Social Skills

Social skills is one of the most difficult concepts to teach individuals because it requires a mechanism that many individuals with disabilities lack - reading other people's social cues. As a result, many individuals either do not generalize the skills they have been taught or they use them inappropriately. When this occurs, it is called a performance deficit - a person has the necessary social skills needed to perform socially appropriate behaviors, but does not use them or does not use them at socially appropriate levels.

I worked with a student a few years ago who was 5 years old at the time. He used to love Barney the dinosaur, so we taught him to ask students if they wanted to play with his figurines. He would ask "Wanna play Barney with me?" I was asked to work on a different case and did not see the child again until he was 8 years old. I was observing him in the classroom and saw him go up to a student and ask "wanna play Barney with me?" The teacher was thrilled at the fact that he had maintained his social skills throughout the years. What do you guys think about this situation? Does this student have a performance deficit or has he mastered his social skills?

Visual Prompts

Visual prompts have assisted some of my students to learn the skill of addition. In order to teach comprehension of this skill, I allowed my students to add two numbers using manipulatives. After this skill was mastered, the students were taught to add using a number line. These visual cues have supported my students in the process of addition and virtually guaranteed success, which is a powerful motivator. Hopefully, my students will begin to memorize these addition facts to increase fluency.

How do you use visual supports in your instruction?

An Advantage of Community- Based Instruction

Community-Based Instruction is instruction that is carried out outside the confines of the classroom. Students either walk or take public transportation to travel to a nearby grocery store, restaurant, convenience store, etc.. and apply skills that they have learned within a classroom environment. This is a clear example of training using sufficient exemplars. The behavior of making a purchase is not always performed in exactly the same way in exactly the same place. Students need to be provided with sufficient lessons and examples to generalize the skill of making a purchase. Student store in a classrom is one way of teaching this skill; however, performing this skill in a real life situation allows for generalization. The community is the most ideal place of instruction since it also prepares them for the realities of daily living.

RtI and Behavior

I spent Friday at an inservice on RtI and behavior. The women who did the presentation are from San Bernadino. The gave a lot of good information and also a website with forms and ideas that can be used in a classroom, school wide or district wide. The website is: www.modelprogram.com. Everyone should check it out, it may not seem worth looking at unless you are in classroom, but if I had know about this website before I started teaching, I would have had a much better start to the year.

Self Management and students with Autism

I found it interesting to note that in chapter 11 there was a breakdown of the effectiveness of self management with students with severe disabilities. This made me think of students I have worked with who have autism. To me, self management would be quite successful. I have had students that were fascinated with time, which tells me they would be great at monitoring how long it would take for them to complete a task or how long they must stay on task. Often these students would remind me of what they were supposed to do and when, so I say we should be taking advantage of these strengths within our students with autism. I have been told by my superiors that many children with autism want to follow "the rules" and gain a lot from structure. If we could work with students to have them create and be responsible for their own aspects of structure, this could be very useful. However the down side I see is a student becoming upset when getting only 4 points instead of the 5 points he wanted. So teaching some flexibility is also important, and focusing on a range of appropriate behavior and not just one possible way to be successful. Do any of you have any thoughts on this subject? Autism is definitely one of those areas we will most likely deal with and brainstorming solutions now can always help us in the future.

Final Review

Basically, you'll need to know concepts and issues that were addressed in the SPED 553 course AFTER the midterm exam...understanding that some concepts were covered BEFORE and AFTER the midterm...so, they will be included in the final exam.

Be knowledgeable of the following:

* Positive and negative reinforcement
* Punishment
* primary and secondary reinforcers
* schedules of reinforcement
* Stimulus control
* Generalization
* Elements of a contract
* Prompts
* Differential schedules of reinforcement (DRA, DRI, DRO, DRL)
* Social Skills (Performance vs. Skill deficits)
* Given a case,

• know how to identify the problem behavior using appropriate terms,
• select data collection systems,
• analyze data, determine if beh. is performance or skill deficit,
• develop appropriate strategies,
• identify and make recommendations for changes in the ecology/environment,
• develop a self-recording system, and
• teach student to self-reinforce.

I will see you all sometime next week...and if I don't see you, have a great summer!

Jose Luis

substitute teacher help

I have recently ended a long term subsitute teaching assignment (6 mos.) for a teacher on medical leave. I now find myself working in different classrooms every day. I encounter many different students with many different issues and behaviors. Most of the time I don't know the students and sometimes I don't even know their names. Most of the time there are no serious behavior problems and if there are I just send them to the office. Even though there are usually no serious behavior problems many student could have improved behavior and students who may have behavior issues could be kept from escalating to that point. I try to use positive reinforcement as much as possible in the form of verbal praise. Does anyone have any creative ideas about how to manage student behavior for a short period of time when you do not know the students?

Who Are We Serving??

Chapter twelve reminds us that we must be responsible in our use of behavior analysis procedures. There is one section in particular that emphasizes that the behaviors targeted for change should be those whose change will benefit the student. As we begin state testing, I think that this is an important reminder because it's easy to forget that we are serving individuals and young people. It is all to easy for our students to become numbers, statistics, or miniature pscyhological experiments.

I keep signs posted around my desk and around the room that remind me why I teach, and that I am ultimately there to serve the best interests of the children. Does anybody else have any ideas about how to keep the children's interests at the forefront?

Self monitoring and recording Attempt

I just wanted to share an story. After reading all of this great stuff on self monitoring and recording, I decided to try to apply it to my current job, which resulted in some less than positive feedback from other school personnel.

I am currently a 1 on 1 aide for a 4th grade student who has diabetes, NO cognitive delays, and is in a general ed. classroom. He has a one on one primarily to ride the bus with him, but I have also been given directions to help monitor his behavior, as he is prone to behavior issues when his blood sugar is low. Every school day, Peter (the student I work with) tests his blood sugar 4-5 times. He is fairly independent with his testing and understands all the devices and numbers that go along with his condition. After every time he tests in class, he gets up and calls the nurse, who writes down in his log book his numbers, and advices him what to do if his numbers are off (which is only about 15% of the time).

After reading the last couple of chapters I began to think that Peter should be self monitoring and recording. And so I came up with the idea of having Peter keep his own log, as well as having the nurses log in the nurse's office. Peter (with my supervision) would learn how to fill out his log, and keep track of his numbers during the day. Doing this would be good practice for Peter's independent health monitoring and would give him a feeling of "responsibility" over his own health. It could also be a scaffold eventually leading to Peter being less reliant on calling the nurse several times a day (having to get up in class to call the nurse, even when his numbers are normal, is a big class distraction.)

However, when I approached the school nurse with this idea, she immediately shot it down. She did not think that Peter would be responsible enough and did not see the point. I was very disappointed. It seems like all this self monitoring and recording is a great idea, but I believe that a lot of adults would have a hard time relinquishing power to students. Thoughts?

