Peer reinforcement control of classroom problem behavior

Peer and teacher interactions with five "disruptive" children were studied in an elementary school classroom. The intent of the study was to analyze experimentally peer reinforcement control of the disruptive children's problem behaviors. Social attention provided by all peers was found to be directed exclusively to the problem behaviors during baseline. Following baseline, several manipulations of selected peer social attention demonstrated the reinforcement function of this stimulus class.     

The consultative merits of praise-ignore versus praise- reprimand instruction

The present study compared the effects of two behavior management strategies on three types of student behaviors (appropriate, off-task, and disruptive). One strategy involved the teacher's verbally praising appropriate behaviors while concomitantly ignoring disruptive behaviors. The other strategy involved verbally praising appropriate behaviors while concomitantly issuing soft reprimands for disruptive behaviors. Six junior high school students in two general science classes were selected for the study on the basis of their frequent disruptive behavior. College-trained observers recorded target student and teacher behaviors daily. A multiple baseline design with reversals was usedto ascertain the effectiveness of the treatments. The results showed that both the praise-ignore combination and the praise-soft reprimand combination were substantially superior to baseline conditions. However, more rapid and slightly greater improvement was achieved under the praise-soft reprimand combination than under the praise-ignore combination. In contrast, improvement in behavior diminished less rapidly in the reversals following the praise-ignore phases than in the reversals following the praise-soft reprimand phases.     

Good-behavior game: a replication and systematic analysis

A good-behavior game was implemented in a fifth-grade reading class consisting of two groups of 14 students each. After the presentation of the game, reversal and component analysis phases were instituted. Game components included rules, lights (response feedback), and group consequences of extra recess and extra free time. Student observers recorded the dependent variables which included talking-out, disruptive, and out-of-seat behaviors. The results show that the game reduced the dependent measures from their baseline rate by almost 99% for one group and 97% for the other. The component analysis revealed that after association in the game, the stimulus components of rules and lights were effective in reducing the dependent behaviors.     

Indirect Effects of Functional Communication Training on Non-Targeted Disruptive Behavior

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of functional communication training (FCT) on the occurrence of non-targeted disruptive behavior. The 10 participants were preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities who engaged in both destructive (property destruction, aggression, self-injury) and disruptive (hand flapping, spinning in circles, shrill laughter, screaming, crying) behaviors. Only destructive behavior was targeted for the functional analyses and FCT, but data were also collected on disruptive behaviors. All procedures were conducted in the participants’ homes by their mothers with investigator coaching. Phase 1 consisted of conducting a functional analysis within a multielement design. Phase 2 consisted of conducting FCT with demand fading and repeated extinction baselines within a reversal design. Single-case data are provided for 3 participants, and summary data are provided for all 10 participants. Results of phase 1 showed that all participants’ destructive and disruptive behavior was maintained, at least in part, by negative reinforcement. Results of phase 2 showed that both destructive behavior and non-targeted disruptive behavior occurred at lower levels during FCT when compared to the functional analysis demand condition and baseline conditions, suggesting that FCT was effective in decreasing both target destructive behavior and non-targeted disruptive behaviors.     

A token reinforcement program in a public school: a replication and systematic analysis

A base rate of disruptive behavior was obtained for seven children in a second-grade class of 21 children. Rules, Educational Structure, and Praising Appropriate Behavior while Ignoring Disruptive Behavior were introduced successively; none of these procedures consistently reduced disruptive behavior. However, a combination of Rules, Educational Structure, and Praise and Ignoring nearly eliminated disruptive behavior of one child. When the Token Reinforcement Program was introduced, the frequency of disruptive behavior declined in five of the six remaining children. Withdrawal of the Token Reinforcement Program increased disruptive behavior in these five children, and reinstatement of the Token Reinforcement Program reduced disruptive behavior in four of these five. Follow-up data indicated that the teacher was able to transfer control from the token and back-up reinforcers to the reinforcers existing within the educational setting, such as stars and occasional pieces of candy. Improvements in academic achievement during the year may have been related to the Token Program, and attendance records appeared to be enhanced during the Token phases. The Token Program was utilized only in the afternoon, and the data did not indicate any generalization of appropriate behavior from the afternoon to the morning.     

