This study examined the extent to which peers in a preschool classroom provide the typical antecedents and consequences that are manipulated in experimental functional analyses. Ten children who attended a half-day preschool program were included in this study. A descriptive assessment was carried out in which data were collected in a natural preschool environment on the antecedents (e.g., demand), behaviors (e.g., aggression), and consequent events (e.g., escape) of child–peer interactions. Conditional and response-independent probabilities were calculated to analyze the relation between the behavior of the target child (participant) and peer. Results show that peer attention was the most common consequence following problem behavior and appropriate behavior for all participants (100%), followed by material presentation (90% of participants for problem behavior; 80% of participants for appropriate behavior) and escape from demands for 20% of participants (both for problem behavior and appropriate behavior).

Ten subjects ranging from 9 to 16 years in age wi.th IQ's ranging from 23 to 62 were randomly selected as contingent or noncontingent subjects for two experiments. Five subjects received contingent access to two electronic games for performance within a specified learning session, while five subjects received noncontingent access to the games. These experiments were designed to determine the effect on performance, attending, and compliance skills in the classroom, when contingent access to the electronic games was based on performance. The development of fine motor skills and/or eye-hand coordination skills as a result of game usage was examined. The generalization of any effect to the remainder of the classroom day was also evaluated. The experimental design for these experiments was a single subject multiple baseline design for data on performance with the additional collection of attending and compliance data in a multiple baseline fashion. Probes were utilized to assess generalization effects. A change in performance related to experimental manipulation was noted in three of five of the contingent subjects, while support for subsequent change in attending and compliance was demonstrated by fewer subjects (one subject in regard to attending; three subjects in regard to compliance) . No changes in performance, attending, or compliance related to experimental manipulation were demonstrated by subjects receiving noncontingent access to the games. Nine of ten subjects (contingent and noncontingent) demonstrated gains in age equivalencies on the Upper Limb Coordination subtest of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency in excess of the duration of the experiment. In addition, six of ten subjects demonstrated gains on the Fine Motor Composite of this test.

Approximately 1.8% of students in the public school system have an intellectual disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder. These disabilities cause impairment in multiple domains of functioning. If these students also have challenging behaviors, such as noncompliance, aggression, and stereotypies, these behaviors have been found to cause impairment over and beyond those of the core symptoms associated with the disability. Challenging behaviors in youth with developmental disabilities do not typically subside on their own and need intervention. Thankfully, there are evidence-based behavioral interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities to reduce challenging behaviors and increase more functional behaviors including Applied Behavioral Analysis, Functional Behavioral Analysis, and School-Wide Positive Behavioral Support and Interventions (SWPBIS). There has been much research and positive effects found on the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities, and there have been numerous meta-analyses conducted to synthesize these results. However, there have been only a few meta-analyses examining the effectiveness of school-based behavioral interventions for youth with developmental disabilities. A gap in the literature exists in understanding the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in schools from a SWPBIS perspective for youth with developmental disabilities. There also is a need to examine a wider range of dates and to examine the use of parametric statistical metrics. The current study addressed these issues by conducting a meta-analysis of single-case design studies over approximately the past 20 years to add to the current understanding of the effect of school-based behavioral interventions on behavioral outcomes of youth with developmental disabilities. Additionally, moderator analyses were conducted on numerous participant, intervention, and study characteristics that have been deemed important in the literature. The effect size of behavioral interventions on youths’ behavioral outcomes was determined through the use of a parametric statistical method, hierarchical linear modeling. The effect size was found to be large for a single case design synthesis of 3.31 and there were two moderating effects located, one being the type of classroom a participant was educated in and the other the type of specific outcome studied. The current study is important for decision makers in schools in terms of deciding on the specifics of behavioral interventions for youth with an intellectual disability. Additionally, the results of the study may be pertinent to other practitioners who work with youth is schools and their caregivers so that they can utilize school-based interventions to help increase the presentation of appropriate behaviors and reduction of challenging behaviors.

The Caught Being Good Game (CBGG) is a classroom management intervention used in schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of point visibility on appropriate behavior, to examine the degree to which points earned by the opposing team affected the other team’s behavior, to examine both teacher and student preference for the intervention, the effect of student and teacher choice on appropriate behavior, and to systematically replicate previous research showing the effectiveness of the CBGG relative to business as usual. Consistent with previous research, CBGG increased on-task behavior compared to business as usual. Modest and temporary differentiation was observed between salient and hidden points, with hidden resulting in slightly better outcomes. A unit-price analysis further supported that on-task behavior was higher during the hidden points condition. The teacher and students reported preference for the CBGG, and we expect to see higher levels of on-task behavior during the student-choice condition.

No description available.