Self Reinforcement

Self Reinforcement is the ultimate goal to teaching the children in our classrooms. When a child can self reinforce they are no longer relying on an outside source to supply their reinforcement. The individual knows what is reinforcing and then is able to manage their own behaviors. This is a life skill that is very necessary for the children we teach to blend into society. Self-recording charts are an example of how to teach students to monitor their own behavior. An advantage to charts like this is that students can observe and record more than one behavior at a time. In addition, meeting their goal on a self-recording chart can be rewarding in itself. Just filling in the chart and knowing they met their goals can be enough to keep them continuing to perform their desired behavior, even without praise or recognition from others. If self-recording is not enough to maintain their behavior, self reinforcement after completing a certain amount of steps could be used. For example, once the child has completed 2 assignments, then they could take a break for a few minutes and engage in a preferred activity.

Self-Recording

Self-recording is “data collection on one’s own behavior (also called self-observation, self-evaluation, or self-monitoring)". I engage in self-recording more than I realized! One strategy I use is checking off tasks from my “to-do” list. Although the task may not be difficult, just the idea of accomplishing something is rewarding. My dilemma is how to get students to want or strive for that feeling of accomplishment and eventually use that feeling as a reinforcement. This is probably a task that will take more than just one school year. When asked to complete an assignment or task, I usually get “I don’t know”, “I don’t know how”, or “I can’t do it”. How can I use self-recording to motivate students? And how do you teach students the importance of being honest to his/herself when conducting self-evaluations?

A caution about audience and the benefits of video

Recently I have become aware that it is really important to not only assess the consequence of behavior like getting attention for their behavior but also the intended audience. For awhile we have been trying to ignore the inappropriate behavior of a student who speaks inappropriately to the staff in a variety of ways. The behavior really seemed to be seeking attention from the staff since it was directed at the staff. However, after watching the students behavior on video it became clear that he is attempting to gain attention from his peers. While he was addressing the teacher and the inappropriate comments were directed at getting the teachers attention. It became clear that while we, the staff, were trying to ignore the behavior to put it on extinction, he was looking at the other students to see their reaction to us ignoring him since his behaviors were so over the top. We weren't seeing him look at the other students who have been trained to ignore as well but find it much more difficult to do so. I really dislike being video taped but it is instances like these that remind me how valuable a tool recording the students and yourself can be in the assessment process of figuring out the ABCs. It lets you see things in a different light.

Managing one's own behavior

After reading chapter 11, I realized how important it is to teach students how to manage their own behavior. Teachers at all levels can help their students learn goal setting. I realized that I have been teaching goals to my students without even knowing it! I work in a preschool class and potty training is a goal most of the students want to achieve. All three of the adults in the classroom make going potty a huge deal and show how proud we are of the students when they use the potty and so do the students. The students want to be a big boy or girl and wear cool underwear so they strive to achieve their goal. The students that do not want to achieve this goal don't until they are ready. We can not force a child to use the restroom, when they are ready and want to achieve the goal they usually can train within a few short weeks. I also notice in my classroom that lots of students use self-instruction, including myself. My students talk their way through problem solving when something goes wrong or they are working on a tough puzzle. We have an ABC puzzle and the student's usually say the letter then look all over the puzzle to find where it goes. I know they are using self instruction skills while putting the puzzle together.

Inclusion

After responding to Tonnette’s thoughts on the lack of education and training provided to general education teachers on the subject of applied behavior analysis, I find expanding on the topic of Inclusion as this topic is important when considering inclusion as well as a few others. Let’s begin with a definition of inclusion: a student with a disability receiving special education services being served in the general education environment. It is more and more prevalent, whether it is to find a loophole to NCLB or simply allow special education students exposure to typical peers in order to gain social skills with the added benefit of a more “real world” mixed environment that will likely exist after public education ends. It has had many benefits for all students, but there are some definite concerns when not implemented correctly or misused. I have worked in inclusion for almost five years now and the conflicts between the views and methods of general education teachers and special education teachers have been the most difficult part of my job. This first began when I assisted a young girl who was medically fragile. The general education teacher did not feel this student should be treated any different from her typical peers, that is did not see that this child, though included, still should have her needs met. Now at my current job, the general education teacher does not think that my student, in her words, needs to “get it,” i.e. learn. These conflicts create some difficult situations, mostly because the training a general educator receives and in fact often whole paradigm is much different from that of a special educator. Also, there are often just “too many cooks.” In my position as a special education aide I likely speak to five people each day that tell me what to do, some general ed, some special ed, and I am left to determine whose opinion has the most validity. Is it the child’s case manager who has followed the child from day one? Is it the general educator who spends most of her day with the student, observing him the most, but does not have the special education background or insight? I’m sure some of these questions arise in this type of position no matter what, but to me, if inclusion continues to be the direction of special education, there needs to be much more cohesion within education, training, and management of all educators involved in inclusion.

Functional Skills

Students need to learn skills that will enable them to function effectively in their environment. Teaching those skills should be the primary focus of every student's educational program. Functional skills vary from person to person. It is functional for some students to learn the multiplication tables in order to learn higher mathematical concepts, and, likewise, it is functional for some students to learn household skills so they can contribute to the duties around their house. According to the textbook, "In every case, the choice of skills must be based on the assumption that unless evidence clearly exists to the contrary, an individual...is capable of full participation in community life and [has] a right to such participation.”

At what point should the attempt to teach academic or pre-academic skills to students with disabilities be abandoned? Should the attempt even be made with some students?

Generalization

Generalization can be achieved only when an individual can perform a skill in conditions other than that of acquisition. As teachers, when teaching a student to generalize, it is very important that we vary instruction, change the environment and stimuli, as well as have a variety of people teaching the skill to help our students access their skills across a multitude of environments.

Consider this case:

An aide in the classroom has been teaching a student how to button her jacket. The child's mother has provided the aide with 3 different jackets - all winter coats with large buttons. After 3 weeks of practice, the child has mastered the skill. After hearing about the student's huge accomplishment, the teacher decides to give the child a pair of jeans to button to reinforce her for her mastery in the newly acquired skill. The child puts on the jeans, but is unsuccessful with the button. What the aide have done differently to prevent this situation from occurring?

Graded Work Posted

All graded work as been posted outside of my office door. Please make the time to drop by and pick up your graded assignments as there may be feedback you will need in preparing your final class project.

Thanks,

Dr. A

Stanford Prison Experiment...

I would think many of you would have heard of the Stanford prison study (in which student volunteers in a mock prison transformed with startling speed into sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners), but I heard an interview with the creator of the study and author of a new book today on NPR--Philip Zimbardo.

It really brought the effects internal reinforcement (power) and punishment (by guards to prisoners) to mind. Basically, all the boys were screened, and none had criminal records, and interestingly, when asked whether they preferred to be a guard or prisoner, not one wanted to be a guard. They all felt like they might be a prisoner at some point, but they were not going to school to be prison guards.

http://www.prisonexp.org

If you get a chance, I would be interested to know if anyone thinks behaviors and reinforcement/punishment was involved and how...

General Education

I am wondering why general ed teachers are not taught about applied behavior analysis. I happen to know they are not because I have a general ed credential. I think there may have been a lecture about postive reinforcement but, that was not the focus of our ed psych class. As far as classroom management it was all about having consequences (not consequences like we talk about, consequences meaning a nice word for punishment). If this is the best way to deal with problem behaviors, why aren't gen ed teachers taught about it? General ed teachers have plenty of students with problem behaviors and general ed teachers teach lots of students in special ed.

