Correction to: Dissemination of Direct Instruction: Ponder These while Pursuing That.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40614-021-00285-z.].

Dissemination of Direct Instruction: Ponder These while Pursuing That.

We happy few but why so few is a question initially posed by Skinner and subsequently posed by many members of the behavior-analytic community, and advocates for Direct Instruction (DI) are no exception. On the contrary, the limited extent to which DI has been adopted by the educational community is an abiding source of frustration for DI devotees. This article contains little information about DI, which parallels the amount its author has to share. Instead the article focuses on five concepts, attention to which could improve disseminative efforts for behavior analysis in general and DI in particular. The five concepts are social validity, marketing, being behavior analytic, the behavioral dynamics of training, and politics. Failure to address any or all of these could supply at least a partial answer to the question posed by Skinner and subsequently by like-minded behavior analysts and DI advocates.

There is no such thing as a bad boy: The Circumstances View of problem behavior.

From the beginning of recorded time human beings have assigned blame to persons who misbehave. The first prominent person to make an alternative case was Father Edward J. Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town, who proclaimed there was "no such thing as a bad boy, only bad environment, bad modeling, and bad teaching" (Oursler & Oursler, 1949, p. 7) in other words, bad circumstances. This paper will refer to this perspective as the Circumstances View of problem behavior and anchor it as the foundational idea for the field of behavior analysis. This paper will discuss the origins of the Circumstances View, the benefits that result from its adoption, reasons why its adoption is not more widespread, and suggestions for disseminating it more widely.

Pediatric Prevention: Sleep Dysfunction.

This article addresses the essential role of sleep in the medical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive health of children. Sleep disorders common among children are defined along with the most common sleep concerns reported by caregivers. Prevention and intervention strategies are described.

Publishing in Journals Outside the Box: Attaining Mainstream Prominence Requires Demonstrations of Mainstream Relevance.

Primary pediatric medical care is as mainstream as any major cultural practice in the USA. Thus, publishing behavior analytic papers that pertain to problems that present in pediatric settings in pediatric medical journals is one route to mainstream relevance. With sufficient numbers of such papers, it could even lead to prominence. This article describes examples of publishing in pediatric journals and some lessons I learned from the experience. For example, (1) all child behavior problems that present in pediatric settings are of social importance but most are high-frequency, low-intensity problems that are not necessarily exotic or representative of serious pathology, and they usually respond to straightforward behavioral applications; (2) it is usually best to use a "colloquialized version of learning theory" when writing for and speaking to pediatric providers (and the families for whom they provide care); (3) pediatricians often have limited knowledge about behavior analytic research designs; and (4) when submissions are rejected by pediatric journals, the rejection can be exploited as an opportunity to educate pediatric editors and reviewers.

Behavior Analysts to the Front! A 15-Step Tutorial on Public Speaking.

Mainstream prominence was Skinner's vision for behavior analysis. Unfortunately, it remains elusive, even as we approach the 110th anniversary of his birth. It can be achieved, however, and there are many routes. One that seems overlooked in many (most?) behavior analytic training programs is what I call the front of the room. The front of the room is a very powerful locus for influencing people. Mastering it can turn a commoner into a king; a middling man into a mayor; or a group of disorganized, dispirited people into an energized force marching into battle. The most powerful members of our species had their most memorable moments at the front of the room. If so much is available there, why is mastery of it in such short supply, not just in behavior analysts but in the population at large? In this paper, I address why, argue that the primary reason can be overcome, and supply 15 behaviorally based steps to take in pursuit of front of the room mastery.

Come on in, the Water is Fine: Achieving Mainstream Relevance through Integration with Primary Medical Care.

Behavior analysis is a generic science, and Skinner's vision for it was that it would become a mainstream force, relevant for most if not all human concerns, major and minor. Clearly his vision has not been realized. Determining why this is the case would require a complex multifactorial analysis. One likely factor is that the majority of its basic science findings have been obtained from the study of rats and pigeons. Another likely factor, one directly addressed by this paper, is that the majority of its applied science findings have been obtained from the study of people in only one tail of the normal distribution. Regardless, those outside the field see the relevance of behavior analysis to general human affairs as very limited. Whether the path behavior analysis is on will lead to widespread perception of mainstream relevance anytime soon seems doubtful. An alternative route would involve integrating it with a field that has already made the trip successfully. A premier example involves primary medical care. This paper argues for the integration of behavior analysis with pediatric primary care, sketches a method for its accomplishment, and uses diurnal enuresis to illustrate the requirements of the method.

Brief report: evaluating the Bedtime Pass Program for child resistance to bedtime--a randomized, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Bedtime Pass Program (BPP), an extinction-based procedure for treating bedtime resistance in typically developing children. METHODS: A randomized, controlled trial in which nineteen 3- to 6-year-old children demonstrating bedtime resistance were randomly assigned to a Bedtime Pass or Monitoring Control group. The experimental condition involved parent monitoring plus the Bedtime Pass: a card exchangeable for one parental visit or excused departure from the room after bedtime, with parents ignoring subsequent bids for attention. RESULTS: Children in the Bedtime Pass condition left their rooms and called and cried out significantly less frequently than controls. They demonstrated significant reductions in the time required to quiet each night. Treatment effects were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Parents reported high levels of satisfaction and treatment acceptability. CONCLUSIONS: BPP is a noncomplex, socially acceptable, effective treatment for bedtime resistance. It retains the powerful effects of extinction-based procedures without the "extinction burst."

Extended diaper wearing: effects on continence in and out of the diaper.

