Individual Behavior Improvement Intervention Cara Roberts COU 783, Fall 2011 Missouri State University
Behavior Concerns Some 3 rd Grade students were struggling with behavior at Ava Elementary School. Identified students were displaying disruptive classroom behavior, had received office referrals, or had displayed behavior problems at home. Students were identified by teacher and parent referral.
SIMS (Students, Interventions, Measurements and Settings) STUDENTS: ◦ Five 3 rd Graders INTERVENTION: ◦ Six weeks of Group Counseling with Three weeks of Classroom Guidance Lessons MEASUREMENT: ◦ Discipline Referrals, Teacher Pre and Post measurements, Attendance SETTING: ◦ Attended Group Counseling Sessions in Elementary Guidance Counselor Office
Purpose Of Intervention The purpose of this intervention was to reduce the amount of office discipline referrals, improve teacher concern ratings from beginning of intervention, and improve attendance of identified 3 rd Grade students.
Structure of the Intervention Students were met with in a group session once per week for a total of six weeks. Three classroom guidance lessons were also provided to the students entire classroom that focused on reducing stress and managing anger.
Structure of Group Counseling MCGP Anger Management Unit for Grades 3-5 was utilized ◦ Week 1: How Does it Look and Feel to be Angry? ◦ Week 2: Steps to Managing Your Anger ◦ Week 3: Express Your Anger Through I Messages ◦ Week 4: Positive Power Over Anger ◦ Week 5: Circle of Friends…Calm, Cool and Collected ◦ Week 6: Closure, Read “The Mad Family Gets Their Mads Out” by Lynne Namka, Ed. D.
Structure of Classroom Guidance Lessons Week 2: Read “Don’t Pop Your Cork on Mondays!” by Adolph Moser, Ed. D.; included discussion and practice of stress management techniques. Week 4: MCGP Lesson ◦ PS2-Gr3-Unit1-Lesson 1—Communicating with “I Messages”, Part 1 Week 6: MCGP Lesson ◦ PS2-Gr3-Unit1-Lesson2—Communicating with “I Messages”, Part 2
Attendance During Intervention
Office Discipline Referrals
Teacher Pre and Post Test Total score of 90 possible. A higher score indicates a higher level of concern. 18 areas were measured. Teachers completed the Pre Test during Week 1 and Post Test at the conclusion of Week 6. Student 1 showed a reduction from 81 to 68 as rated by the teacher on pre and post tests. (16% reduction in concern)
Pre and Post Test Results Student 2 saw a reduction from a score of 72 to 55 out of a total of 90 possible. (24% reduction in concern) Student 3 saw a reduction from a score of 64 to 18 out of 90 possible. (72% reduction in level of concern) ** Student 3 had concerns regarding medication and these were adjusted by week 6.
Pre and Post Test Results Student 5 did not have any concerns at school, concerns came from behavior at home. This student scored 18 out of 90 on the scale both in pre and post tests. Student 4 showed a reduction from 71 to 36 out of a possible 90. (49% reduction in the level of concern)
Conclusions 3 of 5 students had no office discipline referrals during the intervention. An overall reduction in absences was noted during the intervention. 4 out of 5 students showed a reduction in Teacher level of concern from Pre-Test to the Post-Test.
Recommendations Further research to track attendance and office discipline referrals for longer amounts of time both before and after intervention. Pre and Post test provided to students to measure skills learned during intervention. Additional feedback from parents retrieved to see if behavior improvements were also observed at home.
References Moser, A. (1988). Don’t pop your cork on Mondays! Kansas City, MO: Landmark Editions, Inc. Namka, L. (1995). The mad family gets their mads out. Tucson, AZ: Talk, Trust and Feel Therapeutics. MCGP Lessons: PS2-Gr3-Unit1-Lesson 1—Respecting Individual and Group Differences: Communicating with “I Messages”, Part 1 and 2 =project&project=guidelsn§ion=ps1 =project&project=guidelsn§ion=ps1 MCGP Small Group Counseling, Anger Management Unit for Grades =project&project=smallgroup =project&project=smallgroup