Off-task behavior is a major challenge. Various interventions have addressed this problem. Self-monitoring interventions are very effective, including the MotivAider, a self-timer that silently signals the student to observe his/her own Academic Engagement Time (AET). Studies of the MotivAider have reported increased AET., (Legge, DeBar, & Alber-Morgan, 2010; Morrison, McDougal, Black, & King-Sears, 2014) systematically faded the MotivAider to sustain increased AET. The present study replicated and extended this research using a response-dependent fading (Fox, Shores, Lindeman, & Strain, 1984) of the MotivAider to sustain the observe AET of a 6th grade student with Learning Disabilities. A single subject reversal desig analyzed the effects of the MotivAider and fading. Compared to baseline, the MotivAider increased AET while its temporary removal resulted in decreased AET. The singnal was gradually faded with maintained AET within intervention levels. Social validity data is also presented and implications for further research and educational practice discussed.

Students who receive special education services in resource classroom settings often engage in low levels of on-task behavior during independent work time. Given the independent work demands in middle school classrooms, it is crucial for students who receive services in a resource classroom to engage in high levels of on-task behavior. The researchers examined the effects of activity schedules on on-task behavior, on-schedule behavior, and percentage of work problems correct in four middle school students receiving special education services in a resource math classroom. Results of the study demonstrate that on-task and on-schedule behavior increased for all participants following the implementation of the activity schedule in both math and language arts classroom settings. Both students and teachers indicated that they liked the intervention and the activity schedule improved on-task behavior. Results of this study extend the use of activity schedules to a novel setting and participant population.

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate the effects of a positive peer reporting package, namely the “Duck, Duck Tootle Intervention Program” on on-task behavior of target students and classwide on-task behavior. An ABAB withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effects of the tootling package on classwide and target students’ rates of positive peer reporting and on-task behavior. Cluster sampling was employed to select a total of 10 classes for this study. Five intact regular education elementary classrooms were chosen across grade levels to serve as the experimental group. Two target students identified by each classroom teacher as having behavior and/or academic difficulties were participants in the study. This 21-day intervention was implemented in a Chapter I elementary school, located within a low-income suburb in a large metropolitan area in the southwestern United States. The students were in kindergarten through fourth grade and ranged in age from 5 to 9.6 years. Specific target behaviors were identified for each participant (e.g. out-of-place behavior, inappropriate noise). The collected data for each of the 10 elementary school target students in this study included (a) percentage of on-task behavior, (b) percentage of target behavior, and (c) individual tootle counts. Also included in data collection were classwide tootle counts. Teacher procedural integrity data was also obtained. Results revealed that during the tootling intervention phase, in which group contingency and feedback procedures were implemented, on-task behavior increased and the mean number of individual and classwide tootles increased. Decreases in on-task behavior and mean tootles were observed during the second baseline phase. Limitations associated with the current study, implications for implementation in alternative education settings and future research are discussed.

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Teachers appear to feel challenged by children’s off-task behavior in the classroom. Children’s off-task behavior can result in reduced academic engagement, increased teaching stress, and strained teacher-child relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of kinder training on young children’s on-task behavior in the classroom. This study utilized an experimental single-case methodology and a multiple baseline across subjects design. Three elementary school teachers conducted weekly individual play sessions with students they identified as frequently exhibiting off-task behavior. The three children ranged in age from five to six years: two males and one female, two Caucasian non-Hispanic and one biracial. Two trained observers repeatedly assessed the child participants’ on-task behavior using the Direct Observation Form throughout the baseline and intervention phases. The findings provide support for kinder training as an effective play-based professional development-training model that can improve children’s on-task behavior. Results demonstrated that all child participants showed improvement in on-task classroom behavior. Visual analysis revealed that all child participants demonstrated a positive change in on-task behavior during the intervention phase. All teacher participants reported observing improvement in the child participants’ on-task behavior and teacher-child relationships. Teachers’ post-intervention reports supported the notion of reciprocal interactions among teacher-child relationships, understanding of children’s lifestyle and goals of misbehavior, and children’s on-task behavior.

The following study compared the use of the MotivAider as a self-monitoring tactile device between an elementary age student with ADHD and his teacher to increase ontask behavior. The design of this study was an alternating treatments design, which helped to determine the more effective condition. The results of this study indicated that the use of the MotivAider by the student was more effective than the use of the device by the teacher.

Abstract Social communication skills play a central role in the developmental outcomes for young children with autism. Due to deficits in social communication skills, many young children with autism develop problem behavior. Providing these children with the right tools to communicate properly may decrease their problem behavior. This study examines the impact of contingency mapping intervention on problem behavior and functional communication skills in three children with autism, using a multiple-baseline design. Before implementation of contingency mapping, verbal contingency was implemented in the first phase of intervention, which was associated with minimal increases in communication skills and decreases in problem behavior across children. Further increases in communication skills and decreases in problem behavior in the contingency mapping condition indicate that the use of the contingency map as a visual aid may be an effective way to augment the effects of contingency instruction.

Abstract Guided notes and response cards have individually been found effective at increasing student performance and active participation, however, no known studies have compared the effects of response cards with the effects of guided notes to determine if one is more effective than the other at increasing student performance and on-task behavior. In order to evaluate the efficacy of these two teaching methods, two different teaching conditions were examined: guided notes and response cards for in-lecture review. An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the effects of these two conditions on post-lecture quiz scores, competing academic behaviors and academic responding in two university level behavior analysis courses. The results of this research demonstrated that both guided notes and response cards were effective at maintaining high student academic performance. Guided notes appeared to be more effective at decreasing student's competing academic behaviors while response cards were more preferred by both students and teachers.

abstract: The following study evaluated the effectiveness of a self-monitoring strategy on independent work behavior. The three subjects were in first grade, seven years old, identified with mild mental retardation (MIMR), and had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) with targeted functional academic and behavior goals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-monitoring strategy on on-task independent work behavior and task completion. The research sought to determine whether or not a self-monitoring strategy would affect on-task independent work behavior and task completion. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used. Data were collected using a frequency count of off-task behavior. The self-monitoring strategy was found to be successful with all three subjects in the study. Overall, the subjects demonstrated a decrease in off-task behavior during independent work time after the intervention was introduced. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Special Education 2010