The demand for effective social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders is a pertinent issue for school-based professionals. One approach to increase appropriate social skills is to involve peer support by training a few socially competent children to positively interact with a student with an ASD. Potentially, training larger groups of children could result in increasing the number of different peers who would actively support positive interactions with their classmates with ASD. Thus, the present study investigated the effect of a class-wide peer-training strategy on the percentage of positive social interaction and number of peer contacts for three elementary students with autism spectrum disorders. All peers in the three different classrooms received a brief lesson on respecting differences in others and how to support all classmates during classroom and recess activities. Next, each class was taught how to support other students in the class by modeling, role playing, and didactic instruction. This training specifically targeted preferred recess activities and social skills goals of the student with an ASD. After training, peers received a verbal prompt to use skills before a recess period, implemented the procedures in the absence of direct supervision during recess, and participated for a chance to earn points towards a class-wide reward for participating in positive interactions with the student with an ASD. A multiple baseline across the three classrooms showed replicated positive effects of the intervention relative to a prior baseline condition. Results showed that the class-wide respect and social support skills training paired with a contingent reward contingency increased the level of positive social interactions as well as the number of peer contacts for all three students with autism spectrum disorders.

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Disruptive behavior within classrooms is a major concern for teachers and parents. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) provides a multi-tiered framework for schools to provide supports to students, which are matched to each student's needs. Whereas most students are successful with the school-wide supports provided to all students, approximately 20% of students are likely to require additional supports. Group contingencies have an established basis of support as effective Tier 2 interventions; however, these contingencies vary in a variety of dimensions that may influence their efficacy and acceptability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative impact of four different group contingency types (independent, interdependent, dependent, and randomized) on class-wide appropriate and disruptive student behaviors as well as how implementation of a teacher's preferred contingency may enhance student behavioral outcomes. Three general education teachers and their students participated in the study. All four group contingency types resulted in reduced disruption and increased appropriate behavior across all three classrooms. No patterns of differentiation were observed in any classroom. Teacher preference was assessed with two teachers selecting independent and two teachers selecting dependent contingencies as their preferred reward system. Implementation of the preferred contingency resulted in further improvements in both class-wide behaviors. Some evidence of generalization and maintenance was noted in all three classrooms.

The Caught Being Good Game (CBGG), a variation of Good Behavior Game, is an interdependent group contingency, which focuses on giving students points for engaging in appropriate, rule-following behavior. The present study aimed to expand the literature on CBGG by targeting students in general education classrooms and comparing the impact of student-chosen versus teacher-chosen contingency criteria on disruptive behavior and academic engagement. Four students who were at-risk for developing emotional disorders in two general elementary classrooms were targeted in the study. A multiple-baseline across participants design with an embedded alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the outcomes of the CBGG. Results indicated that the CBGG intervention resulted in decreasing disruptive behavior and increasing academic engagement for all four students although data demonstrated limited experimental control. Moderate differences in improvement in classroom behavior were observed when comparing teacher-chosen and student-chosen contingency criteria; however, the teacher-chosen criteria condition led to overall lower levels of disruptive behavior and higher levels of academic engagement. Social validity assessments indicated that both the teachers and the students found the intervention to be acceptable.

This study examined the relative impact of two different question types (multiple choice and short answer) on individual student behavior when using response cards and the potential role of teacher preference as it pertained to question type. Using an alternating treatments design across participants, the study focused on identifying the type of question that was more effective in reducing disruptive behavior and increasing academic engagement and correct response when using response cards and investigated whether implementation of teacher preferred question type enhanced student behavioral outcomes. The results indicated that response cards effectively decreased disruptive behavior and increased academic engagement and correct responses in all four participating students. However, changes in the students’ behavior and performance did not differ between question types. The results also indicated that implementation of the teacher preferred question type further decreased disruptive behavior across students.

The purpose of this study was to further examine the impact of a teacher-preferred group contingency on class-wide behavior in three general elementary education classrooms when it is used with data-based decision making by classroom teachers. A multiple baseline design across classrooms was used to examine the changes in class-wide disruptive behavior, academic engagement, and academic performance in targeted academic time periods. Data indicated that implementation of the group contingency preferred by the teachers in conjunction with data-based decision making resulted in decreases in disruptive behavior and increases in academic engagement and academic performance across classrooms. In addition, improvement in class-wide behavior was maintained at 1-week follow-up.

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Active student responding increases student academic outcome and on-task behavior. Response cards are an effective and efficient strategy for increasing active student responding. This study examined the effects of response cards on student disruptive behavior, percentage of questions answered, and accuracy of questions answered while alternating the number of teacher-directed questions across sessions. An alternating treatments design was used with 5 teacher-nominated students. During baseline (BL), the teacher used her standard lecture format, having students raise their hand when responding to a question. During the response card (RC) intervention, the teacher asked students to write responses on their white boards. Following BL, 3 conditions were rapidly alternated across sessions. Conditions included BL, RC in which the teacher asked 6 questions, and RC in which the teacher asked 12 questions. During the RC conditions, there was a decrease in disruptive behavior and an increase in the percentage and accuracy of responding.

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