Applied Behavior Analysis

I am currently at a non-public school where the program is largely based on applied behavior analysis. Most students require replacement of problem behaviors using Behavior Intervention Plans. Functional Analysis Assessments are conducted on an ongoing basis in order to meet the changing needs of each individual. Applied Behavior Analysis involves implementing the scope and sequence of a BIP.

Altering the antecedents to the problem behavior and managing the consequences for problem behaviors are a systematic and effective way to implement a plan. Teachers must be skilled in teaching desirable behaviors such as a) waiting for a preferred activity, b)transitioning away from a preferred activity and c) session skills during instruction. They must also have a plan for consequence management for the problem behavior and for the adaptive/alternative behaviors. It is important to fade antecedent management strategies.

"Data collection" are the key words highlighted in a great big neon sign! I have found that teaching guided by daily measures (data collection) is an effective way to create student IEP goals and objectives, conduct Functional Analysis Assessments and create individualized BIPs.

Uncooperative staff

In this week's chapter, the authors examined concerns and doubts surrounding ABA. In my experience at schools I have met with a lot of trepadation and wariness about ABA from school staff. Specifically, earlier this year I worked at a site where a SPED clas had a student with some behavior issues, pinching, throwing, etc, and the school was advised by the student's behavior consultant (who came to school once a week) to use ABA and positive reinforcment and to decrese the amount of "punishment" (time outs, etc.) and negative stimuli. The teacher and classroom staff happily adopted this new policy. However, other school staff didn't buy into this theory and continued to yell/berate this student when he misbraved and were relunctant to give any positive reinforcement. These staff members included recess moinitors, lunchroom staff, library staff, and other teachers. The teacher talked to these staff members, but they only followed this child's plan when the teacher or consultant were around. Because of this, the student's behavior plan wasn't as effective as it could have been.
Has anyone successfully brought other reluctatn staff on board with ABA and how?

Inclusion

Is inclusion always really the LRE?

I was recently asked to take a special assignment in my district. I am helping to transition a new 3rd grade student from out of state into his new classroom. His qualifiying condition is Autism and is quite verbal and social. He does math at grade level, decodes on a 2nd grade level, and comprehends at a 1st grade level. He receives RSP services for 25% of the day. He came to us with a 12 page behavior support plan that is the most involved I have ever seen. For every 15 minutes that he is on task, he gets a "green light" and earns a 3 minute break which consists of a playing a game with a teacher. He gets to watch a video after recess and lunch for 10 minutes if he behaves on the playground. If he gets more than 50% green lights, he earns a "big reward" before lunch and at the end of the day. After a week with this kid, I feel like the entire day is a big game of Chutes and Ladders with 5 minutes of instruction squeezed in here and there.

Problem behaviors are said to include hitting, inappropriate comments, and being off task, but they are rarely seen because he is always happy earning his games. I have been told that we will follow this plan until the IEP at the end of the month. The parents want to keep this placement because they feel it is LRE. If his old school was so successful at inclusion, why is he getting 3 minute break every 15 minutes? This plan has been in place for over a year and there is no provision for fading this reward system.

Does this kid really have access to the general ed curriculum with this type of programming? I don't think so.

Controversy Surrounding Applied Behavior Analysis

According to our textbook, Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers, ABA has always been a subject of controversy. Referring to ABA as behavior modification can cause confusion because the term "modification" has been often misused, referring to any procedure that has the potential to change behavior. This is the reason the term Applied Behavior Analysis is used as opposed to behavior modification.

Another opposing viewpoint with regards to Applied Behavior Analysis comes from individuals who believe that any attempt to change or modify another person’s behavior is coercive and inhumane. This viewpoint is made by individuals who describe themselves as “humanists.” Humanists argue that to change another individual’s behavior violates their free will and personal freedom.

According to the textbook, ABA was nearly ignored by researchers and educators outside of special education during the 1980s, possibly because its critics perceived “that the battle had been won and “behaviorism” defeated.” Recently, ABA has been under scrutiny once again even by special education teachers. Some possible explanations for these attacks are:

Behavioral approaches are too much work and provide too little reinforcement.
Behaviorism contradicts the popular developmental views of education and psychology.
Behavior analysis is a threat to the prevailing power structures in education and psychology.
Positive reinforcement is a practice that often lacks social acceptability.
Behavior analysis fails to glorify human beings as do other psychologies and philosophies.

What is your viewpoint on ABA? Do you agree or disagree with the critics?

Consistency: an essential element

The importance of knowing the Law
30 EC 56520 - Behavioral Interventions Legislative Findings, Declarations and Intent

That teachers of children with special needs require training and guidance that provides positive ways for working successfully with children who have difficulties conforming to acceptable behavioral patterns in order to provide an environment in which learning can occur.

That behavioral management plans be developed and used, to the extent possible, in a consistent manner when the pupil is also the responsibility of another agency for residential care or related services.

I am currently working with a student whose behaviors can be operationally defined as hitting staff and students, biting, spitting, throwing himself on the floor, running out of the classroom, hiding under tables, etc. His behaviors have increased over the past week and half. He is currently in middle school and rotates between three classrooms, each run by one teacher and three instructional assistants. I feel that there is no consistency in the manner his behaviors are managed, in the use of reinforcements and in how the student is treated by staff when his behaviors escalate. As the law dictates, behavior management plans should be developed and implemented in a consistent manner. My student has demonstrated these behaviors on and off for the past three months and still no functional analysis has been done. Needless to say, a behavior intervention plan has not been created.

Please explain the ways you would initiate and coordinate communication and collaboration with the IEP team.

Managing Behaviors

Right now I am working in a preschool with two year olds. Currently I am having a little bit of difficulty with a few select students in the room. It seems that they have a "love/hate" relationship with each other and feed off of each other. One girl, which is a co-worker's daughter, really seems to be the leader and when she does something the other student seems to follow. Especially if one of the teachers ask her to stop. I know that acknowledging it just draws attention to the situation and for a while we would just ignore it and praise the students doing what was suppose to be done. However, that does not seem to work as well anymore and the students are "annoying" each other even more. I am not sure if the main purpose is teacher attention or what? Also my co-teacher and I tend to disagree on ways to teach certain things. We have different approaches to certain behaviors and techniques. I know some of you are working with younger children and have been for a while so if there is any advice you have please pass it on! Thanks.

Quiz 4 Posted

Dear SPED 553 Class,

On the "Notes" side banner to this blog, you will find the Quiz 4 pdf document. Please print, complete, and return to our next class session on 5/8. We will grade these in class, so that you will know whether to take the final or opt for the quiz average instead of the exam.

Also, in regards to graded work, I have been battling the flu and will not have graded work ready until tomorrow, Wednesday, May 2nd. You may pick up your graded work during my office hours from 3 to 6 pm. Thanks and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks,

Jose Luis

Preparing for State Testing

As we prepare my students for the California Standards Test (CST), we are seeing a lot of behaviors return that had previously been replaced. We use a star system for our token economy and students earn stars for completing assignments and being on task. After lunch they are able to spend stars for items like computer time or some time to play outside with an Instructional Assistant monitoring. We are noticing that several of our students who started out this year refusing to work are starting to return to that. Most of the class took to the star system quite effectively and work hard. Now we are seeing one or two of those students no longer care about earning stars to have those extra privileges. The students are asked everyday if they want to use some of their stars and reminded of the options of what they can do with them. We are stuck for ideas on how to motivate the students to completing their assignments and get back on track. Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

Student Self-Management

I have often used rubrics to help students develop projects and guide their academic work. The same principles can be applied when assisting students in managing their own behavior. The text differentiates between self-recording (simply keeping a record of their behavior) and self-evaluation (actually evaluating that performance). Studies have shown that students often keep records that are quite accurate when compared to records kept by teachers. Furthermore, experts agree that self-recording forces students to monitor their own behavior more closely.