Reduction of kindergarten children's disruptive behavior with delayed feedback and delayed contingent access to play

After measuring the amount of disruptive behavior exhibited by nine kindergarten children in a lunchroom, delayed feedback about the disruptive behaviors engaged in was given to each child after he left the lunchroom, but there were no additional differential consequences for any behaviors. This delayed feedback alone had little effect on the rates of disruptive behavior. When the delayed feedback was paired with contingent access to play, the rates of disruptive behaviors of six of the children was substantially reduced. A more elaborate form of feedback, still paired with contingent access to play, was later found to be effective in reducing the rates of disruptive behavior of the other three children. When contingencies and feedback were removed, the rates of disruptive behavior of the three children who required the extended feedback increased, but the rates of disruptive behavior for the other six children did not increase upon termination of contingencies and feedback. However, when disruptive behavior was differentially reinforced, the rates of disruptive behavior of all of the children increased.     

Control of tantrum behavior by operant techniques during experimental verbal training

A technique of controlling undesirable or disruptive behavior during an ongoing program of verbal training with a retardate is described. The technique required that the stimulus materials of the verbal training program be graded according to difficulty, i.e., in terms of the length and complexity of the stimulus materials. (This resulted in an initial grading of the stimulus materials into different levels of probability of reinforcement.) Changes by the experimenter from high-difficulty to low-difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior increased the rate of that behavior; changes from low-difficulty to high-difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior decreased its rate. Thus, contingent alternation of the stimulus materials of the ongoing training program controlled the frequency of undesirable behaviors within the experimental sessions. This technique may comprise an alternative to other procedures which require punishment or timeout from the ongoing program.     

Maintenance of appropriate behavior in a token program

Following a baseline period, a token reinforcement program was instituted in three resource-room classes for very disruptive children where the children spent 1 hour per day. The only reinforcers used in the token program were those available to any classroom teacher, viz., free time in an activity area. The effects of the token program were evaluated in the three resource-room classes as well as in the homerooms of all students participating in the resource-room program. Following 4 months of the token program, a return to baseline was made in one resource classroom. As assessed by standard classroom observations, the token program was effective in reducing disruptive behavior in all three resource-room classes; and when it was withdrawn in one resource-room class, the disruptive behavior remained at a very low level in the resource room. Ratings by teachers in the homerooms showed a significant reduction in disruptive behavior, but recordings by homeroom observers showed no such reduction. Possible reasons for maintenance of low rates of disruptive behavior after withdrawal of tokens were discussed in terms of the type of reinforcers used.     

CHOICE MAKING TO PROMOTE ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR FOR STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL CHALLENGES

Two analyses investigated the effects of choice making on the responding of elementary school students with emotional and behavioral challenges. In the first analysis, 2 participants were given choices from menus of academic tasks, all of which were pertinent to their educational objectives in English and spelling, respectively. Reversal designs showed that the choice-making conditions increased task engagement and reduced disruptive behavior for both students. An additional analysis was performed with a 3rd student in an effort to further distinguish the effects of choice making from preference. In this study, one of the no-choice phases was yoked to a previous choice-making condition. This analysis demonstrated that the choice-making condition was superior to baseline and yoked control phases as determined by levels of task engagement and disruptive behavior. The findings of the two analyses contribute information relevant to students with emotional and behavioral disorders, and to a growing literature on the desirable effects of choice making for students with disabilities and challenging behaviors.     

Effects of Tootling on Classwide and Individual Disruptive and Academically Engaged Behavior of Lower‐Elementary Students

The current study was designed to replicate and extend the literature on the effectiveness of a classroom intervention known as Tootling, a strategy that encourages and prompts students to report instances of their peers' positive behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of the Tootling intervention on decreasing classwide and individual target students' disruptive behavior as well as increasing classwide and individual target students' academic engagement in lower elementary, general education classrooms using a criterion number of tootles that could reasonably be attained daily, thus potentially allowing more immediate and frequent access to reinforcement. Participants included second and third graders and their teachers in three classrooms in two Southeastern elementary schools. An ABAB withdrawal design was used in the three classrooms, along with a multiple baseline element across two of the classrooms, to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. Results demonstrated decreases in disruptive behaviors and increases in academically engaged behaviors during intervention phases as compared to baseline and withdrawal phases in all classrooms. Effect sizes were moderate to large for all comparisons. Limitations of the present study, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An elementary student as a behavioral engineer

Four first-grade public school students exhibited non-study behaviors during a period when all children were to study individually. A fifth-grade student modified the maladaptive behaviors of the four first-grade students. Lights on the four students' desks, which were associated with opportunity for reinforcement, rapidly brought study behavior under stimulus control. Differential reinforcement of other behaviors dramatically decreased studying. Reinforcement was reinstituted and studying returned to a high and stable rate. Surreptitious post-experimental observation using closed-circuit TV indicated that the behavioral changes effected during the experimental phases were partially maintained by the regular classroom environment. A replication of the baseline phase with the observer in the classroom produced an increase in the rate of study behavior, indicating that the observer's presence acted as a discriminative stimulus for studying. An additional contingency requiring improved academic behavior was imposed before the fifth grader was given the opportunity to engage in the behavior modification experiment.     

