A Token Economy System for a male First Grade Student in a Public School Ting Ting Chen

Abstract ADHD is a condition with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Students with ADHD always have difficulties in the classroom. An easy classroom management is the main teacher focus not only for students with ADHD but also for other students with disruptive behaviors. The objective of this action research project is to examine if the token economy system is an effective behavior management to encourage a male first-grade student to sit 20 continuous minutes during ELA classes in the morning. This project employed the case study with ABAB design. One first grade male student from a public school participated in this project for three months. The participant completed a survey for his reward preferences, habits, and behavior in the classroom. Four observations were made, and each observation was held five days. The order of observations was baseline, intervention, baseline, and intervention. The result of the project indicates that the token economy system is an effective management because the frequencies of leaving seat drops. However, the participant was not able to sit 20 continuous minutes during the observations.

Statement of Problem People with ADHD are hard to focus on specific tasks. ADHD has three subtypes: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and a combination of both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive. People with the inattentive type ADHD often have difficulty paying attention, and can get distracted easily. People with the impulsive type ADHD fidget and talk a lot, interrupt others or speak inappropriately sometimes. People with the combined type ADHD have a combination symptom of inattentive and impulsive types (Nakaya, 2009). Most people have either the inattentive or combined types of ADHD (Farrar, 2011).

Review of Related Literature – The prevalence of a ADHD current diagnosis was three times lower among girls (3% or 11,000) than among boys (9% or 11,000) (Wunsch-Hitzig et al., 2013). – The percentage of children ever diagnosed with ADHD has increased from 7% to 9% from through in the United States based on the data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Akinbami et al., 2011). – The token economy system was significant in early 19 th century England and the United States (Stilitz, 2009). A token economy system is a reinforcement program which helps build and maintain appropriate classroom performance and behavior management (Flick, 2010).

Research Hypothesis Using the token economy system with immediate reward in the morning (9 A.M. – 12 P.M.) over a 3 month period will motivate one first-grade male student with off task behaviors to sit still for at least 20 consecutive minutes during a 45 minute ELA class as measured by a personal behavior checklist. ABAB design. No control group.

School: A public school in Brooklyn, New York. Duration: February-May 2016 Participants: 1 First Male Grader Observations: 45minutes observations in the morning (8A.M.- 12P.M.) from ELA (reading or wrting classes) (three times a week) for 4 weeks ABAB desgin Procedure: For every 5 minutes, if no disruptive behavior, leaving his seat, the participant receives a pom pom token (1 point) in his popcorn box. If he gets 4 pom poms continuously, the participant can randomly choose immediate reward, such as playing educational games on the computer, bringing a stuffed friend, or wearing a cool hat etc. The number of tokens received was logged on a behavior chart. Methods Instruments: Consent forms to the principle and the parents. Survey Tokens (pom poms) Behavior chart Popcorn box Immediate rewards (the student needs to randomly pick from a price bin)

Survey Questions 15. I like to sit down. 1.Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Agree 4. Strongly Agree 20. I like reading or writing. 1.Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Agree 4. Strongly Agree 21. I focus more in the morning. 1.Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Agree 4. Strongly Agree 33. I like to behave well in the classroom in order to get rewards. 1.Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Agree 4. Strongly Agree Strongly agree: Love to excerise, Exercise helps him awake Need rewards when he does something good in the classroom It is important to receive rewards in the classroom Like to receive rewards in the classroom and he likes to behave well in the classroom in order to get Rewards Agree: Like Math Focus more in the morning Disagree: Like reading or writing Focus more in the afternoon Habit: Playing video games, Watching movies.

Threats to Internal Validity & External Validity – History: There are many ouside events or experiences of the student which I amy not realize. – Maturation: There are always natural, physcial and emotional changes in one individual – Testing/Pre-testing sensitation: My data will be collected by observation. No texting or pre-testing. – Instrumentation : Parents and teachers may not be honest in answering the questions. – Ecological validity: The success of the intervention may be not carried to different environments. – Generalizable conditions: I may get the same results based on the student’s perofrmance during the intervention. – Selection-treatment interaction: There are nonrandom of participants in my research. I have my targeted student. – Multiple treatments: My participant is receiving other realted services based on his IEP. Internal External (O’Connor-Petruso, 2010).

Baseline Observation 1 Intervention Observation 1

Baseline Observation 2 Intervention Observation 2

Graphic Upon examining the student frequencies of standing up based on the observation data. The frequencies of standing up drops in the second intervention observation. Even though the student did sit 20 minutes, it does not support the hypothesis based on the observation data. Stable baseline data.

Discussion and Implications The results from the data analysis fo not prove the hypothesis since the participant was not able to sit 20 consecutive minutes by using the intervention during a 45 minute ELA class. Yet, the frequencies of leaving his seat decreased. It supported Flick’s (2010) opinion which a token economy system is an effective approach to minimizing a student’s disruptive behavior. The targeted student plays video games and watches movices based on the survery. The student might feel uncomfortable when the token economy system was only implemented with him in the classroom. The researcher should ask the participant to keep the data record. The targeted student’s paraprofessional reaction to the student, such as leaving the classroom and working with another student(s.) Student might not feel quite interested in the pom pom tokens. The classroom teacher does not teach ELA every morning of the week. Further studies or observations