h Brown University in Rhode Island. A 6-week inservice program focusing on the principles of operant conditioning andpositive reinforcement was implemented. The study was designed to evaluate the use ofbehavior management strategies in the classroom, and positive results were found in thedecrease in restraints and crisis incidents. Crisis incidents were defined as a child beingrequired to leave the classroom because of unacceptable behavior, e.g., persistentnoncompliance. As the revised treatment module began to work, community specialeducation programs began to send students for short term diagnostic placements, and aplan is in development for "transition classrooms" intended for children who no longerneed intensive treatment but are not yet ready to return to the community.Applied behavior analysis provides teachers with methods for encouragingpositive behaviors and coping with undesirable ones. Negative reinforcement and formsof punishments like reprimands and social isolation can help alter behavior, but shouldbe used with caution. Teachers can reinforce desirable student behavior throughattention, recognition, praise and other reinforcers. An article entitled "Food ForThought: Teacher Nonverbal Immediacy, Student Learning, and Curvilinearity" touchedon immediacy behaviors as a type of reinforcer. The article states that teachers can use these immediacy behaviors tocommunicate a positive regard and stimulate their students. Immediacy behaviors arethose that enhance closeness to and interaction with others because they reducepsychological and/or physical distance between communicators, increase overall sensorystimulation and arousal, and promote liking. Nonverbal immediacy behaviors areparticularly useful to teachers in this regard because most relational messages arecommunicated nonverbally, leaving the verbal channel available for messages of coursecontent. Immediacy is communicated by a set of nonverbal behaviors includi...
