Behavioral Consultation Presented by: Lizbeth Ramirez Psychology 636 Neil Schwartz Fall 2014 © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Demographic Data Client Consultee N is a 14 year old 9th grade boy. He is generally a nice boy and does well in one- on-one interactions with adults but has a difficult time focusing in the classroom and interacting with his peers. N does not like math and he is doing poorly in all of his classes. Mrs. H is a 47 year old math teacher and she has been teaching for 15 years. She teaches mainly remedial math classes and a couple of calculus courses. She really wants to see n improve and seems to care about her students’ success in her course. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Client’s interests Football & Basketball. Favorite team is the green Bay Packers. Going to the movies. Playing video games. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Problem description The student has a difficult time working quietly during math class. He makes irrelevant comments to the students seated at neighboring desks instead of concentrating on classwork or writing down the work from the board. The student’s classmates do not like his behavior and often get annoyed by it. He yells out a restatement whenever the teacher gives an instruction and shouts out the answer without raising his hand when the teacher asks the class if anyone knows the answer to a problem. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Behaviors and Dimensions The student makes irrelevant remarks when he is supposed to be working on classwork. Frequency of episodes. The student shouts a restatement of any direction the teacher gives the class. Frequency. The student yells out answers without raising his hand before answering. The student works on classwork without making irrelevant comments. Duration. The student raises his hand and waits to be called on before responding to questions. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Class Schedule – 5th period Monday Tuesday to Friday Time Activity 1:15-1:20 Warm-up Activity (independent) 1:20-1:35 Answer Checking (together) 1:35-2:05 Classwork (together) 2:05-2:15 Closing Activity (Ex: exit quiz) Time Activity 12:23-12:27 Warm-up Activity (independent) 12:28-12:42 Answer Checking (together) 12:43-1:02 Classwork (together) 1:03-1:13 Closing Activity (Ex: exit quiz) *Intervention was implemented during all of 5th period. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

A B C Code R+ R- R+ Redirection R+ R+ © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014 Time to work on warm-up Time to work on classwork with teacher Closing activity Student makes irrelevant remarks to other students instead of working Classmates yell at the student R+ Student avoids doing work R- Teacher inquires more about the student's response R+ Teacher asks if anyone has the answer to the warm-up problems Student yells out answers without raising his hand before answering Teacher prompts student to raise his hand Redirection Student raises his hand Teacher responds by saying thank you R+ Teacher prompts student to raise his hand Student does not raise his hand Teacher moves on Teacher instructs the class to be quiet or get to work Student yells out a restatement of the direction Teacher responds to student by saying she does not need his help R+ © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Plan analysis Behaviors to Decrease: Behaviors to increase: Working on classwork without making irrelevant comments. Hand raising. Waiting to be called on before answering. Behaviors to Decrease: Making irrelevant comments during classwork time. Blurting out answers without raising his hand. Restating of teacher directions. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Data Sheet Student Self-Monitoring Sheet The Student self-monitoring sheet was used for the student to keep track of how many irrelevant comments he made during the class period. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Baseline Data for Episodes of irrelevant comments © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

DRL (limited responding) for Reducing Number of Episodes of Irrelevant Comments Phase Max.# of comments Days 1 8 4 2 7 3 6 5 Student is observed while working on classwork. The student makes the specified number of irrelevant comments or more. The student makes less than the specified number of irrelevant comments. The student is not reinforced. The student is reinforced. *Reinforcer is 10 minutes of computer time at end of class to research football statistics for later presentation © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Intervention Data © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Analysis of Data on Irrelevant Comments Baseline: Mean = 5.5 SD = 3.7 Phase 1: Mean = 2.7 SD = 1.2 There was a 51% decrease in the mean from baseline. There was a 68% decrease in the standard deviation from baseline. Phase 2: Mean = 3 SD = 1.4 There was a 46% decrease in mean from baseline. There was a 63% decrease in the standard deviation from baseline. The plan has only been implemented into phase 2. The 46% decrease in this behavior means that the student went from having an average of 5.5 episodes of irrelevant comments during a 50 minute period to having an average of 3 episodes of irrelevant comments. The standard deviation has also decreased from 3.7 to 1.4. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Reinforcement system for yelling of answers and restatement of directions N will receive a sticker every time Mrs. H gives the class a direction and he does not restate it. In phase 1 of the intervention for yelling of answers N will receive a sticker every time he raises his hand to answer a question in class. During the second phase he will receive a sticker for every time he waits to be called on after raising his hand before yelling an answer. The student will have a sheet with 12 blank spots for stickers and when the sheet is filled up he will be able to exchange it for his choice of an item on the reinforcement menu.

