and, as a byproduct, alphabet labelling was facilitated, even though not explicitly trained. Thus, once the letters were recognized, correct labelling shortly followed. The sequential training of new sets of letters was used to demonstrate experimental control within subjects for two children. A control for exposure to the letters was provided by using the labelled tokens, but requiring the counting of chips rather than letter discrimination in the exchange period for two other children. This procedure produced chance levels of letter recognition, which were subsequently improved when the discrimination procedure was added. Posttraining probes, conducted at one and three weeks after training when the labelled tokens and discrimination routines were no longer in use, revealed the same high levels of recognition and labelling performance found during training. Thus, it appears that labelled tokens may be used to teach discriminations during token exchange periods so long as responses are differentiated on the basis of relevant dimensions of the stimuli.
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PREORGASMIC RECONDITIONING AND POSTORGASMIC DECONDITIONING
Authors: Kantorowitz David A.
Published: March 2006

The effects of pre‐ and postorgasmic presentation of moderately erotic cues were assessed in an analogue study. Eight heterosexual male volunteers (18 to 23 years) participated in three assessment (baseline, termination‐of‐treatment, and two‐ to three‐month followup) and eight masturbatory conditioning sessions. Three slides of nude females of initially equal erotic value were paired respectively with the plateau, refractory, and resolution phases of the subjects' sexual cycles. Over treatment, stimuli paired with the plateau phase increased significantly in penile tumescence indices of eroticism; conversely, stimuli paired with the refractory phase decreased significantly. The conditioned effects on tumescence were largely extinguished at followup. While treatment did not alter short‐term subjective indices of eroticism, stimuli presented during the refractory phase were rated significantly less erotic than the other stimuli at followup. The findings suggest that the “pairing” model of orgasmic conditioning is insufficient to account for previously reported clinical findings. A broader conceptualization of the mechanisms of orgasmic conditioning, and implications for treatment are discussed.
THE BEHAVIOR OBSERVATION INSTRUMENT: A METHOD OF DIRECT OBSERVATION FOR PROGRAM EVALUATION1
Authors: Alevizos Peter , DeRisi William , Liberman Robert , Eckman Thad , Callahan Edward
Published: March 2006

The background and development of a multicategory direct observation system, the Behavior Observation Instrument (BOI), is described. This time‐sampling procedure for recording the behavior of persons is demonstrated in several treatment settings and the results applied to issues of program evaluation. Elements that have prevented direct observation from being widely adopted, such as costs, manpower, and training requirements, are systematically analyzed. A basic psychometric analysis of the instrument is used to determine optimum frequency and duration of observation intervals as well as observer agreement. The results imply that direct observation methods, once assumed by some to belong to the special province of the single‐subject design, can be used to assess the effects of programs on groups of psychiatric clients in an efficient and economic manner.
USE OF SOCIAL‐SKILLS TRAINING IN THE TREATMENT OF EXTREME ANXIETY AND DEFICIENT VERBAL SKILLS IN THE JOB‐INTERVIEW SETTING
Authors: Hollandsworth James G. , Glazeski Robert C. , Dressel Mary Edith
Published: March 2006

A 30‐year‐old recent college graduate, exhibiting extreme anxiety and deficient verbal skills in job interviews, was treated with a social‐skills training procedure that included instructions, modelling, behavior rehearsal, and videotape feedback. Three target behaviors—focused responses, overt coping statements, and subject‐generated questions—were presented using a multiple‐baseline design. Galvanic skin‐response activity was monitored during pre‐ and posttraining in vivo job interviews. In addition, independent judges unobstrusively rated the subject's social‐communicative behaviors in his temporary work‐setting before and after training. Training resulted in expected changes for all three target behaviors and a decrease in the rate of speech disturbances. Physiological data supported the subject's report that training enabled him to deal with his anxiety more effectively during job interviews. Training was found to generalize to novel interview questions and different interviewers. Furthermore, unobtrusive measures of eye contact, fluency of speech, appropriateness of verbal content, and composure supported the subject's report that training generalized to his daily social interactions on the job.
TRAINING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO RECRUIT NATURAL COMMUNITIES OF REINFORCEMENT1
Authors: Stokes Trevor F. , Fowler Susan A. , Baer Donald M.
Published: March 2006

