This Assignment must be completed using your research project and the chapters 8 and 9 of the textbook. Use APA 7th Edition format and no more than 3 pages in length Identify the benefits of sharing
On March 13th, 2020 public schools were closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Therefore, classes were also switched to online programs combined with other in-home tasks. Because of the several environmental changes that this switch brought, I observed an spike in maladaptive behaviors to escape from academic tasks during distance learning class in most of the students that I usually work with. I decided to take course of action by designing a research project that would help me to increase their time on task during distance learning and also to provide tools to caregivers to improve their children performance in academic task at home.
The population that participated in the study was two 8 years old second graders gifted students diagnosed with ADHD from a K-12 Elementary school that has required to do distance learning at home due to COVID-19. My research was conducted by a Board Certified assistant Behavior Analyst and a Registered Behavior Technician in home setting. It started on May 4th, 2020 and ended June 5th, 2020. During the first week, I focused on proctoring the needs assessment and taking baseline data. For the needs assessment I used different instruments such for parents and students such as:
Antecedent- Behavior – Consequence Chart (aka ABC recording). An ABC Chart is used to organize information over several observation sessions by recording the types of behaviors observed and the events that precede and follow the behavior. Observing and recording ABC data assisted me in forming a hypothesis statement and gathering evidence that the function maintaining a problem behavior has been identified.
Questions About Behavior Function (QABF). I employed the QABF to stablish the functions of the maladaptive behavior displayed by the population. This assessment also allowed me to acquire a more precise and reliable information from the caregivers
specific questionnaires for my population about the distance learning. Questionnaires are easy to fill by the respondents, especially with the young audience who are not used to technical and abstract content. I therefore developed a simple questionnaire with a few emojis and YES/NO boxes to make the assessment palatable to the minds of the young leaners.
With the assessment implementation, I was seeking to identify the function of the problem behaviors during distance lessons and collect information that support the further use of interventions to increasing on-task behavior during distance learning time in these students. The implementation of the questionnaire revealed that students prefer in person classes at the school setting over the online ones at home. They also are struggling with an increase on the amount of activities and the part that they prefer the most is the one related with academic games. On the other hand, the QABF and ABC recording results were that the primary function of the maladaptive behaviors occurring is escaping from task.
The needs assessment also allowed me to design and action plan to continue developing my research and a behavior intervention plan to decrease the maladaptive behavior and teach replacement programs to my students that helped on increasing their time on task during distance learning.
Our personal experience using intervention strategies to mitigate the negative impact of change in the teaching-learning environment from a classroom to the in home setting has provided me with a new understanding of teaching methods and resources. The clarity of the interventions and their direct use based on the initial assessment and developed through the ongoing measurements is a journey we will pursue in the future as an active teacher.
