Study objective: The present study used interdependent group-oriented contingencies with elementary school students, in order to examine their effects on the students' adaptive behavior. Design: Multiplebaseline design across behaviors. Setting: A public elementary school. Participants: 9 elementary school students (4 boys, 5 girls). One of the boys was a student with a developmental disability. Intervention: Target behavior 1 was "Do class chores." Target behavior 2 was "Write a composition of 5 or more lines in 10 minutes." Target behavior 3 was "Announce the day's news." Measure: The number of students who responded positively to each target behavior. Results: The percentage of positive responses to each target behavior increased. In addition, the students and their teacher reported favorable impressions of this approach. Conclusion: The use of interdependent group-oriented contingencies was effective for increasing the adaptive behavior of regular students, one of whom was a student with a developmental disability.

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During the half century since Herrnstein (1961) wrote about the matching law, a molecular-molar controversy has been one of the fundamental problems in behavior analysis. The purpose of the present article is to explore further directions for this controversy through classifying it according to 3 points of view. The first of these concerns the principle of reinforcement. Is it the molecular contiguity between response and reinforcement or the molar correlation between response rate and reinforcement rate that controls behavior? The second concerns levels of analysis. Is it the molecular relation between single responses and single reinforcers or the molar relation between response rate and reinforcement rate that appropriately describes the functional relation between response and reinforcement? The third view concerns behaviorism. Several new post-Skinnerian behaviorisms have been proposed in the last two decades. We classify them as molecular or molar behaviorism according to criteria such as mechanismpragmatism and an efficient-teleological distinction. Which kind of behaviorism will provide more productive behavioral science? We summarize these 3 points of view and propose further directions for the molecular-molar controversy.

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Study objective: The present study examined factors that affect preferences of children with developmental disabilities. Design: Prior to the start of the choice evaluation, a paired-item preference assessment was conducted to identify preferred cards to be included in the choice assessments. During the multiple option, correct responses resulted in praise and access to 5 identical cards from which the participant could choose 1 card. During the single option, correct responses resulted in praise and access to 1 card, identical to those available in the multiple option. During the control option, correct responding resulted in praise only. Sessions were divided into 15 trials. Setting: A room in a private-sector facility. Participants: A 4-year-old with Asperger's disorder and a 6-year-old with Autistic disorder. Independent variable: The number of cards from which to choose. Measure: Task selection. Results: The children almost always chose the single option in Study 1. In Study 2, the number of cards in the multiple option was first increased from 5 to 10, then decreased again to 5, and finally again increased to 10. One of the children chose the multiple option more than the single option in all 3 of these conditions. Conclusion: The increase in the number of cards may have temporarily enhanced the reinforcing effect of the participants' choices.

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Study objective: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of parent training for teaching toilet skills to 2 young children with autism. Design: Baseline, intervention, and modification of intervention procedures. Setting: The parents implemented the intervention procedures in their home. Participants: 2 children (5 years old) with autism and their parents. Intervention: Functional assessment was used to identify intervention procedures. The procedures were modified so that the parents could use them easily. The parents were trained to implement the procedures with their children. The procedures were changed on the basis of the results from their implementation. Measure: Frequency of correct and incorrect toileting behavior and the percentage of correct toileting behavior. The data were collected by the parents. Results: Both children's correct toileting behavior increased, and their incorrect toileting behavior decreased. One child spontaneously acquired the communication skill expressing the need to use the toilet. Conclusion: The results suggest that training parents to use procedures based on functional assessment and discussions with parents and modifying the procedures on the basis of parents' records were effective in increasing the children's appropriate toilet skills.

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