Wilson's recent critique of the authors' appraisal of meta-analysis appears to misunderstand them as claiming more for meta-analysis than they intended. The present paper seeks to clarify consequent confusions concerning selection of studies, the quality of the literature reviewed, the classification of therapies, and the non-identical results of different meta-analyses. It is acknowledged that no single meta-analysis is definitive.

A multiple baseline design across subjects was employed to study the effects of training for manuscript handwriting on cursive letter formation. Ten first grade students received training to increase their accuracy in manuscript writing. Following training, all 10 students demonstrated increased accuracy in untrained cursive letter formation. Cursive letters were practiced but untrained in that no feedback on correctness was given at any session.

Several clinical deductions drawn from a 3-systems analysis of obsessions were tested in an experiment on 12 patients, each of whom received four sessions of habituation training or thought-stopping. The major predictions received only weak and inconsistent support. Moreover, the intrasession changes tended to fade in the inter-session intervals, and there were few signs of therapeutic advance.

The effects of a structured sex education programme on the knowledge and attitudes of a group of disturbed adolescent offenders with sexual problems were assessed. Sex education was found to improve sexual knowledge significantly, to lessen anxiety associated with sexual intercourse, and to produce a less anxious self concept. Sex education had no significant effect on sexual interest.

Several writers have been interested in the extent to which behaviour therapy techniques are derived from the principles of learning. The present paper reviews this issue with respect to stimulus generalization and response generalization in behaviour therapy. Generalization has been a problem because many therapists have reported that newly learned skills and behaviours have not transferred outside the treatment situation to settings in the patients' or clients' life. Reviewing the literature on stimulus generalization it is concluded that in research on learning theory, stimulus generalization is shown to occur along a single stimulus dimension while in the behaviour therapy literature researchers often attempt to produce generalization across many stimulus dimensions simultaneously and as a result generalization may be poor. It is suggested that subsequent therapy and research should be designed so that treatment situations and generalization situations differ on as few stimulus dimensions as possible, thus maximizing the probability of generalization. With respect to response generalization it is felt that the concept is weak as an explanation for behaviour change and it may be more useful to consider that behaviours are functionally related, so that changes in behaviour A will produce changes in behaviour B or that covert responses may account for changes in untreated behaviours. Finally, a recommendation is made that therapists be more precise about the stimulus dimensions along which they wish behaviour to generalize.

A behavioral-cognitive intervention, including the use of a schedule, overt and covert reinforcers, and therapist monitoring of progress, was used to treat a graduate student with writer's block. Daily self-recording was used to assess baseline and intervention phases, and indicated that the intervention yielded an immediate and consistent increase in the number of hours of writing, the use of weekdays for writing, and self-rated effectiveness. Clinical considerations involved in the use of the procedure and generalization of the method to other work projects and clients are discussed.

This paper describes the treatment of a 4½-year-old autistic boy who exhibited phobic responses to the sounds of flushing toilets. He was successfully treated using reinforcement and laughter: the latter service as an anxiety inhibitor. At 3- and 6-month follow-ups the child was symptom-free.