Testing the ability of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to accurately report the effects of medication on their behavior

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often treated with central nervous system stimulants, making the evaluation of medication effects an important topic for applied behavior analysts. Because assessment protocols emphasize informant reports and direct observations of child behavior, little is known about the extent to which children themselves can accurately report medication effects. Double-blind placebo-controlled procedures were used to examine whether 6 children with ADHD could recognize the effects of their medication. The children were given math worksheets to complete for 15 min during each of 14 sessions while on medication and placebo. Children completed a self-evaluation form at the end of each session, and ratings were compared to observed behavior and academic performance. Results indicated that 3 children were able to accurately report their medication status at levels greater than chance, whereas the accuracy of reports by all children was related to dosage level, differences in behavior, and the presence of adverse effects. The implications of these results for placebo-controlled research, self-monitoring of dosage levels, and accuracy training are discussed.     

Promoting Generalization of Oral Reading Fluency: Providing Drill versus Practice Opportunities

Extensive evidence exists demonstrating the benefits of repeated readings (RR) interventions at increasing students’ fluency on intervention passages. Few studies however have examined the extent to which repeatedly reading one passage improves students’ reading fluency on similar passages. Using an alternating treatment design, we examined the extent to which two interventions resulted in improvements in students’ fluency on generalization passages. While both interventions incorporated RR, one intervention involved students reading one passage four times and the other involved students reading two similar passages each twice. Intervention effects were evaluated by having students read a generalization passage prior to and following intervention implementation. Results indicate that both interventions were effective in increasing students reading fluency on generalization passages. For 3 participants the RR intervention produced greater gains in fluency on the generalization passages, while data for the remaining 3 participants are inconclusive. Implications of these findings for practice and for better understanding application of the instructional hierarchy to the development of reading interventions are discussed.

Efficacy and Social Validity of a Class-Wide Interdependent Group Contingency to Decrease Between-Class Transition Durations

Journal of Behavioral Education - The time students spend actively engaged with instruction is positively correlated with their academic achievement (Dotterer and Lowe in J Youth Adolesc...     

A Comparison of Two Flashcard Interventions for Teaching Sight Words to Early Readers

Strategic Incremental Rehearsal (SIR) is a recently developed flashcard intervention that blends Traditional Drill with Incremental Rehearsal (IR) for teaching sight words. The initial study evaluating SIR found it was more effective than IR for teaching sight words to first-grade students. However, that study failed to assess efficiency, which is important to consider when evaluating and selecting interventions. Therefore, the current study evaluated both the efficiency and effectiveness of SIR compared with IR for teaching sight words to 4 general education students (3 in second grade and 1 in first grade) who were enrolled in 1 of 2 schools. An alternating treatments single-case design was used to compare the effects of SIR and IR interventions implemented 4 days per week across 4 or 5 weeks. Students’ accuracy with words that were introduced during the week was assessed on Fridays, and maintenance of these words was assessed the following Friday. Results indicated that both interventions were effective for teaching students sight words, but that SIR was slightly more effective and efficient than IR for 3 of the 4 students. Findings have implications for the selection of flashcard interventions for teaching sight word vocabulary to early elementary students.     

Examining Immediate and Maintenance Effects of a Reading Intervention Package on Generalization Materials: Individual Verses Group Implementation

Fluency has been identified as an important outcome of effective reading instruction, and intervention packages utilizing the method of repeated readings have been shown to improve oral reading fluency. In order to improve the efficiency of these intervention packages, more research is needed on the effectiveness of small group reading interventions. An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two versions of an intervention package that included repeated readings on generalization and maintenance of oral reading rate for 6 second grade students. Both intervention packages included listening passage preview, repeated readings, error correction, and contingent reward. The intervention packages differed only in whether intervention components were provided to students individually or in groups of three. Gains in oral reading rate were observed across conditions, with individual and small group interventions resulting in comparable gains for most participants. Individual differences in performance and implications for reading instruction are discussed.     

Be yourself,believe in yourself,and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being

Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A. & Spörrle, M. (2011). Be yourself, believe in yourself, and be happy: Self‐efficacy as a mediator between personality factors and subjective well‐being. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 43–48. Research has shown close connections between personality and subjective well‐being (SWB), suggesting that personality traits predispose individuals to experience different levels of SWB. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that self‐efficacy is related to both personality factors and SWB. Extending previous research, we show that general self‐efficacy functionally connects personality factors and two components of SWB (life satisfaction and subjective happiness). Our results demonstrate the mediating role of self‐efficacy in linking personality factors and SWB. Consistent with our expectations, the influence of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness on life satisfaction was mediated by self‐efficacy. Furthermore, self‐efficacy mediated the influence of openness and conscientiousness, but not that of neuroticism and extraversion, on subjective happiness. Results highlight the importance of cognitive beliefs in functionally linking personality traits and SWB.     

Sensitivity of children's behavior to probabilistic reward: effects of a decreasing-ratio lottery system on math performance

Probabilistic reward has been shown to affect children's choice behavior in game-like activities. We examined the effects of a lottery system containing progressively lower exchange ratios on children's completion of math problems. Two of the 3 children completed problems above baseline levels until the chance of exchange dropped to 25%. This study describes a potentially useful method for examining reinforcement schedules in applied settings and extends previous research on probabilities of reinforcement.     

Interspersing easy math problems among challenging problems: detection of interspersal effects in whole-class applications

Interspersing easy problems among challenging problems has been shown to both increase students’ preference for completing math worksheets and the fluency with which they complete challenging problems. Although early research examining the interspersal procedure in mathematics was conducted with college-age students, there are a growing number of studies utilizing the interspersal procedure in elementary and secondary school settings. A particular concern with existing research however is whether the beneficial effects are maintained across multiple sessions and whether effects generalize when implemented with large groups of students. The current study addressed this concern by administering both control and interspersal math worksheets consisting of instructionally relevant problems to 75 fourth grade students across four sessions. Because students’ instructional levels differed, analyses were conducted separately for students identified as fluent and less fluent based upon student performance on the control worksheet administered during session 1. Dependent measures included digits correct and problems correct as well as students’ responses to four preference questions following each session. Although results differ from previous research in that students completed significantly more digits correct on control worksheets, explanations of these differences are examined and implications are discussed.