Consistent high levels of physical activity are necessary for improved health in fitness in all individuals. Children are expected to engage in 60+ minutes a day of physical activity, but most do not meet this level (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Methods to increase physical activity in these populations via social consequences and environmental manipulations have demonstrated efficacy in the past (Larson, Normand, Morley, and Miller, 2013) though primarily in a one-on-one setting. As most children’s opportunities for physical activity occur in group settings (i.e., recess) this study evaluates a possible observational learning approach to increasing physical activity among small play groups of young children via contingent delivery of praise. This study will evaluate the effects of contingent delivery of praise to one child on the physical activity of the entire group. The information obtained may be useful for the development of more effective methods of increasing physical activity in recess settings. Results, their implications, and potential future directions of research are discussed.

Contingent praise is widely recognized as a universal, practical, and highly effective classroom management tool. While previous research has examined the effectiveness of performance feedback to increase teachers’ use of contingent praise in the classroom and to observe its effects on students’ behavior, no research exists on the effects of increased ratios of praise-to-behavior correction statements by paraprofessionals in the classrooms of preschoolers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This research was conducted in an urban, specialized pre-school program, for young students with developmental disabilities. The researcher implemented a performance feedback protocol, measuring two paraprofessionals’ ability to achieve a target 1:1, followed by a 4:1 ratio of praise-to-behavior correction statements. Students’ on-task, off-task, and disruptive behaviors were also measured. Results demonstrated that: (a) performance feedback was an effective and well received tool for in / Applied Behavioral Analysis