Out of the laboratory and into the community: 26 years of applied behavior analysis at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project.

Abstract

Application of Skinner's principles to socially significant human behavior had been well articulated by 1968 (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968). Applications of these principles by Baer, Wolf, Risley, Hall, Hart, Christophersen, and their colleagues were in evidence as early as 1964 in the homes, schools, and clinics of inner-city Kansas City, Kansas, at the Juniper Gardens Housing Project. The work continues relatively uninterrupted, having contributed extensively to the literature of applied behavior analysis and the lives of community residents. This article describes the project and illustrates how applied behavioral research was initiated and extended, how the work addressed general concerns in psychology, and how it continues to address contemporary concerns within the community.

Prediction of School Outcomes Based on Early Language Production and Socioeconomic Factors

“…A persistent problem has been the pattern of lower academic achievement and early school failure disproportionately experienced by children of poor families as well as by some minorities, and the limited success of efforts to improve both parenting and schooling to substantially reduce this risk (e.g.. Greenwood et al, 1992;Ogbu, 1990;Shapiro, 1988). This increased risk is not only experienced by just the very poor but by those in the lower strata of social and economic life in this country as well (Bane & Ellwood, 1989;Duncan, 1991).…”

Commentary: Align Professional Development, Classroom Practice, and Student Progress in the Curriculum and You'll Improve General Education for all Students

“…Because practices were developed for use by parents in the home and teachers in the schools that led to convincing improvements in teaching and students' learning, they have been valued (Greenwood et al, 1992). With community support, we continue to demonstrate that alterable instructional variables, those that are under the direct influence of parents, classroom teachers, and building principals, make marked improvements in the students' behavior and achievement.…”

Kindergarten classroom functioning of extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight children

“…Classroom observations were made during 1-hour instructional periods in regular classrooms using the Ecobehavioral Assessment software for the Mainstream Version of the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (MS-CISSAR) [22,34]. Using this program, behaviors or activities for each of three observational targets (child, teacher, and classroom) are coded in 20-second intervals in repeating 1-minute cycles on a laptop computer.…”