When people diet, they often keep food journals. Simply knowing that one has to record what has been eaten often serves as a deterrent for eating junk. In the same way, if a student knows that he or she will have to record (and therefore admit to) certain behaviors, he or she may be less likely to engage in problematic behaviors. Additionally, my sense is that in maintaining their own records, students gain more ownership over their behavior. As a result, they may gain more intrinsic satisfaction/motivation from performing more acceptable behaviors.

Can anyone else think of a reason why self-recording and/or self-evaluation might be an effective tool for behavior management?

Help with this behavior?

Alright, so here's a problem behavior that has the whole staff baffled. A new teenage student who along with her learning disabilities suffers from epilepsy was admitted into one of the programs where I work. Within the first two weeks of her coming to school she became assaultive towards the staff at least twice which resulted emergency interventions. During each of these restraints the student faked a seizure. This behavior immediately resulted in the end of the restraint and calling the paramedics. This is an amazing behavior that will always result in the same conclusion and reinforcement for the student.
So, if anybody has any ideas, please let me know how to shape this behavior. And the students case manager would be so excited.
Kevin

Natural Maintaining Contingencies

One of the most important aspects of generalization and maintainence is to help the student learn skills that they will receive reinforcement for in their natural environment. Over time, our students cannot (and should not) have someone behind them ready to reinforce them for demonstration of a skill. The skill itself has to be rewarding to them within their environment. For example, teaching a student how to socialize with his peers becomes reinforcing when performed correctly because he/she will get positive attention within that interaction. Alberto & Troutman (2006) state that "if behaviors can be generated that result in increased peer reinforcement, they are particularly likely to be maintained in the natural environment" (348). I still see this behavior principle in effect through my everyday actions, i.e. I buy clothes that I think flatter me so that people will think that I look nice. If I get a compliment for my efforts then I have been reinforced for making an effort in my clothing choices and will probably wear that particular item of clothing more frequently. Therefore, for our students, it is very important to work on behaviors that will receive reinforcement in their natural environment. This means getting to know the student's culture, lifestyle, home life, etc is vital so that you will know what behaviors those students' environments will maintain. It also means that it might be more useful for our student's with severe disabilities to be working on more functional skills, i.e. riding the bus, buying/paying for an item in a store, so that they will be able to interact more fluently in their environment.

Generalization & Maintenance

The main goal of a behavior modification is that when the intervention ends that the behavior change occurs outside of the environment. This refers to maintenance and generalization and the importance of programming these in a child’s BIP.

Generalization is the degree in which a change in a behavior will transfer to another setting or situation. Generalization does not happen spontaneously it must be planned.

Here are some important points to incorporate into the goals to encourage maintenance and generalization;
1. Teach behaviors in a natural setting.
2. Have many people train with the student.
3. Train in many settings.
4. Move from artificial controls (prompts, reinforcers) to natural reinforcers (praise, better grades).
5. Move from continuous to intermittent and from fixed to variable schedules.
6. Reinforce students when they are maintaining and generalizing the behavior.

Final Project Rubric Posted

Hello Class,

The final project rubric has been posted on the Homework Documents side banner.

Also, the drawing for the tote bag was held with Shelley and Kendra present...and the winner is......Kevin.

Dr. A

self-reinforcement

As I read the chapter I became amused with myself at the ways I practice self-reinforcement. Even as I sat down to write this I fed myself a piece of chocolate. Through this skill I have encouraged myself to do many things that I had to do for my own good. I honestly used to say to myself' "ok, if you go to work, I 'll buy you a latte". That was very motivating to me and I figured that the price of a latte is better than losing a day's wages. I often tell myself that if I finish my homework then I can watch TV. I guess it is sort of pathetic that I pretty much only reinforce myself with candy, coffee and TV. Although, last year I used to buy myself a plant at Target every time I got through a particularly rough day at school. I had an enormous garden.

I guess we are teaching our students to self-reinforce by reinforcing their bahavior. Are there more effective ways to teach this. Is it worth while to teach self- reinforcement? What are some ways that you practice self-reinforcement?

Modified Self-Recording

As I was reading the information covered in Chapter 11 about teaching students how to manage their own behavior I initially did not think most of the students that I work with would be able to do this very effectively. A couple of my high school students can not write well and tallying on any kind of chart would be a very challenging feat. However, I was thinking that if I really wanted my students to self record, as opposed to keeping tallies in a chart I could use small buckets or velcro boards. For example, if during a period the period of time the student was on task, they could put a block into the "on task bucket" or onto the "on task board" and vice versa for off task behavior. This would eliminate some of the fine motor problems that I was initially thinking about.

CEC Code of Ethics

I was reading the CEC Code of ethics in preparing for class tonight. While reading them I was stuck by the responsibilities that we have as educators working with students with special needs. I especially resonate with the first code,

"Special education professionals are committed to developing the highest educational and quality of life potential of individuals with exceptionalities."

I really do feel that this something that we do have to be committed to achieving for our students. Yet, I do have a struggle with our other role, as a responsible agent for the school, school district and their resources. I have continually heard that public education is the Chevy version of education not the Cadillac. If this is true at what point do you say that we have delivered a Chevy's quality worth education for a student, what services are included in this. What is Chevy services for one kid and Cadillac for another? I really do feel a pull between the ethic, responsibility towards the students and their needs, and the resources of the district. Does anyone else feel this? If so, how do you reconcile these feelings and how do you know when you have done what is best for all parties?

Self-Recording

One of the concepts explored in this week’s reading was self-recording. Student self-recording is when students record their own behavior data, instead of an observer. The authors look at two kinds of self-recording, cued and non-cued. Cued self-recording occurs when the student is given some kind off signal, i.e. bell, tone, timer etc., and asked to record whether they were performing the behavior when they heard the signal. Non-cued self-recording is when students are asked to record every time they perform a targeted behavior. By self-recording, students are provided concrete feedback about their behaviors and are also made to monitor their own behaviors.
I am currently working with a student who has recently been but on a self-recording system. He has had trouble with staying on task and completing and submitting class assignments. He has been placed on a non-cued recording system, and marks off on a chart every time he completes and turns in an assignment in class. When he reaches a certain amount of turned in assignments (currently his target is 10) he has to let the teacher know, show her his log, and then gets to choose from three different positive reinforcers. The system has been fairly successful so far, and is an improvement from the system previously in place in which an aide kept track of assignments turned in. He seems more motivated now that he is keeping track of his own data.
Has anyone else had experiences with a student self-recording system? Did it prove to be successful?