Four normal and four deviant children aged four‐to‐six years were taught to judge the quality of their academic work in a preschool classroom, and to prompt or cue their teachers to comment about the quality of that work. When these skills did not generalize spontaneously to other teachers in concurrent natural situations, generalized responding was taught by the experimenter, in multiple‐baseline design across subjects. This generalization programming enabled the children to contact a sometimes dormant, but readily available natural community of teacher praise and reinforcement, i.e., to recruit an increase in cued praise and schedules of praise for their good work. These behaviors may be important to young children who find themselves bereft of attention in classrooms.
EFFECTS OF CHILD BEHAVIOR CHANGE ON TEACHER VERBAL BEHAVIOR AND RATING OF STUDENT BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Craigie Frederic C. , Garcia Eugene E.
Published: March 2006

The relationship between student behavior change and its effect on teacher behavior was investigated. A total of six boys and their two male teachers from two fourth‐grade classrooms served as subjects. In two multiple‐baseline experiments, students were exposed successively to baseline, placebo‐therapy (a control for teacher expectation of student change), active‐therapy (contingencies for student behavior improvement), and a return to placebo‐therapy phases. As student behavior (the independent variable) improved, daily teacher ratings of children improved moderately, and the percentage of teacher vocalizations in response to appropriate (as compared with inappropriate) child behavior increased markedly. The latter shift in the distribution of teacher vocalizations was found to be largely attributable to the increased availability of appropriate behavior to which teachers could respond. This study raises questions about similar findings in an earlier experiment by Sherman and Cormier (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1974, 7, 11–21). First, the main measure of teacher verbal behavior in both this and the earlier study was considered to be insufficient as a measure of teacher change. It did not control for the expected effects of changes in the base rate of student appropriate behavior. Second, student behavior improvement did not appear to reinforce teacher behavior. This was attributed to the noncontingency of student improvement on any class of teacher behaviors. The possible reinforcing value of student behavior improvement for teachers was not challenged. Implications of rating changes were also discussed.
TEACHING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY SKILLS TO YOUNG CHILDREN: AN ANALYSIS AND ONE‐YEAR FOLLOWUP
Authors: Yeaton William H. , Bailey Jon S.
Published: March 2006

Twenty‐four elementary school children in grades K‐3 participated in a study to teach six street‐crossing skills: (1) wait at curb, (2) look all ways, (3) watch vehicle distance, (4) walk, (5) continue to look, and (6) use crosswalk. The effects of an instructional package implemented on the street corner were evaluated using a multiple‐baseline design across two groups of six children at each of two schools. Rapid acquisition of pedestrian skills was evident at both schools. Average skill levels improved from 44% during baseline to 97% after training at School A and from 21% to 86% at School B. Data taken at a second street at each school were used to assess setting generality of safety behaviors. A one‐year followup of 14 children indicated that pedestrian safety skills either maintained at high levels or could be quickly recovered from intermediate levels after remedial training. This research represents a first step in the solution of just one of the many community problems involving safety‐deficient settings.
A PROBABILISTIC MODEL OF INTENSIVE DESIGNS
Authors: Pechacek Terry F.
Published: March 2006

Without internal validity, experimental data are uninterpretable. With intensive designs, most methods presented to quantify a design's internal validity have been subject to criticism. A probabilistic model of intensive designs is presented that demonstrates the high degree of internal validity of these designs without relying on adaptations from traditional inferential statistics. Where the experimenter is able to conform to the restrictions of the model, the equations provide an estimation of internal validity for either reversal or multiple‐baseline designs. More importantly, the model provides mathematical bases for some of the common recommendations and design considerations in intensive research (such as the desirability of within‐subject replications and of four or more multiple baselines).
TRAINING GENERALIZED IMPROVISATION OF TOOLS BY PRESCHOOL CHILDREN1
Authors: Parsonson Barry S. , Baer Donald M.
Published: March 2006

