The action research will be based on the off-task behavior of two 3rd grade students. In the attachments, you can find a template that must be used to follow each step of your intervention. The litera
Off-task/On-task Behavior
Autism leads to students having some form of off-task behavior, which affects their learning. Off-task behavior is where the student or child is engaging in inappropriate interactions with their immediate environment that is against the instruction. It is critical to understand how to increase the on-task behavior for autistic students when they are learning at home.
The variety of interventions or intervention approaches that can be and have been effectively applied to disruptive, off-task behaviors is considerable. DuPaul, Wyandt, & Janusis (2011) provided a comprehensive review of these interventions, the most common of which were identified as medications and behavioral interventions. The behavioral interventions, those based on learning theory, were further characterized being antecedent- or consequence-based ones.
Behavioral Antecedent and Consequent Strategies
There are various behavioral antecedent and consequent strategies that can reduce the task refusal behavior (Pellecchia et al., 2020) and can be useful when the students are engaging in distance learning sessions at home.
Behavioral antecedent strategies are the people, events, and things that come immediately before the problem behavior. In behavioral antecedent strategies, antecedent stimuli are manipulated to evoke appropriate behaviors to differentially reinforce them and reduce inappropriate behaviors that interfere with appropriate behaviors (Miltenberger,2013). A number of antecedent strategies have been developed to address off-task behaviors in children with autism. Four commonly utilized strategies to enhance on-task behavior are the delivery of reinforcement on a fixed-time (FT) schedule (sometimes referred to as noncontingent reinforcement or NCR), the high probability sequence, reducing task demands by modifying the length and/or difficulty of assignments, and giving students choices of which assignments or steps to complete first.
NCR involves giving the student access to a reinforcer frequently enough that they are no longer motivated to exhibit disruptive behavior to obtain that same reinforcer. It consists of allowing students to take small breaks during the presentation of non-desirable tasks. Research has shown that NCR decrease disruptive behavior and increase the time engaged in tasks and the compliance to academic instructions (Carr et al., 2000; Kodak, Miltenberger, & Romaniuk, 2003; Waller, & Higbee, 2010). High probability request (high-p) sequences consist of having students consistently comply with several directions to perform desirable behaviors, and that momentum persists when a subsequent direction is changed to a perceived undesirable behavior. High-p have been an effective intervention for improving compliance and work completion for students who display challenging behaviors (Maag, 2020).
Reducing task demands by modifying the length and/or difficulty of assignments has been proven to decrease triggering behaviors in children with ASD. Reducing task length, allows children with ASD to decrease any frustrations they could be feeling from the lengthy, difficult task thus minimizing challenging behaviors that may be exhibited for the purpose of escaping the situation (Luke, 2017). Offering children with ASD choices between activities (e.g., working on math or English), instructional materials (e.g., using a pen or pencil), or environmental arrangements (e.g., where to sit) has been shown to reduce challenging behavior maintained by escape from task demands (Rispoli et al., 2013).
Behavioral consequent strategies are techniques that can be used after the behavior occurs to decrease the reinforcement and provide the student with alternative behavior. Two behavioral consequence interventions that are effective in reducing off-task behaviors are Premack Principle and differential negative reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DNRA).
Premack (1959, as cited in Maag, 2020) principle states that a high-probability behavior can be contingent upon the occurrence of a low-probability behavior. A high-probability behavior is one that students have a greater likelihood of engaging in when they have free access to preferred activities or objects. High preference activities will be used to reinforce the participation of the students in low preference activities (e.g., school assignments and homework).
The differential negative reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DNRA) consists of allowing the students to exit the non-preferred activities for some minutes when they request a break in an appropriate manner (using his words appropriately or using a gesture). RDNA has been used in a wide variety of studies to decrease behavior problems maintained by negative reinforcement and to increase appropriate behaviors, which substitute for behavior problems (Golonka et al., 2000; Marcus y Vollmer, 1995; Piazza, Moes y Fisher, 1996, Roberts, Mace y Daggett, 1995; Etak Steege, 1990, as cited in Miltenberger, 2013).
Reinforcement is a common effective practice that has been used in combination with the other strategies explained above. The teacher and parents may reinforce on task behaviors with praise or a token that would later be traded in for a desired reward. Reinforcement describes the connection between a student’s behavior and a consequence for that behavior. The consequence is only considered reinforcing if it increases the chance that the student will engage in the behavior again in the future (Wong et al., 2014). An example of using reinforcement in the classroom or at home is a teacher or parent providing an attention-seeking student with a high-five when the student completes a task. In this example, the student likes the attention received when he or she completes the task, and therefore is more likely to continue completing tasks, in order to keep getting those high-fives. Reinforcement is used when the behavior is positive, and the adult wants it to continue. Research showed that the use of positive reinforcement such as a positive behavior-specific note to take home increased on-task behavior of a first-grade student (Bayles, 2020).
References
Bayles, B. (2020). Using Positive Reinforcement to Increase On-Task Behavior of a First Grade. Eastern Illinois University
Bernard, R., & Hammel, A. (2017). Good Teaching on Steroids: Assessments of Music Teaching and Learning with Students on the Autism Spectrum.
Carr J.E., Coriaty S., Wilder D.A., Gaunt B.T., Dozier C.L., Britton L.N., Avina C., & Reed C.L. (2000). A review of "noncontingent" reinforcement as treatment for the aberrant behavior of individuals with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 21(5), 377-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0891-4222(00)00050-0
Kodak T., Miltenberger R.G, & Romaniuk C. (2003). The effects of differential negative reinforcement of other behavior and noncontingent escape on compliance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 379–382. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2003.36-379
LeBlanc, L. A., Raetz, P. B., Sellers, T. P. & Carr, J. E. (2016). A proposed model for selecting measurement procedures for the assessment and treatment of problem behavior. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 9(1), 77-83.
Maag, J.W. (2020). Are High-Probability Request Sequences as Low an Intensity Intervention as Portrayed? Journal of Education and Learning; 9(2). https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v9n2p1
Miltenberger, R.G. (2013). Behavior Modification. Principles & Procedures. Piramide Editions.
Rispoli, M., Lang, R., Neely, L., Camargo, S., Hutchins, N., Davenport, K., & Goodwyn, F. (2013). A comparison of within- and across-activity choices for reducing challenging behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Behavioral Education, 22(1), 66-83. doi:10.1007/s10864-012-9164-y
Waller, R.D., & and Higbee, T.S. (2010). The effects of fixed-time escape on inappropriate and appropriate classroom behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43(1), 149–153. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2010.43-149
DuPaul, G.J.; Weyandt, L.L..; Janusis, G.M. (2011). ADHD in the Classroom: Effective Intervention Strategies. Theory Into Practice, 50(1), 35-42.
Luke, K.A. (2017). Strategies to assist in decreasing escape-maintained behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (Master's Thesis).
Pellecchia, M., Marcus, S. C., Spaulding, C., Seidman, M., Xie, M., Rump, K., ... & Mandell, D. S. (2020). Randomized trial of a computer-assisted Intervention for children with autism in schools. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(3), 373-380.
