Improving Juvenile Justice Settings by Decreasing Coercion: One Lab's Perspectives from Behind the Fence.

In this article, we outline an emerging role for applied behavior analysis in juvenile justice by summarizing recent publications from our lab and discussing our procedures through the lens of coercion proposed by Goltz (2020). In particular, we focus on individual and group interventions that target a range of behaviors emitted by adolescents in a residential treatment facility. In general, individual interventions involve teaching adolescents to (1) respond appropriately to staff, (2) tolerate nonpreferred environmental conditions, and (3) control problematic sexual arousal.

Increasing Praise Delivery Within Dorms of a Juvenile Justice Facility.

Researchers have shown that adolescents in residential treatment facilities benefit from behavior-analytic intervention. However, it remains unclear whether practitioners can apply behavioral interventions to increase staff members' appropriate interactions with residents within a juvenile justice facility. In Study 1, researchers compared direct measures of staff behavior in three target dorms (D1, D2, and D3) containing high levels of resident disruptive behavior to a dorm (D4) with consistently low levels of resident disruptive behavior.

Enhancing the Lives of Foster Youth with Behavioral Interventions.

As members of state-funded team to monitor psychotropic medication use and examine cost-effective methods for behavioral treatment in foster care, the authors review behavioral studies on interventions for foster youth who engage in challenging behavior. Four behavioral technologies-preference assessments, teaching procedures, functional behavioral assessment and intervention, and parent training-are discussed. Four case studies and behavioral data for foster youth treated using these technologies are provided.

Using a Checklist to Increase Objective Session Note Writing: Preliminary Results.

We evaluated the extent to which a checklist increased objective note writing following simulated teaching sessions for 17 special education staff members. In general, participants improved in their description of the reinforcer earned by the child and of prompts delivered by the teacher during a session. Nevertheless, participants' correct reporting of problem behavior decreased following the training.