Response-Cost Procedures

As I sit and look at the class notes about response-cost procedures, I think about my own class. I currently teach a class for students with Emotional Disturbance and have tried response cost with them. I tried giving the students reinforcers for their behaviors, and then taking them away when they have lost them. I found that if I was taking something away that the students feel they have previously earned, they figure that appropriate behavior is not worth it.

We have now switched to a token economy, where the students earn stars for appropriate behavior and completing tasks. They can then use these stars to purchase time on a choice activity. Since we have started this system, the students seem to be working harder, becuase they want to earn their stars. They want to be able to use them for individual things like computer time and whole class rewards like a movie on Friday afternoon.

No matter what type of behavior management system you have in place the one thing I have learned this year is that you must be consistent in your carrying out of the plan that is set in place. The student will notice when you don't follow through the way the system is set up.

What types of behavior management systems are you using in your classrooms, or do you think you will use once you have your own class?

Prompting & Fading

Prompting and fading are widely used to build new skills by educators. A prompt can be defined, as a hint or antecedent meant to induce a person to perform a desired behavior that otherwise does not occur. Lots of antecedents affect the likelihood of a behavior occurring. So, while prompts are a useful tool in teaching, it’s important to wean the students off them very quickly.

You can wean your child off prompts by fading which is simply gradually reducing the strength of the prompt. Using the example “point to block”, you might gently touch the child’s elbow to induce him/her to point to the block, rather than using an HOH prompt.

Rules for Prompting and Fading
1. Define target behavior. We begin by defining exactly what behavior we want to change. In this case it means defining the behavior we want to prompt.
2. Identify suitable prompts. Choose a prompt that will reliably produce this behavior.
3. Prompt, reinforce and fade. The reason for prompting behavior is so that you can reinforce it. Reinforcement provides the motivation for the child to learn. Since the object of prompting is to get the behavior to appear so that you can reinforce it, it’s important to give the child time to respond. After presenting the prompt, you wait a few seconds before prompting again. The reason for waiting for the few seconds is to see whether the child will attempt a correct response thus letting you know what prompt level to use. As the target behavior appears, begin to fade the prompt.
4. Monitor results. This is essential to know you are progressing satisfactorily.

Here’s a question for feedback, once a child is prompt dependent, how do the educators stop this dependency?

Assignment#4

For our last assignment, we were asked to come up with reinforcers that we can use with our student and the schedule in which we will give these reinforcers. Reinforcement can be given continuously, or intermittently (ratio/interval).
My student’s problem behavior is throwing toys, and the replacement behavior is handing the toy to an adult. At the start of the intervention, reinforcement will be given continuously. Every time she hands a toy to an adult, she will be given a reinforcement. However, the schedule will change to a fixed-ratio schedule such as FR3. Only after the third time she has handed a toy to an adult will she be given a reinforcement. The schedules will change to an FR5, FR10, etc.
I am having difficulties understanding how an interval schedule could be used in the classroom. Is anyone using an interval schedule with their student? Why types of reinforcements are you using with your student and with what schedule of reinforcement?

Shaping Behavior

I'm working with a student and we are working on several behaviors. One of these is that we have been working on increasing his ability to participate and maintain focused during instruction. This has been going well due to the high frequency of reinforcement. But, the main problem now seems to be transitioning from a preferred activity (movie) back to instruction. One thing we have been trying is to try to reinforce his appropriate transitions by immediately transitioning back to a preferred activity after an appropriate transition (these are randomly chosen).

I have been racking my brain to figure out what is reinforcing for this little guy, but being that he is resistant to verbal communications and his reinforcers are limited to movie watching and edibles. I can't figure out how to create an environment for him where I can even start to run his educational goals when I don't have anything reinforcing enough to have him sit and respond for more than a couple minutes.

Setting Events

The textbook defines setting events as circumstances in an individual’s life, ranging from cultural influences to an uncomfortable environment, that temporarily alter the power of reinforcers. I currently have a student who comes from a group home and the second he walks in my door, I can usually tell what kind of morning he has had (and consequently, what kind of morning I will have). Setting events can be powerful influences in a student's life and can be huge determinants in the type of behavior that we can expect to see in our classrooms.

One way to manage setting events is to make sure that we have a good relationship with our students, so that we can identify when we may need to intervene to manage those setting events. One of the strategies that I use with my student is to allow him to take a walk around the building, take a few minutes alone in our conference room, or have him talk to our therapist for a few minutes before he is asked to start his academic day. Does anyone else have any ideas for managing setting events?

Chaining

Chaining is the process of teaching an individual a new skill in sequential form and reinforcing each step along the way. For example, when I tell my student to put his lunch box away the steps involved are: 1) open the lunch box, 2) put all the food containers in the sink, 3) close the lunch box, and 4) put the lunch box away in the cupboard.

There are 2 different types of chaining: forward and backward. Forward chaining is the process of teaching a new skill by beginning with the first step in the "chain", while backward chaining is the process of teaching a new skill in reverse order, or starting with the last link in the "chain".

Can anyone give any examples of this? Are any of you using these skills on your students or can you describe ways that these types of chains may be effective in your classrooms?

Strategies for Decreasing Behavior

First, let me thank Sarah for reminding me to post this new blog entry.

Now, let's have a conversation about how you can integrate differential reinforcement strategies to decrease the problem behavior for the student that you have been conducting your assessment.

For example, if your student's problem behavior is blurting out and the replacement behavior is raising hand quietly and waiting to be called before speaking...then, the problem and replacement behavior would be considered incompatible. The student CANNOT raise hand and remain quiet while blurting out. Therefore, your differential reinforcement strategy for your student would be to use DRI, Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior....the reinforcement you use must be of the same type as the one that the problem behavior typically accesses....so, as you systematically deliver reinforcement contingently each time that the student exhibits the replacement behavior, the student accesses the same function with the replacement behavior, while the problem behavior will be purposefully and systematically NOT reinforced (extiniction) and the problem behavior will naturally decrease.

Use your cases to come up with a formal strategy to decrease your student's problem behavior using one of the differential reinforcement strategies: DRI, DRA, DRO, DRL.

I have crafted the midterm to ensure that all of the content has been covered in class and in your readings...there should be NO surprises.

One more thing, I will be out of town on Tuesday and the midterm exam will be proctored by my student assistant...he has specific directions on administering the exam.

I will have access to my email and the class blog...so, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to post on the blog or email me.

Thanks,

Dr. A

Midterm Review

Midterm Review

Be familiar with the following terms & concepts:

• What is behavior?
• A-B-C's of behavior
• Reinforcement
• Negative Reinforcement
• Punishment
• Know components of and be able to write correct Goals and objectives
• Know the different dimensions of behavior
• Data Collection Procedures (event, latency, duration, etc.) and the type of date each yields
• Agreement check formulas
• Single Subject Designs (AB, Reversal, alternating treatments, changing conditions, etc.)
• Dependent and Independent variables
• Graphing conventions (know different types of graphs and know how to graph and interpret data.)
• Functional analysis and functional assessment (look at chapter 6 notes)
• Shaping
• What is discrimination training?
• What are prompts
• What is stimulus control?
• What is chaining and different types of chaining
• What is generalization and how do you train for it?