The effects and side effects of punishing the autistic behaviors of a deviant child

Timeout procedures in the home and extinction and reinforcement of incompatible behaviors in the laboratory failed to eliminate the disruptive and dangerous climbing behavior of a deviant child. Punishment with electric shock was used to eliminate this behavior in the laboratory and then in the home. The effects were reversible and were restricted to specific stimulus conditions. A less severe form of punishment was used to eliminate the child's autistic rocking. Other behaviors of the subject were continuously measured in the laboratory to determine the side effects of punishment. No suppression of other behaviors correlated with punishment was noted. However, the rate of some behaviors increased when punishment was used to eliminate deviant behaviors, but these increases were, primarily, desirable.     

A Review of: “Kennedy-Moore,E., & Lowenthal,M. S. (2011). Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child's True Potential.”

Behavioral procedures aimed at decreasing disruptiveness through increasing self-evaluative skills and programming generalization in a class of disruptive retarded children were examined. Phases of the study included: (a) baseline; (b) systematic feedback; (c) a token economy; (d) matching of teacher's ratings by students; (e) four fading phases during which progressively fewer students were required to match the teacher; (f) self-evaluation during which each student received the amount of points self-allotted regardless of teacher's ratings; (g) doubling of point costs of back-up reinforcers ("Inflation"); (h) complete removal of back-up reinforcers ("Points Only"); and (i) return to baseline conditions. The class was observed 5 days per week dueing a morning experimental period and several times per week in the afternoon as a measure of generalization. Additional measures of generalization included days when the token program was not in effect ("Off Days") and when the class was taught by a substitute teacher. Behavior was recorded according to an interval sampling observational code. The results showed that systematic feedback was effective in significantly reducing disruptiveness with even greater reductions resulting from the token program and the subsequent matching and fading phases. Decreased levels of disruptiveness were maintained throughout self-evaluation and the phases which followed. Decreased levels of disruption also generalized to afternoon sessions, to days when the experimental procedures were not in effect, and to self-evaluate, the class initially matched the teacher's ratings with about 50% accuracy. This gradually increased to consistently above 90% during the latter phases. The study demonstrated that retarded children can learn to accurately observe and veridically evaluate their own behavior, and that this has beneficial effects in terms of decreased disruptiveness.     

Classical and bayesian inference in certain latency processes

Certain aspects of point estimation are treated for two kinds of exponential latency processes. The first unitary process is represented by a simple exponential density in which the rate parameter may be viewed as an unknown constant or as a random variable. If a second, slower exponential process is grafted onto the first, there results a postulated two-component latency between stimulus and response. Moments estimators are derived for the two parameters of this latter density, and the relevance of the second parameter to decision time is emphasized.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant MH-04439-05. The author would like to express his appreciation to James Baker of Oregon Research Institute for certain helpful comments concerning aspects of this work.     

Antecedent exercise as a treatment for disruptive behavior: Testing hypothesized mechanisms of action

This study evaluated the effects of antecedent physical exercise (AE) and a mastery task on behaviorally disturbed children's self-concepts and rates of disruptive behaviors. In addition, we evaluated whether changes in self-concept mediated any exercise induced changes in rates of disruptive behavior. Fifty-eight children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) antecedent exercise (jog/walk), (b) “mastery” task (a successive improvement miniaturebasketball shooting task), and (c) no treatment control group. A week of baseline was followed by 4 weeks of treatment and, finally another week of return to baseline. Results indicated that: (a) AE produced significantly less disruptive behavior than no treatment, (b) the “Mastery” task did not produce significantly less disruptive behavior than no treatment, (c) neither treatment produced increases in self-concept relative to no treatment, and (d) changes in self-concept did not mediate AE induced reductions in disruptive behaviors.     

