Objectives: Intervention I compared effects of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) alone, script presentation with RIRD (RIRD+script), and script presentation alone on vocal stereotypy (VS) and social vocalization (SV). Intervention II examined this further when the intervention was implemented by the participant’s mother in the home. Design: A-B-C-D-C design (Intervention I), and multiple baseline design across settings (Intervention II). Settings: A university playroom (Intervention I); the livingroom at the participant’s home (Intervention II). Participant: A 13-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Interventions: Intervention I=baseline, RIRD alone, RIRD+script, and script alone; Intervention II=baseline, script alone, and RIRD+script. Measures: The frequency of vocal stereotypy and social vocalization was scored for occurrence/nonoccurrence in 10-second intervals. Results: Intervention I demonstrated the effectiveness of RIRD+script in a university playroom. Less vocal stereotypy and more social vocalization were observed in the RIRD+script condition compared to the other conditions. Intervention II: In the home, vocal stereotypy decreased, whereas social vocalization increased during the RIRD+script condition. Conclusions: The RIRD+script condition was more effective than RIRD alone in reducing the vocal stereotypy and increasing the social communication behavior of this adolescent boy with autism spectrum disorder.

Study objective: Using an intervention package involving a group-oriented contingency for classroom preparation behavior (listening calmly to the teacher, preparing for class) in a fourth-grade class to decrease the frequency of inappropriate remarks. Design: ABCD design: baseline (condition A) and 3 interventions (conditions B, C, and D). Setting: A regular public elementary school classroom. Participants: One class of 31 fourth graders (16 boys, 15 girls). Intervention: Condition B: Students received a lesson on listening to the teacher and rules for good listening; Condition C: condition B and a lesson on what to prepare beforehand, the procedure for the group-oriented contingency, and the classroom teacher’s responses; Condition D: a timer display was added. Measures: A continuous recording method was used as an indicator of classroom preparation behavior by measuring the time for the students to become quiet at the start of class, and a product-recording method was used to measure the students’ preparedness at the start of class. Results: The time taken for the class to become quiet decreased in conditions B and D, and preparedness increased in condition C. Conclusion: The intervention package involving the group-oriented contingency had an effect on students’ classroom preparation behavior at the start of class.

Study objective: Examination of effects of online kanji writing instruction given to a student with developmental dyslexia. Design: Multiple-probe design across 3 sets of kanji. Setting: Online and in the participant’s home. Participant: A fourth grade male student with developmental dyslexia who was enrolled in a special education class. Intervention: 3 types of kanji writing instruction were conducted online: (a) segmenting the kanji characters into visual elements (e.g., radicals and strokes), (b) saying out loud phrases describing the kanji elements, and (c) writing kanji characters while saying the phrases describing the elements. Additionally, the boy reviewed the phrases describing the kanji elements with his mother at home. Measure: Number of kanji written correctly. Results: The boy’s correct kanji writing improved after the intervention was introduced. Moreover, correct kanji writing was maintained 2 months after the online instruction was discontinued. In the mother’s ratings of social validity, acceptance of the intervention effects, the burden of online learning and homework, and improvement in the participant’s learning attitude were positively evaluated. Conclusion: Effect size measurements (Tau-U) showed only limited efficacy, but the boy continued to write kanji correctly even after 2 months in which there was no online instruction. This finding suggests that online instruction in writing kanji may be effective for teaching students with developmental dyslexia to write kanji correctly.

Study objective: Examining effects of a stimulus pairing procedure for shaping stimulus relations between each of the prefecture’s name, kanji, and shape and location, and investigating the social validity of the procedure. Design: ABC design and multiple baseline design, with 4 periods: baseline, first intervention, second intervention, and follow up. Setting: The participant’s grandparents’ house and his mother’s house, alternating weekly. Participant: A 4th-grade elementary school male student, 9 years 11 months old, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Independent variable: A stimulus pairing procedure, using 48 cards (the 47 prefectures plus Tokyo) made by the author. Dependent variable: The number of correct answers on a paper-and-pencil test of the names of prefectures. Results: The participant answered 1–3 prefectures correctly in baseline. The number of correct answers written in hiragana increased immediately in the first intervention. The number of correct answers written in kanji increased in the second intervention. At follow up, correct answers were maintained for over 40 prefectures. Conclusions: In this practical research, stimulus relations between each prefecture’s name, kanji, and shape and location were established. Remaining challenges include refining the procedure.

The present study aimed to develop low-cost compact devices for measuring writing on whiteboards and blackboards during university lectures. Both of the methods employed to tally 1 written stroke as 1 response can use the recording system described in Yoshioka and Fuji (2019a; in Japanese). In the first method, contact between a marker and the whiteboard is detected using the principle of leverage. When contact is made, the force applied at the tip of the marker is transmitted across a pivot with a spherical bearing attached to the rear end, pushing 1 of 4 micro-switch levers. In the second method, the vibrations produced by writing on a blackboard with chalk are detected using a sound sensor. In a test of the performance of the marker device, the contents of 8 slides were written on a whiteboard. The ratio of the recorded number of strokes to the actual total number of strokes (calculated assuming that block style was used throughout) ranged from 0.99 to 1.03. The chalk device was tested in a demonstration lecture; the ratio of the recorded number of strokes to the actual total number of strokes was 0.80. These results confirmed that each device has adequate accuracy for measuring the target responses. Future studies should investigate variables that affect the accuracy of measurements made with the sound sensor and explore ways to detect blackboard vibrations more effectively.

“Cognition behavior”, a phrase coined by the present author, means understanding laws hidden in the environment and then acting. The objects of cognition behavior are events, phenomena, and things that are recognized as one unit in a person’s daily life. An individual recognizes the laws of the structure and function of an object and solves problems in daily life as actions based on that recognition. “Archaeological learning psychology,” another phrase coined by the present author, is based on the premise that the cultural and learning adaptability underlying cognition behavior changes as brain weight increases. In the present article, the survey and observation method of cognition behavior and archaeological learning psychology is used to analyze the path from the past to the present of a tool in relation to the concepts of behavior shaping and generalization. As an experimental method, an internal “mental event” is formed and then externalized and can be analyzed objectively, targeting things and events that existed in daily life in the past, but are now not seen due to industrialization. For example, for the task of thread reeling (making thread), when a modern person is given material such as cotton, how thread and a reel are created is analyzed (discovery-invention experimental method). In a miniature method experiment, participants created houses and people from clay in order to simulate prehistoric life or life in the present disaster. As an experiment, I introduced spinning (making thread) and construction of a pole for drying clothes. The results showed that, in such experimental situations, few of the participants recognized and acted on scientific laws beyond empirical rules. Their cognition behavior was formed as trial and error learning (shaping behavior with contingent reinforcement).