Case:
Gary Winston Barnes (GWB) has problems in completing homework assignments in Mr. Harvard's class. Some students in class have commented that Gary is drinking alcohol after school, yet the teacher cannot confirm such allegations. GWB claims to complete assignments, yet at the end of the day, no assignments belonging to Gary are present. Homework is assigned each night yet his current rate of completion is one homework assignment completed per 2-week period. Mr. Harvard wants to increase the number of homework assignments GWB turns in. The teacher suspects that the curriculum may be too advanced for the student and therefore the antecedent is task difficulty. The teacher further suspects that the consequence is task avoidance.

Mr. Harvard's intervention involves reinforcing GWB for asking for alternate assignments, ask for help, or break. When Gary completes partial assignments, he will earn free time in class. Gradually, the teacher will increase expectations and eventually, Gary will have to submit fully completed assignments in order to earn free time during class. As part of the second treatment condition, Mr. Harvard intends to modify assignments to ensure that Gary is being assigned curriculum that is appropriate for his performance level. As the homework completion rate improves, the teacher will further increase expectations and will focus on the accuracy of assignments being submitted by GWB.

During week 1 thru 3, the teacher collects baseline data (Baseline: Phase A)

During weeks 4 through 6 he begins the intervention of allowing GWB to ask for alternate tasks or ask for help/break (Treatment 1: Phase B).

During weeks 7 through 9, the teacher decides to add modifying assignments to make sure they are at student's ability level in addition to allowing JM to ask for break/help/alternate tasks (Treatment 2: Phase C).

During weeks 3-8 Mr. Smith had the Aide collect agreement data.

Baseline - A (# of HW assignments Turned In)

Week 1
Teacher - 1 Observer - Not Obs (NO)

Week 2
Teacher - 1 Observer - Not Obs (NO)

Week 3
Teacher - 1 Observer - 1

Intervention B: ask for alternate tasks or ask for help/break

Week 4
Teacher - 3 Observer - 3

Week 5
Teacher - 3 Observer - 2

Week 6
Teacher - 4 Observer - 3

Intervention C: Modify Assignment in addition to JM asking for alternate task/break/help

Week 7
Teacher - 4 Observer - 4

Week 8
Teacher - 6 Observer - 6

Week 9
Teacher - 5

Questions related to Case:

• Identify the research design:
• Calculate agreement check and tell me if it is acceptable.
• Graph data. Hint: make sure all sections of graph are appropriately labeled (also, don't forget that you DO NOT graph data from the agreement check person)
• Interpret the efficacy of the intervention.

OPEN DISCUSSION

Let us use this entry as a springboard for ANY questions or comments you may have about the content of this course. As you ask a question or make a comment, let us all share in our knowledge and jump in to answer and comment on each others' entries.

Who's first?

Homework 3 - Looking Ahead

This entry will serve as the springboard for discussions related to HW3:

As you embark on homework 3, it is within the context of ALL of the information you have previsously collected (questionaires, interviews, observations, records, ecological observations, etc.), plus one full session using the ABC observation form.

Description of setting: Here you will use information from the first part of HW1 along with additional descriptions of variables from the ecological form and interviews...here, it's okay to provide as much relevant information as possible.

Antecedents: Here, provide a discussion on factors (activities, demands, difficult tasks, uninteresting tasks, alone time, lack of attention, room too noisy, too much visual stimuli, etc.) that may be prompting the problem behavior...there may be more than one variable in play here...

Operational Definition: Use topography and at least one dimension from HW1...approved by Dr. A....and that you've refined in HW2 (detailed numbers related to the data you collected)

Consequence(s): Here, provide a description of what may be maintaining (positive or negative reinforcement) the problem behavior (based on ALL data you've gathered to this point). It is important to note that some behaviors may have multiple functions...

Time and day: The data you collected should provide some info on the day(s) and time(s) that increases the probability that the problem behavior may occur...if the data supports the notion that it is not the time or day as much as certain activities, it is appropriate to discuss that in this section.

Testable Explanation: Here you must discuss your testable explanation related to the problem behavior (hypothesis statement). This statement must be written in Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) format. An example of a testable explanation might be:

* When the student is given a difficult math assignment involving fractions (antecedent), the student engages in off task behaviors (behavior), which results in the student avoiding/delaying the task (consequence).

[Independent Variable = blue; Dependent Variable = Red].

This same testable explanation can be written for the replacement behavior as follows (assuming that the antecedent is NOT being modified, i.e., not being given tasks that are appropriate to student's performance level). It is important to note that the consequence of the problem behavior was negative reinforcement...this means that the replacement behavior MUST achieve the same FUNCTION:

* When the student is given a difficult math assignment involving fractions (antecedent), the student will engage in {a} requesting alternate assignment, {b} asking for break, or {c} asking for help (behavior), which results in the student avoiding/delaying/eliminating the task (consequence).

[Independent Variable = blue; Dependent Variable = Red].

Here's another testable explanation for the replacement behavior that the modifies the antecedent by providing the student tasks that are appropriate to student's performance level. Again, the consequence of the problem behavior was negative reinforcement...this means that even though you've modified the antecedent, once the student engages in the desired behavior (performing the task), the reinforcement MUST result in a similar FUNCTION (negative reinforcement):

* When the student is given a math assignment involving fractions at his ability level and with teacher support (antecedent), the student will engage in the assigned math task (behavior), which results in the student receiving some sort of negative reinforcement [free time, homework pass, etc] (consequence).

[Independent Variable = blue; Dependent Variable = Red].

Testing Strategy: Here you must provide a detailed description of the variable you plan on manipulating to determine of your hypothesis statement is correct.

* MANIPULATING THE ANTECEDENT: The last testable explanation noted above is a perfect example of how the antecedent is going to be modified by making sure that the curriculum is at the student's ability level and teacher support (a clear description of what that means is required)...to determine if indeed the hypothesis that difficult math tasks involving fractions truly is the ANTECEDENT to the problem behavior.
* MANIPULATING THE CONSEQUENCE: Another example is the testable explanation above that speaks to teaching the student the replacement behaviors [{a} requesting alternate assignment, {b} asking for break, or {c} asking for help] that allow him to still delay/avoid the task which will allow you to test your hypothesis that the student engages in the problem behavior to escape/avoid/delay an undesired behavior (CONSEQUENCE).

I hope this information helps...

Creating Charts in Excel - A Tutorial

Hello SPED 553 Class:

Below are a series of screenshots that show you the steps in creating a graph using Microsoft Excel. Your second homework assignment calls for you to submit baseline data, a graph with your baseline data for problem and replacement behavior, and a goal and two objectives focusing on the data you gathered. The sample below focuses only on one problem behavior, but you can generalize the info and create a separate graph for the replacement behavior.

First, you will need to open Microsoft Excel and select the "New Workbook" option. This should take you to a blank workbook page.


In the sample to the left, I have entered the meaning of the numbers on the first line of the first column...labeled, "Out of Seat." Notice that the entries for each session are on the first colum. Also notice the I highlighted (click on A2 and drag to B9) all of the numbers on the first column, while avoiding the out of seat title (if you do, it will mess up your graph). I also highlighted the second column, and went a three lines below the last entry in the first column. The additional column and rows are for those of you interested in earning extra credit on this assignment...I will talk about this later.