Shaping data collection congruent with experimental hypotheses

The influence of instructions and feedback from an experimenter on observational recordings of disruptive behavior was evaluated. Four subject-observers recorded four categories of disruptive behavior from videotapes of children in a classroom setting. Two sets of videotapes, labelled "baseline" and "treatment", were matched for rates of disruptive behavior in each category. The observers were told that two target behaviors were expected to decrease and the other two control behaviors were not expected to change during the treatment condition. During observational recording of treatment videotapes, the observers were given positive feedback when they reported decreases in the two target behaviors, and negative feedback when they reported either to change or increases in the two control behaviors. The target behaviors were recorded less frequently by observers, while recordings of control behaviors were unaffected during the treatment phase. These results suggest that contingent feedback to observers should be avoided as a possible source of bias in behavioral recordings.     

Direct versus indirect response-reinforcer relationships in teaching autistic children

One possibility suggested by the literature for maximizing the efficiency of behavior modification procedures concerns the relationship between target behaviors and their reinforcers. Therefore, in this experiment three severely autistic children were taught a total of six new target behaviors (in a multiple baseline design) employing two different response-reinforcer relationships: (1) those where the target behaviors were a direct part of the response chain required to procure a reinforcer (e.g., opening the lid of a container to obtain a food reward inside the container); and (2) those where the target behavior was an indirect part of the chain leading to the reinforcer (e.g., the therapist handing the child a food reward after the child had opened the lid of an empty container). In all cases, the results showed rapid acquisition only when the target behavior was a direct part of the chain leading to the reinforcer. The results are discussed in terms of several possible conceptualizations concerning efficient reinforcement contingencies, and in terms of their implications for teaching autistic children.This investigation was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Research Grants MH 28210 and MH 28231, and by U.S. Office of Education Research Grant G007802084 from the Bureau for the Education of the Handicapped. Portions of the results described in this article were discussed in a presentation at the 13th Annual AABT Convention in San Francisco, 1979. The authors are particularly grateful to Andrew Egel, Roberta Elman, Janis Costello, and Karen Britten, for their helpful comments, and to Jody Fisher and Gina Richman, for their assitance in the data collection.     

Home-based reinforcement: Behavioral covariation between academic performance and inappropriate behavior

This article describes the effects of a home-based reinforcement program on the academic performance and inappropriate behaviors of 3 fourth-grade boys. Home contingencies were placed on only academic performance. The home-based system resulted in marked increases in academic performance and large decreases in disruptive behavior for all three subjects. Throughout baseline and treatment conditions, there was a strong negative correlation between academic performance and disruptive behavior. The intervention was evaluated using both visual inspection (multiple baseline across subjects) and interrupted time-series analysis.     

SOME STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF DEVIANT CHILD BEHAVIOR1

Covariation within behavior repertoires of problem children were examined. Two boys, referred for psychological help, were observed both at school and at home for about 3 yr. A coded observation system permitted scoring of 19 child-behavior categories and six social-environment categories. After a two-month baseline, behavior categories were intercorrelated, demonstrating that each child showed a group of behaviors that covaried. These groupings were specific to the home and school settings. Contingency management procedures were then applied to each child's problem behaviors in one setting. Next, a reversal phase was instituted, followed by resumption of the initial contingency management phase. These three phases lasted seven months, until the end of the children's public school terms. Results showed that the baseline group of covarying behaviors continued to covary over the three experimental phases. The children then entered a remedial education setting for three summer months, and then returned to schools and were observed in follow-up for 2 yr. The baseline group of behaviors continued to covary during both phases. The behavior covariations could not be accounted for on the basis of temporal relationships between the behaviors and social environment categories. Although no behavior covariations extended across either child's home and school settings, contingency management procedures produced across-setting effects.     

A dual scaling analysis for paired compositions

A paired composition is a response (upon a dependent variable) to the ordered pair <j, k> of stimuli, treatments, etc. The present paper develops an alternative analysis for the paired compositions layout previously treated by Bechtel's [1967] scaling model. The alternative model relaxes the previous one by including row and column scales that provide an expression of bias foreach pair of objects. The parameter estimation and hypothesis testing procedures for this model are illustrated by means of a small group analysis, which represents a new approach to pairwise sociometrics and personality assessment.This study was supported by Grant Nos. MH 12972, MH 10822, and MH 15506 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U. S. Public Health Service. Computing assistance was obtained from the Health Sciences Computing Facility, UCLA, sponsored by N.I.H. special research resources Grant RR-3.The motivation of this effort has been enhanced by Gerald Patterson and his associates, who have kindly provided the illustrative data at the end of the paper. The author would also like to express his appreciation to Wei-Ching Chang of the Oregon Research Institute and the University of Oregon for his substantive contributions to the paper, and to William Chaplin and Mark Layman of the Oregon Research Institute for the programming of the data analytic method. FORTRAN IV program listings for this analysis are available upon request to the author.