Problem behavior, such as off &ndash - &ndash task behavior, is one of the most commonly cited challenges competing with school readiness skills for young children with disabilities. This study demonstrated how a functional behavior assessment can be conducted in a school setting to determine the functional relation between off &ndash - &ndash task behavior and academic engagement stimuli for three kindergarten students at &ndash - &ndash risk of academic failure. Indirect and descriptive behavior assessments were first conducted to determine the hypothesized function of off &ndash - &ndash task behavior. Two experimental functional analysis conditions were then constructed to confirm the hypothesized function. Results demonstrated that when preferred academic engagement stimuli were used during instruction, escape &ndash - &ndash maintained off &ndash - &ndash task behavior decreased substantially. Therefore, the use of preferred stimuli as an instructional support may have abolished the value of escape as reinforcement for off &ndash - &ndash task behavior. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:theses-2479 |
| Date | 01 August 2014 |
| Creators | Schlenker-Korb, Rebecca Gail |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses |
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