Ensuring the best interest of the child in intercountry adoption practice: case studies from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Each year, thousands of children who cross international borders are destined for homes with adoptive families. For most, this journey from their homeland brings them to loving new homes where they will thrive and prosper. For others, the journey is hazardous and the destination uncertain.

A functional analysis of the comprehensive application of behavior analysis to schooling.

This study tested the effects of a comprehensive application of behavior analysis to schooling on the total trials taught, correct student trials, and objectives achieved in a small school. The package was implemented in a school for children with multiple disabilities and included a staff training program based on a personalized system of instruction, organizational behavior management procedures for supervisors, regular assessment of teacher behaviors, and teacher assessment of all instructional trials received by the 38 children to a scripted curriculum. The design was a multiple baseline across four groups of teachers and included baseline, training, and full treatment phases over a 2-year period. The results showed educationally significant increases in trials taught, correct trials, and student objectives achieved as a function of the introduction of the package. A 3rd year of follow-up data and an analysis of the turnover of staff showed that the effects of the package were maintained and that the package had social validity.