Next, I select the "Chart Wizard" button on the top of the toolbars. It's the icon with the magic wand on top of a chart.

A Pop up window appears and it prompts you to select the appropriate type of graph. You will select line graph (second box on first column) and proceed to press the "Next" button.









The next screen that comes up has two buttons on top, one is the "Data Range" and the other is the "Series" button. Select the "Series" button and proceed to enter the lable for the what the data points mean...in my example, I have labeled the first series as OUT OF SEAT. I have left the second series alone.












The next screen that appears is the chart titles menu. Proceed to enter the chart title for your graph. In my example, I labeled it, "Out of Seat Behavior." The next dialogue box is the X axis, this will always be labeled, "Sessions." The third entry will be for the Y axis...always adding meaning to the numbers presented in graph. In my example, I labeled it, "Average Number of Times per 2hr. Observation." In this scenario, I conducted observations that were 4 or 6 hour observation...because, not all observations were of the same duration, I could not graph total out of seat behavior per observation (this would result in higher totals for the days in which I observed 6 hours). Graphing the average number of times per 2 hour observation allowed me to present data that was consistent across all observation sessions. Proceed to select the "Next" button.

The next window presents options on how you want to save the graph. You will select the button that saves the graph in a new sheet. That way, the graph appears as a new tab in your workbook and it also is not a popup on your data workbook. Click on the "Finish" button.



Finally, the graph appears on as a new sheet. Notice at the bottom of the workbook, that the graph now has it's own tab. The graph that I am presenting here looks a bit different than the one that is yours. I accomplished this by changing some simple items on it. For example, you will notice that the background on your graph is gray...also, your graph area has a gray outline. To eliminate this, double click on the graph area, this will cause a dialogue box to appear. Change the border color to white and the area color to white...select "enter" and the background and outline will become white. Next double click on any of the horizontal lines on the graph...select "white" as the color for those lines...and suddenly, your graph will no longer show the horizontal lines. At this point, your graph is acceptable for submitting with your Homework #2 assignment.

Don't forget to save your workbook so that you can come back to it later, if you elect to submit 3 additional intervention data points for extra credit on the final project.

Practice with some made up data so that you can become comfortable with all options on making graphs using Excel.

Ecological Variables

Ecological Variables

I know this is a bit early but I cannot emphasize the importance of ECOLOGICAL VARIABLES as they relate to student behavior...It's never too early to be thinking about the final project in this class, therefore, I just want to give everyone a heads up on the importance of addressing ecological/environmental factors that may need to be addressed in your final project.

As you embark on your observations, please be aware of and make notes related to the following factors:

• instructional variables - are the lessons at the students' level? does the instruction allow for students to respond frequently? Are lessons "boring?" eventually, you may need to suggest in your final plan that the lessons may need to be more engaging, more stimulating, etc.
  
• language spoken and primary language of student...match? is language development being addressed for ELL students?
  
• proximity of other students, too crowded, too many distractions?
  
• way in which requests are made- degree of choice, tone of voice, threats used?
  
• Quality quantity of adult/student and student/student interactions
  
• difficulty of tasks
• type of tasks
• other environmental variables such as noise level, crowding, temperature, visual distractions, etc.

These areas are critical that will need to be addressed because they are based on the principle of least intrusive intervention...which means that we must first try and address this challenge by manipulating the antecedents...if they are under our control.

As I review final projects at the end of the semester, ...I will pay CLOSE attention to see that antecedents were identified that were under our control...and the final project does address them....if not addressed...NOT GOOD!

Again, as you begin your direct observations, it is a good idea to keep these important areas in mind...feel free to post comments about what you observe or questions related to this topic...or any other questions you may have.

Thanks,

Dr. A

Goals and Objectives

Background Info:

I enjoy painting with acrylics. Lately, I've been feeling the need to get back to this relaxing activity. This probably has been prompted by the fact that every time I drive into the garage I see this painting I have on my easel that I started over three years ago. The painting is a homage to Diego Rivera’s “Flower Vendor.” The canvas is approximately 3 feet by 4 feet and I have intermittently dabbled on it over the years. The one aspect of the painting that I know will take much time, and that I have been postponing, is the detail that will be required in painting the weave in the flower basket. As I have worked on this painting, I have only used the primary colors (blue, red, yellow) plus black and white. In years past, when I devoted time to a painting, I tended to devote an average of 3 painting sessions per week for a total duration of 6 hours per week…sometimes more. However, my current baseline on time I spend painting is an average of 1 hour per month. By the time I set my materials and mix paint…I really do not have much of an opportunity to advance much. Typically, I am quite busy, but when I do have a bit of downtime make excuses for not painting by making statements to myself such as, "I really need to clean my office," or "digging weeds in the yard will benefit the family more than spending a couple of hours painting."

Now, I will use the info from Chapter 2 in the textbook to develop a goal and two objectives that focus strictly on increasing the time I engage in recreational acrylic painting:

Components of Goal

1. Can be reasonably accomplished in 1 yr.
2. Observable and measurable
3. Tied to standards/core curriculum
4. Have benchmarks/short term objectives (this changed in Federal law but it's still in CA law)

Components of Objectives
1. Learner
2. Condition
3. Behavior
4. Criterion (must include fluency, i.e., on 3 out of 4 days)
5. How measured


My current level of performance is:
Based on anecdotal evidence, I determined my BASELINE in this area is that I spend an average of 1 hour per month working on the painting while using primary colors plus black and white.

Long term goal:
Within one year, Jose Luis will increase his engagement in recreational acrylic painting to an average of 3 sessions per week, with each session lasting an average of 2 hours for a total duration of 6 hours per week.

Objective 1:
Within 4 months, given the opportunity to engage in recreational acrylic painting using appropriate tools and while using only primary colors plus black and white, Jose Luis will engage in painting an average of 1 session per week with each session lasting at least 1.5 hours on 3 out of 4 weeks, as measured by painting log.

Objective 2:
Within 8 months, given the opportunity to engage in recreational acrylic painting using appropriate tools and while using only primary colors plus black and white, Jose Luis will engage in painting an average of 2 sessions per week with each session lasting at least 2 hours on 3 out of 4 weeks, as measured by painting log.

My increased time spent painting should naturally result in an increase in my productivity, not only in completing the Rivera homage painting but others as well.



Here is an opportunity to practice writing a goal and a couple of accompanying objectives in any area you want to address...

Grading quiz 1- No need for comments

Just wanted to give you all a heads up. I have been grading last night's quiz 1 and I noticed that many of you did not use proper terms when defining key concepts. It is not appropriate to use the term you are defining in the definition of the term. For example, it is not okay to define POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT by stating, "Positive reinforcement is when a behavior is positively reinforced and behavior increases in future..."

In order to provide opportunities for positive practice, I will allow an opportunity to correct your quiz 1 responses that you missed. You will have the opportunity to make up ALL of the points you missed. You will have to use proper terms in your definitions, please review these terms in your text. When I return your quizzes next week, you will have one week to submit correct responses for items missed. Quiz corrections must be word processed, you must provide a page number referencing the correct information in the text, and it must be attached to your quiz.

If you are satisfied with your quiz score (several students earned perfect scores), then, do nothing as the scores have already been recorded.

