We assessed whether novel praise statements could be used to (a) maintain and increase responses with existing reinforcement histories and (b) teach a previously untaught response among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder across two experiments. During response-stimulus pairing, two responses resulted in preferred edibles but only one…

We used an adapted alternating treatments design to compare the effects of traditional and embedded discrete trial teaching (DTT) with adults with autism. Traditional DTT consisted of the instructor presenting a discriminative stimulus to start each trial ("Point to___"), implementing a prompt (i.e., manual guidance), and providing…

Feedback is an effective strategy for improving performance and consists of multiple characteristics. One characteristic that can influence feedback efficacy is its nature (whether feedback is positive or corrective) and little is known about the conditions under which individuals may prefer corrective over positive feedback. Thus, the purpose of…

By differentially reinforcing questionnaire statements that favored teachers' behavior-specific praise in a multiple-baseline design across participants, we altered the verbal behavior of general education teachers. Our target was a written verbalization favoring the delivery of specific rather than general praise. We then assessed the effects on…

We evaluated the effects of a discrimination training procedure for establishing praise as a reinforcer for three children with autism spectrum disorder. After establishing two praise words as discriminative stimuli and two nonsense words as S-deltas, we evaluated whether the stimuli then functioned as reinforcers by presenting each stimulus as a…

Early childhood educators often lack adequate preparation in the delivery of evidence-based practices. However, providing preservice teachers with ongoing implementation support during field-based training experiences may serve to occasion evidence-based practice delivery when they enter the field of early childhood education. Using a concurrent…

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) have the potential to affirm the dignity of participants through caring interactions, which support good relationships. A key ethical principle to guide the cultivation of good relationships in an RPP is a quality of relating that we call "dignity-affirming care." We define dignity-affirming care as…

This study investigated the effects of interdependent group contingencies (IGCs) on teacher behavior in high school classrooms. Interdependent group contingencies, rooted in the principles of applied behavior analysis, have demonstrated to be effective in managing student behaviors. However, their impact on teacher behavior has remained…

The purpose of this article is to lay out how physical education teachers can implement a token economy in their lessons. Following an introductory vignette, five steps to guide teachers on how to implement a token economy are described, namely (1) selection and definition of target behaviors, (2) selection of tokens, (3) selection of backup…

Significant adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact health, socialization, academics, engagement in education, and behavior outcomes in elementary students. ACE researchers have identified protective factors, which mitigate the deleterious effects of significant ACEs. One of those protective factors is the positive teacher-student teacher…

Praise and criticism have long been reported as central feedback designs in academic writing, yet their relative influences on students' reception have not been fully investigated. This study employed six feedback statements (2 valences * 3 writing areas) and collected students' (N = 56) ratings of each statement's perceived comprehension and…

Process praise (i.e., praise for effort) facilitates childhood persistence. However, less is known about the mechanism by which process praise influences persistence in infancy. Here, we propose that well-timed process praise reinforces the link between effort and success, thus promoting persistence in young children. In Experiment 1, U.S. infants…

Despite the existing research and evidence for teacher praise, this strategy has been studied less frequently in secondary school settings. To better understand and support teacher praise across all school settings, it is important to understand gaps in the literature, especially related to middle and high school settings. In this review, we…

Challenging student behavior can have detrimental effects on both students and staff. These effects do not only include students' diminished rates of on-task behavior and low-grade performance, but managing behavior can result in elevated levels of psychological distress and burnout, which places education workers at risk of experiencing…

First-year undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a GOB (general, organic, biological) Chemistry for Health Professions course often exhibit an initial apprehension in their chemical education. Due to students' varying backgrounds in chemistry, it becomes difficult to engage them in chemistry and gauge their comprehension of lecture concepts.…