The development of new, “creative” behaviors was examined in a problem‐solving context. One form of problem solving, improvisation, was defined as finding a substitute to replace the specifically designated, but currently unavailable, tool ordinarily used to solve the problem. The study examined whether preschool children spontaneously displayed generalized improvisation skills, and if not, whether they could be trained to do so within different classes of tools. Generalization across different tool classes was monitored but not specifically trained. Five preschool children participated in individual sessions that first probed their skill at improvising tools, and later trained and probed generalized improvisation in one or more of three tool classes (Hammers, Containers, and Shoelaces), using a multiple‐baseline design. All five children were trained with Hammers, two were trained in two classes, and two were trained in all three tool classes. Four of the five children improvised little in Baseline. During Training, all five showed increased generalized improvisation within the trained class, but none across classes. Tools fabricated by item combinations were rare in Baseline, but common in Training. Followup probes showed that the training effects were durable.
THE EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK AND CONSEQUENCES ON TRANSITIONAL CURSIVE LETTER FORMATION
Authors: Trap Jennifer J. , Milner‐Davis Penney , Joseph Shirley , Cooper John O.
Published: March 2006

Twelve first‐grade students were employed to analyze the effects of (1) Verbal and Visual Feedback, (2) Verbal and Visual Feedback plus immediate rewriting of trained letters with one or more incorrect letter strokes, and (3) Potential Reinforcement on cursive letter strokes. Students practised both a set of trained and a set of untrained letters during each session. Feedback and reinforcement was administered only for trained letter strokes. The percentage of correct trained letter strokes increased during all conditions. Performance on the untrained but practiced and trained letter strokes followed the same general trend in response pattern. No consistent pattern of generalization was demonstrated with untrained and unpracticed letter strokes.
ESTABLISHMENT OF NONDELUSIONAL RESPONSES IN A SOCIALLY WITHDRAWN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIC1
Authors: Schraa James C. , Lautmann Lee , Luzi Mary Kay , Screven C. G.
Published: March 2006

Multiple treatment interventions including instructions, modelling, timeout, avoidance of repetition, and reinforcement were successful in establishing factual answers to personal background questions in a withdrawn and socially unresponsive chronic schizophrenic. The subject had previously persisted in giving only delusional responses to these questions. A multiple‐baseline design across verbal replies to personal background questions demonstrated that the changes in behavior were brought about by the treatment interventions. During baseline, the subject was reinforced for any response to four questions. The experimental interventions were then introduced for the first question and moved sequentially to an additional question when the subject's responses reached the criterion of at least 80% correct for two consecutive sessions. Introduction of the experimental interventions produced an increase from a baseline level of zero to at least 80% correct for each question. The use of the token reinforcement procedure was faded out after the subject was able to answer all four questions correctly at least 80% of the time for two consecutive sessions. Fading of the token reinforcement procedure was accomplished by using increasingly intermittent schedules of token reinforcement during the last seven sessions. In the final session, no tokens were used to reinforce the subject's responding. Nine‐, ten‐, and 12‐month followup interviews were conducted to evaluate the maintenance of treatment gains. Maintenance was found to be complete at the nine‐ and 10‐month followups, but at the 12‐month followup interview, the subject answered one question incorrectly. This study replicates an investigation previously reported in this journal.
GENERALIZATION EFFECTS FROM INTRATHERAPY ARTICULATION TRAINING: A CASE STUDY1
Authors: Raver Sharon A. , Cooke Thomas P. , Apolloni Tony
Published: March 2006

This study analyzed generalization effects found associated with a language‐training intervention to modify the articulation (/f/ phoneme) of a 3.5‐year‐old boy. The McLean and Raymore Stimulus Shift Articulation Program was implemented by the subject's mother. This language training program is designed to produce setting generalization effects based on an intratherapy training model (i.e., systematic training is applied in a single setting to promote transfer effects to nontraining environments). The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the subject's production of the /f/ phoneme within the clinical setting in response to untrained stimuli (stimulus generalization). Additionally, the subject's correct phoneme production was observed to generalize to his home and school settings (setting generalization) under “opportunity loaded” (picture prompts) and “spontaneous” (no prompts) conditions. The results provide case‐study evidence that stimulus generalization, both within and across settings, may occur with exclusively intratherapy articulation training.
ELIMINATION OF ECHOLALIC RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS THROUGH THE TRAINING OF A GENERALIZED VERBAL RESPONSE
Authors: Schreibman Laura , Carr Edward G.
Published: March 2006