Reinforcement Menu Pass to get out of class 1 minute early. Green Bay Packers Stuff ( ex: stickers, poster, etc.). © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Baseline data for yelling out ANSWERS WITHOUT RAISING HAND © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

DRI to Increase Hand Raising Behavior (Phase 1) Goal: Once the student is raising his hand 100% of the time he yells out an answer for three days in a row then you will need to move on to phase two of the plan. The teacher asks if anyone has the answer to the warm-up problems. The student does not raise his hand. The student raises his hand. The student receives verbal praise and a sticker. The student does not receive praise or a sticker. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Intervention Data - Phase 1 M= 25% SD=35% Baseline Intervention © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Analysis of Data on Hand Raising Behavior Baseline: Mean = 25% SD = 35% After plan implementation: Mean = 61% SD = 14% There was a 36% increase in the mean from baseline. There was a 21% decrease in the standard deviation from baseline. The 36% increase in the behavior means the student went from raising his hand only 25% of the time while he blurted out an answer to raising his hand 61% of the time while he blurted out an answer. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

DRI for Decreasing Yelling of Answers (Phase 2) The teacher asks if anyone has the answer to the warm-up problems. The student raises his hand. The student does not raise his hand. The student does not blurt answer. The student blurts out an answer. The student blurts out an answer. The student waits to be called on. The student does not receive a sticker. The student is prompted to raise his hand before answering. The student receives verbal praise and a sticker. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Baseline data For restatement of directions Mean SD 90% 19% © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

DRI for Reducing the Number of Restatements of Teacher Directions The teacher gives the class an instruction. The student yells a restatement of the direction. The student does not yell a restatement of the direction. The student does not receive verbal praise or a sticker. The student is reinforced with verbal praise and a sticker. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Intervention Data M= 90% SD= 19% © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Analysis of Data on Restatement of Directions Baseline: Mean = 90% SD = 19% After plan implementation: Mean = 20% SD = 18% There was a 70% decrease in mean from baseline. There was a 1% decrease in standard deviation from baseline. The student’s behavior decreased significantly and he went from restating an average of 90% of the teacher’s directions to only restating an average of 20% of the teacher’s directions. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Program Efficacy Evaluation Because of absences, student being sent out of the classroom and thanksgiving break, the number of days available for plan implementation significantly decreased. However, the student’s behavior is moving in the desired direction which demonstrates the reinforcers are strong and the plan is working as desired. For the behavior of making irrelevant comments not all phases of the intervention have been completed. Phases 3, 4, and 5 remain(12 days) to be completed. For the behavior of yelling answers phase one is in progress and once criterion is met and maintained for three days, the consultee will then move on to phase 2. For restating directions, the behavior is moving toward the goal. Once criterion is met and maintained for at least 2 weeks(14 Days) for all three of these behaviors, the plan for generalization will be implemented. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Maintenance and generalization during the maintenance phase the behavior must remain at criterion for at least two weeks (10-14 days) following goal attainment. The goals for each behavior are as follow: The student makes a maximum of two irrelevant comments per 50 minute class period. The student raises his hand 100% of the time he responds to a question. The student restates zero directions during the 50 minute class period. During the generalization phase the established reinforcers will be thinned out until only a natural reinforcer is being delivered and is delivered only as often as it is delivered for peers in the classroom. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Implementation of Generalization Fading of the antecedent for irrelevant comments: Student self-monitoring sheet will be faded © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Implementation of Generalization Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Week 1 10 minutes of computer time. Week 2 8 minutes of computer time. 6 minutes of computer time. Week 3 5 minutes of computer time. Week 4 Week 5 No Computer time Once the student’s behavior of making irrelevant comments remains at criterions without the self-monitoring sheet the reinforcer will be thinned out. The following reinforcement schedule will be implemented. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Implementation of Generalization For both hand raising behavior and restatement of directions the student will gradually receive less and less stickers which will initially be replaced by verbal praise. Once the student is only receiving verbal acknowledgement for exhibiting appropriate behavior, the amount of verbal praise will then be gradually decreased until it reaches a level equal to the amount of verbal praised received by his peers in the classroom. The reinforcement schedule for the generalization of these behaviors can be seen in the next slide. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014 © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Reinforcement Schedule for generalization Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Verbal praise at same level as peers VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP= verbal praise © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Thinning of backup reinforcer Thin items on reinforcement menu. The number of items available on reinforcement menu will decrease until there is only one item to choose from. Remaining item will then be paired with verbal praise and then thinned out until only verbal praise is given. Finally the number of times the student is verbally praised will be decreased to equal the frequency at which classmates typically receive praise. © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

Consultee’s thoughts and comments about plan The teacher was impressed with how effective the stickers were. “I can’t believe how fast the stickers worked!” She noticed a difference in how peers treated the student right away. “His peers no longer yell at him because he is making less comments.” “The kids in his group are talking to him more and a nearby group even asked if he could join them.” © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? lramirez18@mail.csuchico.edu © Lizbeth Ramirez, 2014