Finally, this is a one time opportunity and does not apply to future quizzes or exams.

Thanks,

Dr. A

Homework #1 Questions/Discussion

Let's use this post as a discussion springboard for questions related to HW 1. Specifically, I'd like to point out several areas that could use a bit of discussion.

• Begin the assignment by providing detailed information on
  
• (a) the student, tell me about the student's disabilitiy, how long has student been in sped, what's the family situation, and any other relevant information that can add context to this case.
  
• (b) the classroom, tell me about the physical arrangement, the number of adults, students, and general description of the environment.
  
• (c) the school, tell me about the school in terms of population size, demographics, API scores, & programs available at the school.

Always remember to use pseudonyms for school, teachers, parents, student, and anyone else involved in this child's case. It is essential that you maintain the confidentiality of the child.

• When describing the problem behavior (replacement as well) using topography, make sure you use just that, a description of the suface of the behavior. Several students have used this as an opportunity to discuss antecedents and consequences (that is part of HW3 but not needed here yet).

• Here's an example of how OFF TASK can be defined using topography:
• Problem Behavior: Off Task is defined as engaging in tasks that are unrelated to the teacher-assigned task and may include walking around the class, talking to peers, hiding under desks, doodling, playing with items in backback, etc.
  

• In addition to using topography as a dimension, make sure you select at least one more dimension that will be helpful as you plan for data collection. For example, if the student's problem behavior is being off task...well, the most logical dimension you will use is DURATION, which may be written as follows:

• Duration: Student engages in off task behavior an average of 10 times per day (this is RATE which is a natural byproduct of duration recording) and each episode lasts an average of 7 minutes (the number is an approximation that is based on the interviews you conduct...later when you collect actual data, you can revise this approximation).

• When describing the replacement behavior using topography, make sure you use just that, a description of the suface of the behavior. Follow the same format you used to describe the problem behavior above....the replacement behavior's operational definition must use two dimensions, one is topography and the second one is up to you depending on the behavior you have selected.
  

• Make sure that this assignment clearly identifies the dimensions you are using (in blue font and bold above) and keep your prose written with brevity and clarity.

• DATA COLLECTION: Depending on the nature of the behaviors you have identified, your data collection systems must provide for a logical connection. Here are some examples of behaviors and possible data colletion systems.

• Off Task = Duration recording
• Refusal to comply = Latency recording
• Calling out/speaking out without permission = Event recording (yields rate)
• Crying/screaming (short duration) = Event recording
• Crying/screaming (long duration) = Duration recording

• Finally, the homework 1 forms packet included several samples of data collection instruments. It is up to you to select ONE that makes sense for problem and ONE that makes sense for replacement behaviors. After you have selected the form, you must provide detailed directions on how to use the forms.

Questions, descriptions of operational definitions, or other questions or concerns related to homework 1 should be posted in the comments section for the following week.

Quick Note...REVISED 02/01/07

SPED 553 Class,

The Problem Behavior Questionnaire & Profile link has been added to the homework documents side banner but the Edweb server is down...so, you probably will not have access to the document until Wednesday evening....okay, it's Thursday morning and the server remains down...and it appears that I will be unable to upload files until early next week...so, I will proceed to email (based on the email address you provided at last class session) you the Problem Behavior Questionnaire & Profile document as an attachment. Sorry for the technical difficulties.

OKAY...NO NEED to email..the link for the missing form works now!!!!

Also, don't forget that I will have the letters about the case in an envelope outside my office by this afternoon...Thursday afternoon.

One other important note...the basic requirements for the student you select are:

• Has to be a student/child with a disability (current IEP/IFSP)
• Individual has a behavioral difficulty that is affecting ability to achieve goals & objectives on IEP/IFSP
• Behavioral problems CANNOT be related to behaviors that places the student or others in danger. If there is already a process to conduct an FA to develop a BIP for a particular student...it is strongly recommended that you select a student who is not currently in that process...remember that you are selecting a student who is NOT in crisis at the time. The process of developing an FA in this class will take most of the semester and if a child needs an FA for the reasons listed in the CA ed code...then, let's leave that up to the BICM and the IEP team...
  
• Has to be a student that you will have access to for the remainder of the semester.

If you are having difficulty finding a student for the project in this class, please send me an EMAIL ASAP as I am currently working with several MA students who would be willing to open up their classrooms for you to conduct your observations...

Thanks,

Dr. A

Time to Start Posting

Dear SPED 553 Class,

Now that you have embarked on your readings for this course....it is a great opportunity to begin a discussion of the basic concepts you will have to learn in this class...who wants to start?

Okay, I'll start:

Example:
Positive Reinforcement. When the teacher asks a question in class, a student raises his hand, remains quiet, waits to be called on, and when the teacher calls on him, she delivers verbal praise by telling him that she really liked how he raised his hand, remained quiet, and waited to be called on (contingent delivery of a consequence following a behavior that increases a behavior's rate of occurrence...in future). It would be considered positive reinforcement IF, the behavior of hand raising and remaining quiet MAINTAINS OR INCREASES its future rate of occurrence when the teacher asks questions.

Positive reinforcement occurs with ALL behaviors regardless of how socially appropriate or inappropriate they are. For example, the child who tantrums because they want a candy...and the parent gives them the candy...well, that child was positively reinforced because the trantruming resulted in the contingent delivery of a consequence (candy) that will undoubtedly increase/maintain the trantruming's rate of occurrence (in the future) each time the child wants a candy....makes sense?

(Extension: In the first example, we could say that Generalization of the behavior occured if hand raising extends to similar situations such as during class discussions, rather than just instances of the teacher asking questions, or if the behavior is exhibited in different classes and with different teachers).

If the behavior does not maintain or increase its rate in the future, well, then it does not fit the definition of positive reinforcement (green type) and cannot be considered as such.

The term, "positive" in the concept of POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT should not be viewed as the typical use of the term referring to something "good." Rather, think of the term "positive" in terms of math functions...that is an "additive" function.

Who wants to try with other terms/concepts?

Welcome

Welcome SPED 553 Class,

Welcome to the SPED 553 Class Blog. We will use the class blog to (a) hold class-related discussions and share relevant web-based resources, (b) distribute lecture notes, (c) provide access to forms required for homework assignments as well as the final project, and (d) provide audio podcasts of material relevant for the course.

BLOG
Initially I will initiate the discussions, within the first weeks of the semester, you will be granted greater access to the class blog and will be able to initiate blog entries that class mates can respond to.

In the meantime, check out the California Department of Education Composite of Laws. This is the site where you will be searching Califonia's interpretation of the IDEA...specifically you will be required to download California regulations that pertain to Positive Behavior Supports.

California Department of Education Composite of Laws

CLASS LECTURE NOTES
You will be responsible for dowloading your own copies of the lecture notes. All class notes have been posted as hyperlinks on this class blog...See right side banner with notes hyperlinks.

Notes for First Few Class Sessions.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FORMS
All homework assignment forms (formatted in Microsoft Word) are now available for downloading right from the class blog...See right side banner with homework and final assignment hyperlinks.

PODCASTS
Click on the link below for welcome podcast:

SPED 553 Welcome Podcast.

I look forward to having a productive and rewarding semester.

Thanks,

Jose Luis