Volume 4, Number 3, Summer 2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

Editorial
Glen Dunlap and Robert L. Koegel 

 

Using Multiple Measures to Evaluate Positive Behavior Support: A Case Example
Shelley Clarke, Jonathan Worcester, Glen Dunlap, Marcey Murray, and Kathy Bradley-Klug

In recent years, calls to expand the criteria by which behavior support efforts are evaluated have increased. Success is now said to depend on outcomes that transcend a reduction in the occurrence of problem behaviors and include the achievement of new competencies and improvements in one's quality of life. This single-case investigation was conducted as an effort to evaluate the effects of a positive behavior support intervention with multiple measures that included experimental analyses of the participant's problem behavior, engagement, happiness, and effiency in completing transitions, as well as adult and peer perceptions of aspects of the participant's quality of life. Multiple baseline analyses indicated that the assessment-based intervention was effective in producing durable improvemetns in all of the measured variables and that the procedures were socially valid. The results are discussed in the context of the growing number of empirical case studies in positive behavior support, and the need to develop more efficient strategies for evaluating the essential outcomes of intervention.

 

Employing Descriptive Functional Assessment Methods to AssessLow-Rate, High Intensity Behaviors: A Case Example
Pamela M. Radford,Ruth A. Ervin

Low-rate, high intensity behaviors, such as aggression and violence, are not uncommon in school settings. This study evaluated the utility of descriptive methods (e.g., record reviews, interviews) of functional assessment in documenting behavior function for low-rate, high intensity behaviors. The participant, a 13-year old male with ADHD, exhibited low-rates of aggression toward peers in school. A comprehensive record review of archival data sources (i.e., office referrals, previous school records) indicated aggression was more likely to occur during unstructured activities (e.g., recess), primarily following negative peer approaches (e.g., teasing, name calling, and/or physical aggression). Descriptive information and observations led to the development and selection of potential intervention strategies. Direct observational data indicated that the peer buddy intervention was effective in reducing the number of inappropriate responses to negative peer approaches, as well as the number of aggressive incidents. Implications for utilizing descriptive data to document predictor variables and maintaining variables for low-rate, high intensity behaviors are discussed.

 

Teaching Daily Living Skills to Children with Autism through Instructional Video Modeling
Robin Shipley-Benamou, John R. Lutzker, Mitchell Taubman

Research on video modeling has typically utilized either competent peer models or self-models engaging in criterion performances. Although both methods have demonstrated utility in achieving skill acquisition, each has potential disadvantages. The current research utilized a multiple probe design across tasks and replicated across participants in order to demonstrate the efficacy of an instructional video modeling technique to teach functional living skills to three children with autism. Five tasks were selected. Prior to the development of each training video, task analyses were created. Videotapes were developed from the participant’s viewing perspective, that is, as the participant would be viewing the task. Instructional video modeling was effective in promoting skill acquisition across all three children and maintained during the post-video phase and a 1-month follow-up.

 

 

A Comparison of Forced-Choice Preference Assessment Procedures Using a Parent and Novel Therapist
Regina S. Haynes, K. Mark Derby, T. F. McLaughlin, Kim P. Weber

Forced-choice preference assessments have been found to identify reinforcers. However, the utility of this procedure to identify similar reinforcers when conducted by different individuals is unknown. This investigation evaluated if a child’s parent versus a novel individual delivering the stimuli would alter the results obtained within forced-choice preference and subsequent reinforcer assessment procedures. During the forced-choice preference assessments, the child chose same items. However, when the utility of these items to serve as reinforcers was evaluated, different outcomes were found. The child chose to work for immediate reinforcers when the parent served as the therapist and to work for delayed rewards when a novel therapist was employed. The clinical significance of these outcomes is discussed.

 

Longitudinal Evaluation of Behavior Support Intervention in a Public Middle School
James K. Luiselli, Robert F. Putnam, Michael Sunderland

Student discipline problems are common in public schools, interfere with instruction, can create an unsafe learning environment, and demand increased attention from staff. Effective school-wide discipline practices have been designed but in most cases, intervention efficacy has been evaluated in the short-term. This report describes a longitudinal (four-year) evaluation of a behavior support program implemented with the entire student population in a public middle school. The number of student detentions issued for disruptive-antisocial behaviors, vandalism, and substance use decreased progressively during each academic year. In addition, student attendance increased yearly as well as the proportion of students earning positive reinforcement. Although it represents a non-experimental analysis, this evaluation documents protracted effects from a school-wide behavioral intervention and suggests that long-term maintenance from such intervention can be achieved.

A Brief Report on the Prevalence of Sleep Problems in Individuals with Mental Retardation Living in the Community
Mark T. Harvey, Daniel J. Baker, Robert H. Horner, Jennifer Urbano Blackford

This study examined the sleep patterns and prevalence of sleep problems in adults with mental retardation living in community settings. Information was gathered from 67 staff members regarding 237 individuals with mental retardation (focus persons). Staff members provided information about each focus person’s: (a) demographics, (b) sleep patterns, and (c) sleep problems encountered in the last month. Persons with severe or profound mental retardation and persons taking medications were more likely to experience sleep problems. These findings clearly identify sleep as a critical area of health support for persons with mental retardation, and suggest areas for future analysis.

 

Best Practices: Finding a New Direction for Christos
Darlene Magito-McLaughlin, Kimberly Mullen-James, Kaarin Anderson-Ryan, and Edward G. Carr

 

A Teacher’s Perspective of Using the Process of Positive Behavior Support in a Classroom to Support a Young Girl with Multiple Disabilities
Marcey Murray, Shelley Clarke, Jonathan Worcester

This article shares the perspectie of a teacher involved in a collaborative team, which utilized the process of positive behavior support, in an effort to improve the behavior and quality of life of a twelve-year-old girl with multiple disabilities. The teacher took the initiative and actively sought out the family, other school staff, and behavioral interventionists to join her in developing a behavioral support plan that allowed a young girl identified with autism spectrum disorder to remain in her classroom. The following is a description of her classroom, how the support plan evolved throughout the school year, and her perspectives and observations about the positive behavior support process.