Echolalia, the parroting of the speech of others, is a severe communication disorder frequently associated with childhood schizophrenia and mental retardation. Two echolalic children, one schizophrenic and one retarded, were treated in a multiple‐baseline design across subjects. Each child was taught to make an appropriate, nonecholalic verbal response (i.e., “I don't know”) to a small set of previously echoed questions. After such training, this response generalized across a broad set of untrained questions that had formerly been echoed. The results obtained were the same irrespective of the specific experimenter who presented the questions. Further, each child discriminated appropriately between those questions that had previously been echoed and those that had not. Followup probes showed that treatment gains were maintained one month later. The procedure is economical, in that it produces a rapid and widespread cessation of echolalic responding.
TEACHING RETARDED WOMEN A CLOTHING SELECTION SKILL USING COMMUNITY NORMS
Authors: Nutter Deborah , Reid Dennis H.
Published: March 2006

Five institutionalized retarded women were taught a clothing selection skill to coincide with popular fashion. Normative data concerning popular styles of color‐coordinated clothing were collected through observations of women's apparel in a local community. Using a puzzle simulation of a woman with alternative pieces of colored clothing, color coordination training was conducted using modelling, instructions, practice, praise, and feedback to teach popular selections of color combinations. A generalization training component with actual clothing was also included. Training was accompanied by large increases in percentage of popular color selections with the puzzle and actual clothing. The increases maintained over a seven‐ to 14‐week followup period. Time efficiency measures supported the use of the simulation procedure as opposed to total reliance on actual clothing. The results underscore the utility of local norms in community preparation programs and the efficacy of instructional procedures for severely and profoundly retarded persons as part of their participation in the deinstitutionalization movement.
ACQUISITION OF SIGN LANGUAGE BY AUTISTIC CHILDREN. I: EXPRESSIVE LABELLING
Authors: Carr Edward G. , Binkoff Jody A. , Kologinsky Eileen , Eddy Michael
Published: March 2006

There has been growing interest in teaching sign language to autistic children who have failed to develop speech. However, controlled experimentation in this area is nonexistent. In the present study, four nonverbal autistic children were taught expressive sign labels for common objects, using a training procedure that consisted of prompting, fading, and stimulus rotation. The efficacy of the procedure was demonstrated in a multiple‐baseline design across objects. The results were reliable, replicable across children, and generalizable across therapists. A stimulus control analysis demonstrated that, for three of the children, correct signing was controlled solely by the visual cues associated with the presentation of a given object and was independent of the auditory cues related to the same object. These latter results are discussed with respect to the known perceptual and linguistic deficits of autistic children.
A SELF‐EVALUATION TOKEN SYSTEM versus AN EXTERNAL EVALUATION TOKEN SYSTEM ALONE IN A RESIDENTIAL SETTING WITH PREDELINQUENT YOUTH1
Authors: Wood Randy , Flynn John M.
Published: March 2006

This study compared the effects of self‐evaluation and adult‐dispensed tokens on room‐cleaning behavior of six predelinquent youths in a residential token‐economy setting. The self‐evaluation token system proved to be as effective as the external adult‐administered system in increasing room‐cleaning behavior and was more effective in maintaining performance after contingencies were withdrawn. The self‐evaluation token system increased resistance to extinction, compared to the external token system, and appeared to be a useful component for a traditional token‐economy system.
THE EFFECT OF WITNESSING CONSEQUENCES ON THE BEHAVIORAL RECORDINGS OF EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVERS
Authors: Harris Francis C. , Ciminero Anthony R.
Published: March 2006

The cueing effects of interviewer praise contingent on a target behavior and expectation of behavior change were examined with six observers. Experiment I investigated the effect of cues in conjunction with expectation. Experiment II assessed the relative contributions of cues and expectation, and Experiment III examined the effect of cues in the absence of expectation. The frequencies of two behaviors, client eye contact and face touching, were held constant throughout a series of videotaped interviews between an “interviewer” and a “client”. A within‐subjects design was used in each experiment. During baseline conditions, praise did not follow eye contact by the client on the videotape. In all experimental conditions, praise statements from the interviewer followed each occurrence of eye contact with an equal number of praises delivered at random times when there was no eye contact. Three of the six observers dramatically increased their recordings of eye contact during the first experimental phase, but these increases were not replicated in a second praise condition. There were no systematic changes in recorded face touching. Witnessing the delivery of consequences, rather than expectation seemed to be responsible for the effect. This potential threat to the internal validity of studies using observational data may go undetected by interobserver agreement checks.