Association for Behavior Analysis International

Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) perform lower than their peers across subjects, age groups and settings (Reid, Gonzalez, Nordness, Trout, & Epstein, 2004). There is a continual need to implement effective instructional strategies to increase student learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the implications of using response cards in a self-contained classroom with students identified as having emotional behavior disorders. The specific questions addressed were: What are the effects of response cards on the on-task behaviors of students with EBD during large group instruction?, What are the effects of the response cards on participation of students with EBD during large group instruction? and What are the effects of response cards on scores of next session quizzes? A single subject A-B-A research design was used to study the effects of using response cards on student participation, academic achievement and off-task behavior. Participants for this study were selected from a self-contained classroom for students with EBD in a western state. Four 8th grade students ages 13-14 were selected for participation in the study. The dependent variables for this study included participation, engagement in off-task behaviors, and correct answers on next session quizzes. Across all participants, off-task behavior decreased 23.54% from baseline to intervention. Participation for all four students increased 64.5% from baseline to intervention. The percent of correct answers on quizzes increased 34.65% from baseline to intervention. Student off-task behavior decreases and participation increases when response cards are used.

The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of individualized student-teacher conferencing on mathematics performance of three, sixth-grade students at risk for academic failure in a middle school general education setting. For the purpose of this study, Student-teacher conferencing includes teacher-student interactions resulting in (1) self-monitoring or self-goal setting, (2) error correction, and (3) corrective feedback or self-evaluation. Data were analyzed using a single-subject multiple baseline design across the three students. Results showed that Student-teacher conferencing, when paired with components of self-regulation, increased the accuracy of mathematics problem completion as measured by a web-based, performance-leveled academic assessment tool.

eCarrot is an application that provides contingent access to free time on a tablet by quickly and correctly answering arithmetic questions. Students across two second grade classrooms completed addition problems in a multiple baseline design. Standardized computation and application probes were used to evaluate the effects of the tablet contingency

Mathematics is very important in daily living in modern society. Most students master the fundamentals of math through traditional teaching in school but there are some students in every class that have difficulties and fall behind their peers in math. It is important to help them by using instruction that is effective and accelerates their learning. Direct Instruction (DI) and Precision Teaching (PT) are methods that have been shown to be very effective in math instruction. In this study, a multiple baseline across participants and changing criterion design was used to assess the effects of using DI and PT in math instruction with Icelandic students who have math skills below their age average. 4 students, aged 8 to 15, received individualized DI and PT instruction in basic math. They all showed progress when these methods were used. These results indicate that DI and PT are effective in math instruction with Icelandic students.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often experience academic difficulties in mathematics; however, there is a need for additional research identifying effective academic interventions with this population (Hodge, Riccomini, Buford, & Herbst, 2006). An alternating treatments design was used to investigate the differential effects of a worksheet condition and an iPad condition on math fluency and active academic engagement during a high school math class in an alternative school setting for students with challenging behaviors. Following group instruction, the three participants engaged in independent seatwork either by completing problems on a worksheet or completing problems presented on an iPad. Based on visual analyses, students solved more math problems correctly in less time and demonstrated higher levels of active engagement in the iPad condition as compared to the worksheet condition. Social validity assessments indicate that the teacher and three students preferred the iPad condition to the worksheet condition during the math lessons. The positive outcomes suggests that iPad technology may be a viable intervention to increase the use of effective independent work time by promoting extended practice opportunities, immediate feedback, and integrating previously presented content matter.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) that struggle to construct sentences stand a high likelihood for continued academic difficulty across content areas. Several studies have used sentence instruction with picture-word prompts to improve sentence level writing skills, including construction of simple sentences, capitalization, and punctuation. Research in other academic areas, such as mathematics and reading, have found students benefited from deliberate practice procedures stemming from a behavioral fluency perspective. The present study combined sentence instruction with a practice procedure emphasizing behavioral fluency and measured its impact on the writing performance of four elementary-aged students with EBD and behavioral concerns. The study used a single case experimental design: multiple-baseline across participants. The intervention produced gains in the frequency of simple sentences and other sentence level writing skills across participants, suggesting a functional relation between intervention and dependent measures. Results suggest instruction and practice procedures stemming from a behavioral fluency perspective have potential to impact the written behavior of students with EBD.

