No description available.

Being a teacher is not an easy job. There is an increased emphasis on evidence-based methods. Teacher praise is an effective classroom management tool. Behavior specific praise statements is a low intensity teacher delivered strategy where teachers say or write the precise behavior exhibited and how it met an expectation or affected academic/social achievement. This study aimed to increase Behavior Specific Praise Statements among three teachers in Mathematic, English and Social subject studies on student’s social behavior as a group. An intervention consisting of an hour of counseling, post-it notes, and self-registration was given. The teachers decided their own pre-set criteria. Two teachers sat a criterion of three and one teacher sat a criterion of six. The results showed that the intervention had an effect on the teachers use of BSPS. However, one teacher did not reach the pre-set criteria. Practical implications are discussed.

This study evaluated the relative contributions of behavior specific praise statements (BSPS) and the Caught Being Good Game (CBGG) on class-wide appropriate behaviors and examined teacher use of BSPS and corrective feedback. It also evaluated if changes in class-wide behaviors are maintained during follow-up and generalized to non-target academic periods. Data on teacher use of BSPS were also collected during follow-up and generalization probes to examine if the teachers continued to use BSPS during follow-up and generalize their use of BSPS to non-target academic periods. A multiple-baseline design across classrooms with an ABC sequence was used to evaluate the outcomes of the interventions. The results indicated that BSPS was sufficient in two classrooms to increase class-wide on-task behavior for over 90% of students just by explicitly giving attention for appropriate behaviors while the third classroom required implementation of CBGG which provided external reinforcers. Some evidence of generalization and maintenance was observed in all classrooms. All teaching staff's use of BSPS increased during implementation of the BSPS phase, but BSPS use decreased in follow-up, and support for generalization is lacking.

This study investigated the impact of a brief teacher training combined with use of a MotivAider that sought to simultaneously manipulate rate of opportunity to respond and positive feedback on students’ on-task behavior during a classroom activity. The goal of the training was to increase the percentage of time the learner stayed on task during the class activity. Three elementary teacher-student dyads took part in this study. An A-B-A-B withdrawal design was employed to evaluate the function of relation between independent and dependent variables. Results showed low effectiveness of brief training and MotivAider as a strategy of increasing teachers providing the opportunity to respond, positive performance feedback, and student on-task behavior. Although changes in teacher behavior were observed, a functional relation was not established. There were several limitations identified in this study related to data collection process, IOA results, and beginning baseline and intervention phases. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Behavior-specific praise has been shown to increase rate of desired behaviors for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, though it is rarely used by caregivers in residential facilities for adults with disabilities. Prompting in the form of tactile stimulation has been demonstrated to increase rate of behavior-specific praise delivered by teachers and caregivers. The purpose of the current study was to increase the quantity and quality of behavior-specific praise statements that were delivered by caregivers to individuals at a large residential facility for adults with disabilities. A tactile prompting device (Gymboss Interval Timer and Stopwatch) was provided to the caregivers and set to vibrate for one second at intervals of five minutes, for a total of six intervals. Instructions were provided to the caregivers to deliver behavior-specific praise statements, for appropriate behaviors, to their assigned clients every time a vibration occurred. Examples of behavior-specific praise statements were provided to the caregivers before each session, but no feedback was delivered during the prompting phase. Results indicated that a tactile prompting device was effective at increasing rate of behavior-specific praise statements delivered by caregivers in as little as one session.

No description available.

Research suggests a compelling correlation between teacher behavior and effective learning environments (Sutherland & Morgan, 2003; Brophy & Good, 1986). Focusing on the evidence-based teaching skill of offering behavior-specific praise (BSP), the researcher worked with 3 elementary-level general educators in a tiered model of instruction, commonly known as response to intervention (RtI). Although RtI commonly provides targeted instructional support to students, this study, a systematic replication of Myers, Simonsen and Sugai (2011), used the RtI framework to provide professional development to teachers. The researcher also tracked the behavior of 3 students, identified by the teachers as having behavioral difficulties, who became the focus of each teacher's BSP. Results showed rapid and somewhat sustained increases in rates of BSP following the Tier 2 and 3 interventions (video self-monitoring and peer coaching), but not following the Tier 1 intervention (schoolwide in-service training). Averages for all 3 students' on-task behavior increased with increased teacher BSP. Implications for educators, administrators, and researchers are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of e-mail specific performance feedback (ESPF) on increasing the quantity and quality of pre-school teacher behavior specific praise (BSP) using a multiple probe design across 4 general education pre-school classrooms which included students with and without disabilities. Researchers also wanted to examine the effects of the teacher’s BSP on student’s task engagement during class activities. Results indicated a functional relation between ESPF and increasing the quantity and quality of BSP statements. Results also indicated that increased quantity and quality of BSP statements increased average task engagement across all student participants.

Despite an abundance of research on interventions to improve social skills of young children with intellectual disabilities (ID), there is limited research on interventions aimed at improving social skills of adults with ID. The purpose of this single-subject study was to evaluate the outcomes of the Behavioral Opportunities for Social Skills (BOSS) teaching program for adults with ID. The theoretical framework for this study was Skinner's operant conditioning which incorporates the principles of applied behavior analysis, reinforcement, and operant extinction. After direct support professionals were trained in the BOSS teaching program, research questions were used to determine (a) changes in the frequency of praise statements given by direct support professionals to adults with ID; (b) differences in the frequency of cooperative and polite behaviors of adults with ID; and (c) increases or decreases in the frequency of challenging behaviors exhibited by adults with ID. A multiple-baseline design across participants and settings was used to evaluate the behavioral changes. Prosocial behaviors of 3 adults with ID and 3 direct support professionals' delivery of specific praise statements showed visually discernable increases and large effect sizes (ES -?¥ 0.92). The outcomes of this study contribute to positive social change as demonstrated by the positive behavioral changes achieved by the adults with ID who increased their prosocial behaviors and the direct support professionals who increased their delivery of specific praise statements following the implementation of the BOSS teaching program.

Out-of-school time (OST) programs are under increasing pressure to improve student achievement. However, OST program administrators face a number of challenges to improving program effectiveness including inconsistent student participation, inexperienced staff members, and a lack of high-quality professional development. OST program administrators can address these challenges by implementing staff development practices that encourage the use of effective instructional strategies. Specific praise is a simple and effective instructional strategy that has been linked to improved student engagement, enhanced academic achievement, and stronger student-teacher relationships. Unfortunately, there have been very few studies examining the effects of interventions designed to increase OST staff members’ use of specific praise. One staff development strategy that could be both feasible and effective is the use of self-management. Although there are a variety of approaches to self-management designed for teachers, not all self-management strategies are effective. One strategy that might increase the feasibility and effectiveness of self-management programs is the use of student feedback. The process of comparing self-evaluations against a third-party standard such as student feedback is called matching in the self-management literature. Students can be a useful source of feedback because they observe their teachers frequently and can report the use of instructional strategies like specific praise. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a self-management procedure using student feedback on OST staff members’ use of specific praise. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to examine the effects of the intervention on specific praise rates. All participants increased their use of specific praise after implementing the self-management procedures. General praise rates became more variable throughout the study. These findings provide evidence for a functional effect on specific praise but not for general praise. Teachers reported high levels of satisfaction with the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention. A statistically significant correlation was found between specific praise rates and student reports of specific praise.