Diaper use is widespread and possibly even increasing across diverse populations in the United States, ranging from infants to very old adults. We found no reports of an experimental analysis of the effect of wearing diapers on the frequency of urinary accidents and the attainment of continence skills (e.g., urinating in the toilet). In this study, we used a withdrawal design to evaluate the effect of wearing diapers on daily urinary accidents and successful voids for an adult who had been diagnosed with mental retardation. Results indicated that wearing diapers increased the rate of accidents and decreased the rate of successful voids. Clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Relationships between tattling, likeability, and social classification: a preliminary investigation of adolescents in residential care.

Little research has been published on tattling, even less on its social impact, and we found none directly investigating tattling by adolescents. This study assessed the extent to which tattling, as perceived by peers and caregivers of adolescents in a residential care program, was associated with various dimensions of social status and other behavioral correlates. Eighty-eight adolescent participants rated their housemates on likeability, perceived rates of tattling, and other behavioral descriptors. In addition, caretakers also rated each youth in terms of perceived tattling. On the basis of likeability ratings, participants were classified into one of five categories: popular, average, controversial, neglected, and rejected. Results showed a significant negative correlation between likeability and perceived tattling rates. In addition, youth classified as socially rejected were more likely to be perceived by both their peers and care providers as engaging in high rates of tattling.

The validity of the ADHD section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children.

The purpose of this study was to assess the concurrent criterion validity of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) portion of the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV (NIMHDISC-IV). Fifty-seven adolescent participants were divided into three groups on the basis of whether participants met criteria for ADHD on caretaker and adolescent responses on the DISC: (a) 18 participants for whom both the caretakers and adolescents endorsed ADHD, (b) 17 participants for whom the caretakers but not the youth endorsed ADHD, and (c) a clinical control group with no ADHD diagnosis (n = 22). These three groups were compared across parent, teacher, and adolescent checklists; clinician diagnosis; and three objective measures of behavior (continuous performance task, actigraphy monitoring, and a structured observation). Findings lend partial support to the concurrent criterion validity of the ADHD section of DISC.

A modification of the token economy for nonresponsive youth in family-style residential care.

Out-of-home treatment for youth with conduct problems is increasing rapidly in this country. Most programs for these youth deliver treatment in a group format and commonly employ some version of a token economy. Despite widespread evidence of effectiveness, a substantial minority of treated youth fail to respond. Participants for this study were 3 youth who were nonresponsive to treatment provided in a family-style residential care program with a comprehensive token economy. Our approach to the "nonresponse" of these youth involved modifications of the frequency and immediacy of their access to the backup rewards earned with tokens. We evaluated the effects of the modifications with a treatment-withdrawal experimental design. Dependent measures included two indices of youth response to treatment: intense behavioral episodes and backup rewards earned. Results showed substantial improvement among these indices during treatment conditions.

Using simplified regulated breathing with an adolescent stutterer: application of effective intervention in a residential context.

Simplified regulated breathing (SRB) has been demonstrated to reduce or eliminate stuttering in children. However, much of the current research has evaluated the intervention with school-aged children within educational contexts. In the current case report, we extended the application of SRB by evaluating its effectiveness in treating stuttering displayed by a 15-year-old resident of a large midwestern residential facility. Further, we evaluated the impact across different assessment conditions. Results showed that SRB resulted in decreased stuttering for the participant, although differential effectiveness across conditions was noted. These results are discussed in terms of the generality of SRB across client populations and clinical settings, as well as the value of addressing contextual variables when treating stuttering.

Up with this I shall not put: 10 reasons why I disagree with Branch and Vollmer on behavior used as a count noun.

Branch and Vollmer (2004) argue that use of the word behavior as a count noun is ungrammatical and, worse, mischaracterizes and ultimately degrades the concept of the operant. In this paper I argue that use of behavior as a count noun is a reflection of its grammatical status as a hybrid of count and mass noun. I show that such usage is widespread across colloquial, referential, and scientific documents including the writings of major figures in behavior analysis (most notably B. F. Skinner), books describing its applications, and its major journals. Finally, I argue against the assertion that such usage degrades the concept of the operant, at least in any meaningful way, and argue instead that employing eccentric definitions for ordinary words and using arcane terms to describe everyday human behavior risks diminishing the influence of behavior analysis on human affairs.

Treatment of early onset hair pulling as a simple habit.

The authors evaluated the effects of response prevention, a treatment previously shown to be effective for routine thumb sucking and suggested to be effective for early onset trichotillomania, applied to hair pulling in a 2-year-old. Response prevention was used alone in two settings (bedtime and naptime) and combined with a brief time out in another (daytime). The authors also used a novel assessment, weight of hairs pulled, and the results indicated complete cessation of hair pulling. Corresponding photographic evidence indicated complete regrowth of hair lost to pulling. These results add to a growing literature suggesting early onset hair pulling may be more appropriately classified as a benign habit than as trichotillomania.

Take away their hammer: logical and ethical problems in Range and Cotton's "Reports of assent and permission in research with children: illustrations and suggestions.

Range and Cotton (1995) showed that many of the articles reviewed in their study did not include a line specifying institutional review board-approved procurement of informed parental permission and child assent for child research. Range and Cotton stated that the absence of the line suggests a lack of sensitivity to permission/assent issues, implied that many authors of the articles did not obtain permission/assent, and said those who did but did not report it were camouflaging those who did not. In this article, the logic of these points is refuted, the ethics of the Range and Cotton study are questioned, and its potential divisiveness is lamented.