Hyman Hops

Effects of Academic Survival Skill Training On Low Achieving First Graders1

AbstractEighteen first-grade children, twelve experimental and six controls, were involved in a study to investigate the causal relationship between reading achievement and the classroom behaviors of attending, working, volunteering, and looking around. These behaviors were chosen as prior research had demonstrated a correlational relationship between them and first-grade reading achievement. An intervention program was introduced to increase the behaviors of the experimental children. The experimental children had significantly greater gains in the behaviors and in achievement than did the controls. The implications of these findings for handicapped children are discussed.

Differential Effects of Reinforcing Topographic Components of Social Interaction Analysis and Direct Replication

This study investigated the effects of reinforcing, singly and in combination, three topographic components of social interaction among socially withdrawn children assigned to an experimental class setting. These were: (a) initiating positive interactions with others (START); (b) responding to positive initiations by others (ANSWER); and (c) maintaining social interactions over time (CONTINUE). Three groups of six children each, with low peer interaction rates and enrolled in grades I to 6, served as subjects. Three experiments are reported. In experiments I and 2, the above topographic components were selectively reinforced in differing orders. In experiment 3, these components were reinforced simultaneously within ongoing social interactions. Results showed that reinforcement of Starts and Answers suppressed interactive behavior, while reinforcement of Continuing and overall time spent engaged in interactive behavior produced powerful and replicable increases in child social interaction.

Generalization and maintenance of classroom treatment effects

Two experiments involving children with behavior problems investigated, respectively, (1) the maintenance of appropriate classroom behavior following treatment in an experimental classroom, and (2) cross-situational consistency and generalization of treatment effects. In Expt 1, two groups of four subjects were observed after treatment in a token economy operated classroom. Procedures to facilitate maintenance of treatment-produced behavior changes were successfully implemented for one group of subjects in their respective regular classrooms. The effects of the combined treatment generalized to a significantly greater degree in the subsequent academic year than did the treatment effects for subjects who were involved in only experimental classroom procedures. The results were discussed comparing process variables with duration of treatment. In Expt 2, children from the first study were observed in family interactions to determine whether they were also behavior problems at home. Results indicated that only one of the five subjects studied was deviant in the home setting. Further observations following experimental classroom treatment showed more child deviancy and parental negativeness than before school intervention. A “behavioral contrast” interpretation of the results was discussed.

Deviant classroom behavior as a function of combinations of social and token reinforcement and cost contingency

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a series of program variables in modifying deviant classroom behavior within an experimental class setting. Experiment I evaluated combinations of one setting variable and three treatment variables (social reinforcement, token reinforcement, and cost contingency) in modifying the behavior of five subjects. Experiment II replicated the treatment procedures on a second group of subjects and evaluated combined effects of the above variables when applied to deviant behavior over an extended treatment period. Combinations of variables were less effective in controlling behavior than was simultaneous application of all treatment variables. Functional relationships were established between increases in appropriate behavior and both token reinforcement and cost contingency. Increases in appropriate behavior were associated with a change in setting and with manipulation of social reinforcement from the teachers. However, no attempt was made to establish functional relationships between these two variables and changes in appropriate behavior. Effects obtained with the combined replication of all treatment variables in Experiment II were virtually identical to those obtained in Experiment I.

The Program for Academic Survival Skills (PASS): Effects on Student Behavior and Achievement.

Abstract The effects of the Program for Academic Survival Skills (PASS), a group behavior management program, on behavioral observation data and standardized achievement test measures were investigated. Fifty-four of the 96 selected low-achieving, low-survival-skill students of normal IQ were assigned to an experimental condition in which their teachers used PASS. The remaining 42 were assigned to a control condition. Results indicated PASS produced significant gains in survival skills during its operation and one week following program termination in both reading and mathematics periods across grades 1–3. Findings for achievement indicated a significant gain for first-grade experimentals only in reading, with a similar but nonsignificant gain for first-grade mathematics.

The durability of student behavior change: A comparative analysis at follow-up*

This study investigated the maintenance of classroom behavior changes produced by the Program for Academic Survival Skills (PASS). The PASS program only and two maintenance enhancement conditions were contrasted to a notreatment control group at 1 week following the program, 3 weeks following the enhancement conditions, and at 6 weeks following termination of all procedures. Results indicated the procedures contained in the PASS program were sufficient to produce maintenance over a 9-week period.

The school psychologist as a behavior management consultant in a special class setting

Abstract The efficacy of the consultants role in dealing with problems in large special classes and the value of introducing operant techniques through untrained teachers were investigated in the present study. Twenty-two out-of-control boys in a special class for emotionally disturbed children were brought under the control of a number of token reinforcement systems with a resultant increase in task-oriented behavior and academic productivity. With teachers acting as observer-recorders and behavior change agents the school psychologist was able to minimize his role as a consultant with considerable success.

Treatment of Self-Injurious Behavior through Overcorrection Procedures

This present study sought to decrease the self-injurious behavior of a 37-month-old child enrolled in a preschool program. The subject persisted in biting and mouthing his left hand, resulting in reddening and callousing of the area between the thumb and index finger. A multiple-baseline design with a reversal component was used. In multiple-baseline fashion, restitutional and positive practice overcorrection were tried with reductions in both biting and mouthing during two separate periods of time in the preschool setting. Withdrawal and reintroduction of overcorrection, representing the reversal component, established unequivocally that reductions in the self-abusive behavior were attributed to the overcorrection treatment procedure. In a third, untreated setting—the home—no transfer of training was indicated. Strategies are offered that might result in generalized treatment effects.