Behavior Modification Interventions
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Behavior Modification Interventions Least Intensive Interventions Response-Cost Lottery Designed to be time effective for teachers, this strategy can be used with individual students or small groups. Materials: • Index card, tape • Colored slips of paper (different color for each student) Preparation: • Develop a reward menu for each student targeted for this intervention. • Select 1-3 behaviors that you wish to reduce in the targeted student(s) and write out concrete definitions for each. • Decide on a time period during the instructional day that the Response Cost Lottery program will be in effect (e.g., 30 minutes during math class). NOTE: You may want to limit the length of the monitoring period at the start of the intervention, to increase the odds of student success. As the intervention proves successful, you can extend the monitoring period. • Decide how many points (i.e., paper slips) you will award to students at the outset of each monitoring period. (NOTE: For short monitoring periods, you may want to start with 4-5 points/paper slips.) • Prepare the lottery tickets. Use a different color paper for each student's tickets, so that you can tell them apart from one another. Or type blanks on student tickets onto which the recipient can write in his or her name and the date that the ticket was awarded. • Choose how frequently you will hold lottery-ticket prize drawings. NOTE: Many teachers find that once per week is sufficiently motivating to make the intervention effective. For students with more intense or severe levels of misbehavior, however, you may want initially to hold prize drawings more frequently (e.g., daily) and as students' behaviors improve, gradually extend intervals between drawings Steps in Implementing This Intervention: Step 1: Introduce the Response Cost Lottery Program to Targeted Students. • Explain that students will have the chance to earn rewards for good behavior. • Review with students the negative behaviors that you would like them to reduce. Use demonstration and modeling to ensure that students clearly know (a) the negative behavior(s) that should be avoided and (b) positive behavior(s) that they can engage in instead. Post the definitions that you have written for behaviors that are to be reduced. • Tape an index card on three sides onto the top of each student's desk. Under the untapped corner of the index card, slip the pieces of paper assigned to that student-so that about half the slip is visible. • Tell students that the slips of paper represent behavior points. Let them know that every time that they show a negative behavior during the monitoring period, you will remove one of the slips of paper from their desk. At the end of the monitoring period, any slips that remain will be placed into a lottery ticket container. • Inform student that at the end of each week, you will hold a drawing for one or more prizes. Emphasize that students who hold onto more tickets through the week stand a greater chance of winning prizes. Step 2: Start the Response Cost Lottery Intervention. Consider reminding students at the start of each day's monitoring period of your positive behavioral expectations (e.g., "We are going to start our lottery game now. Be sure to give me your best attention, raise you hand to get permission to speak, and do your best work!"). If you must remove a student's lottery slip because of misbehavior, do so quietly and without drawing undue attention to him or her. If the student does not appear to understand why you are removing a slip, provide a brief explanation in a neutral voice and move on. Step 3: Hold a Lottery-Ticket Drawing. At the end of each week (or alternative time interval that you have selected), hold a lottery ticket drawing and permit students whose colored slips were drawn to select a prize from their reward menu. Empty the tickets from the lottery-ticket container and start over. Hints for Using Response-Cost Lottery: Use Bonus Tickets. You can increase motivation by telling students that they can earn an extra bonus ticket each day that they manage to hold onto all of their allocated slips throughout the entire observation period. These bonus tickets are placed in the lottery-ticket container along with the student's other earned tickets. Courtesy of: http://www.interventioncentral.org Behavior Contracts The behavior contract is a simple positive-reinforcement intervention that is widely used by teachers to change student behavior. The behavior contract spells out in detail the expectations of student and teacher (and sometimes parents) in carrying out the intervention plan, making it a useful planning document. Also, because the student usually has input into the conditions that are established within the contract for earning rewards, the student is more likely to be motivated to abide by the terms of the behavior contract than if those terms had been imposed by someone else. For example, a goal may be stated in the contract that a student "will participate in class activities, raising his hand, and being recognized by the classroom or specials teacher before offering an answer or comment." Art, gym, or library instructors would then rate the student's behaviors in these out-of-class settings and share these ratings with the classroom teacher. Steps in Implementing This Intervention The teacher decides which specific behaviors to select for the behavior contract. When possible, teachers should define behavior targets for the contract in the form of positive, pro-academic or pro-social behaviors. For example, an instructor may be concerned that a student frequently calls out answers during lecture periods without first getting permission from the teacher to speak. For the contract, the teacher's concern that the student talks out may be restated positively as "The student will participate in class lecture and discussion, raising his hand and being recognized by the teacher before offering an answer or comment." In many instances, the student can take part in selecting positive goals to increase the child's involvement in, and motivation toward, the behavioral contract. The teacher meets with the student to draw up a behavior contract. (If appropriate, other school staff members and perhaps the student's parent(s) are invited to participate as well.) The teacher next meets with the student to draw up a behavior contract. The contract should include: • A listing of student behaviors that are to be reduced or increased. As stated above, the student's behavioral goals should usually be stated in positive, goal-oriented terms. Also, behavioral definitions should be described in sufficient detail to prevent disagreement about student compliance. The teacher should also select target behaviors that are easy to observe and verify. For instance completion of class assignments is a behavioral goal that can be readily evaluated. If the teacher selects the goal that a child "will not steal pens from other students," though, this goal will be very difficult to observe and confirm. • A statement or section that explains the minimum conditions under which the student will earn a point, sticker, or other token for showing appropriate behaviors. For example, a contract may state that "Johnny will add a point to his Good Behavior Chart each time he arrives at school on time and hands in his completed homework assignment to the teacher." • The conditions under which the student will be able to redeem collected stickers, points, or other tokens to redeem for specific rewards. A contract may state, for instance, that "When Johnny has earned 5 points on his Good Behavior Chart, he may select a friend, choose a game from the play-materials shelf, and spend 10 minutes during free time at the end of the day playing the game." • Bonus and penalty clauses (optional). Although not required, bonus and penalty clauses can provide extra incentives for the student to follow the contract. A bonus clause usually offers the student some type of additional pay-off for consistently reaching behavioral targets. A penalty clause may prescribe a penalty for serious problem behaviors; e.g., the student disrupts the class or endangers the safety of self or of others. • Areas for signature. The behavior contract should include spaces for both teacher and student signatures, as a sign that both parties agree to adhere to their responsibilities in the contract. Additionally, the instructor may want to include signature blocks for other staff members (e.g., a school administrator) and/or the student's parent(s). Hints for Using Behavior Contracts: Behavior contracts can be useful when the student has behavioral problems in school locations other than the classroom (e.g., art room, cafeteria). Once a behavior contract has proven effective in the classroom, the instructor can meet with the student to extend the terms of the contract across multiple settings. Adults in these other school locations would then be responsible for rating the student's behaviors during the time that the student is with them. Courtesy of: http://www.interventioncentral.org Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for Teachers Teachers cite conflicts with defiant and noncompliant students as being a primary cause of classroom disruption. In many schools, staff believes that student misbehavior is so pervasive that it seriously interferes with effective instruction. This article outlines important communication tools that teachers can use to defuse (or even prevent!) confrontations with students. How to Use Active Listening to Interrupt an Upset Student Without Confrontation. Here is a useful tip for using active listening. When a student is quite upset and talking very quickly, you can safely interrupt him or her, take control of the conversation, and still seem supportive by using an active listening phrase (Thompson, 1993).