John W. Fantuzzo

Effects of teacher-administered and self-administered reinforcers on learning disabled children *

The subjects were six 8- to 11-year-old boys with attention deficits enrolled in their schools resource specialist program for learning disabled children. The effects of baseline conditions, teacher-administered reinforcers, and self-administered reinforcers were evaluated through six counterbalanced, crossover, intensive studies in which sustained attention was the target behavior. The teacher averaged 96% accuracy in administering reinforcers, and the six subjects averaged 93% accuracy in self-administering reinforcers. Five of six children reliably improved during teacher-administered reinforcers, and the mean effect size across all subjects was 0.79. All subjects reliably improved during self-administered reinforcers, and the mean effect size across all subjects was 1.87. In all of the direct comparisons of the effectiveness of teacher- and self-administered reinforcers, the self-administered condition was more effective.

Self-observation and self-reinforcement as sources of self-control in children

Eight fifth- and sixth-grade black males engaged in a set of single-subject, multiple-baseline studies to determine the relative effects of self-observation and self-reinforcement. A black male college student employed the children as research assistants who would study their own behavior. The employer negotiated a series of individualized contracts with each boy. The contracts specified what self-regulation procedures the subject would perform. Overall, the children were more consistent in carrying out their contracts when they were on self-reinforcement than when they were on self-observation. Second, the children were more effective in increasing behavioral deficits than they were in decreasing excesses. Third, self-reinforcement was clearly a superior means of improving their own behavior than was self-observation.

Competency mandate: A model for teaching skills in the administration of the WAIS‐R

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests as well as other official policy statements of the American Psychological Association call for competent assessment skills. However, a thorough review of the literature evidences only a handful of models that transmit these mandates into practice. The MASTERY model, a competency-based training procedure, was employed in this investigation as a cost-effective means of actualizing these professional standards. This systematic procedure brought 31 graduate students in clinical psychology to criterion level for competent administration of the WAIS-R after less than 10 hours and two administrations. Practical and research implications of this training model for clinical psychology were discussed.