It is a current understanding that Cover-Copy-Compare procedures promote math fact accuracy and fluency in students with low cognitive functioning. However, studies have found that it is difficult to achieve the generalization of fluent response to addition and subtraction facts. This study investigates the effect of training with the focus on a calculation strategy designed to promote the generalization of fluent response. Responses of eight addition facts to eight unrelated addition facts and eight subtraction facts to eight unrelated subtraction facts were measured. The training comprised derived fact strategies: decomposing and compensating. Kenan elementary school fifth grader without disorders but with low math calculation skillswas the participant. He was required to verbally respond to accuracy and fluency derived fact strategies while a PowerPoint slideshow displayed calculation processes. Results successfully demonstrate that generalized fluency promotes the calculation of addition and subtraction facts. In addition, a students strategy of calculation changes from counting on/up to automaticity. This study discusses future directions of the generalization of fluent response in addition and subtraction, focusing on calculation strategies

It is understood that differential reinforcement can be applied to select successive approximations toward a target behavior (shaping) and that schedules of reinforcement may be manipulated to influence the rate of responding. The percentile schedule [k=(m+1)(w-1)] standardizes shaping allowing the practitioner to systematically apply differential reinforcement and schedule thinning in concert. However, published research on the percentile schedule is sparse, which has resulted in few outlets for practitioners and researchers to consider incorporating this in their activities. The goal of this poster is to share clinical outcomes achieved by manipulating k, w and m values in the percentile schedule formula. At Fit Learning we have observed that a k5 schedule has been effective in reducing response variability as well as decreasing errors in responding. Whereas a k7 schedule has been successful in increasing frequency. Overall, the implementation of a k schedule has been correlated with a reduction in problematic behavior. Our participants have diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down Syndrome, or autism. Possible implications for both research and practice are discussed.

We examined the interaction between attention and task preference in maintaining on-task behavior of a fourth-grade girl who displayed frequent off-task behavior in the classroom. We administered a multiple-stimulus choice assessment, varying the amount of attention and the task preference, to determine under what conditions the student would select a task when negative reinforcement was continuously available. The results indicated that it was possible to bias responding towards academic tasks using attention, and that more attention was necessary to maintain on-task behavior for low preference tasks than for high preference tasks. An intervention was implemented based on these data. This extends previous literature on choice assessment procedures by demonstrating that a multiple-stimulus assessment can be used in the classroom to analyze the relative influence of attention and task preference, and that data from a multiple-stimulus choice assessment can be used to design an intervention that increases on-task behavior in the classroom.

In university class, a simple observing system, which continuously measures, instantly processes and visualizes the behavior of students and a teacher, would provide clues for educational improvement. This study developed and tested a prototype of apparatus for time-series measurement of teachers activity in class. A micro-vibration sensor, connected to a click circuit of a wireless finger mouse, was used to count teachers locomotion (steps) in classroom. The signals are converted into click events. Each occurrence time was acquired and a cumulative record of steps was graphed in real time by Microsoft Excel VBA. Laboratory tests and field tests in real class were conducted. Subjects were the author and a male adult. The laboratory tests compared the prototypes and typical pedometers counts. Pearsons r between both counts was higher than 0.95. The prototype could detect subjects step with high accuracy. It was also found that the value of sleep in VBA, setting for preventing misdetection by chattering, was appropriate around 300msec. The field test showed that the prototype could monitor teachers activity, however recording stability decreased partly because of deviation of the sensors position. For practical use, more reliable way should be developed in mounting the sensor to a human body.

We compared accumulated and distributed reinforcer arrangements to determine which arrangement produced the highest rate of academic responding and lowest amount of problem behavior in children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who engaged in chronic and severe problem behavior. The experiment expanded on previous research by using tokens to signal the amount of time they will have with the reinforcer when access is given. The most efficacious and preferred reinforcer arrangement was the accumulated condition for the one child in the experiment so far. The current study expands on the current research through using a different population that is prone to engaging in impulsive choice making. Previous research has shown that children with ADHD preferred reinforcer arrangements that are not the most efficacious. The current study hopes to expand on the current research and evaluate if using tokens can allow children with ADHD make a more self-controlled choice for reinforcer arrangement.

This study compared the efficacy of 2 reading programs in increasing the literacy skills of children who were "at-risk" of reading failure. The evidence-based programHeadsprout™ which adopts the main principles of Behavior Analysis was compared with Reading A-Z™which adopts a more widely used guided reading approach. Participants were 30 children (aged 5 to 6) from low socioeconomic backgrounds attending a mainstream inner city school. Participants' literacy skills were assessed prior to intervention using 2 standardised reading attainment tests. They were then randomly assigned to eitherHeadsprout™ treatment group,Reading A-Z™ treatment group or a waiting list control group. Participants in both treatment groups completed 5 20-minute literacy intervention sessions weekly, while the waiting list control group completed their classroom instructed literacy programs as usual. Results showed that participants in theHeadsprout™ group, made greater improvements from pre to post-test on measures of pre-phonics awareness and word/non-word recognition than participants in theReading A-Z™ treatment group and those in the waiting-list control group. For 7 out of 20 children across theReading A-Z™ treatment group and control group, performance on pre-phonics awareness measures actually declined throughout the 4-month intervention period.