Function-Based Intervention

McDevan Carling EDU 4540 Weber State University

Subject Information
JR

is a male middle school student in the 7th grade.

Each classroom indicates the level of student speaking that is acceptable with a chart at the front of the room. The most common settings are silence, whisper, or talk out loud (at a reasonable speaking level.

JR often speaks above the accepted level,

prompting instructor intervention.

Target Behavior
- The target behavior to increase is talking at an expected volume during class time.

-Looks Like: JR will talk to peers or the teacher in a prescribed volume as indicated by a chart at the front of the class. The options on the chart are whisper, talk out loud, and silence and are set by the instructor as needed.

-Sound Like: JR will talk to his peers or the teacher only at the prescribed volume. Softly when the chart indicates whispering, at a reasonable speaking voice that is not overtly noticed by peers other than those to which the comment in directed when it is on talk out loud, or not at all when it is on silence.

Assessments Conducted

Behavior Name: Talking Expectedly

Operant Definition: JR will talk to peers or the teacher in a prescribed volume as

indicated by a chart at the front of the class. The options on the chart are whisper, talk out loud, and silence and are set by the instructor as needed.

Measurement Procedure: Whole Interval Session Measurements: JR will be measured in a total of 5 sessions, each broken down into 10 intervals of 4 minutes.

Description: Each time JR remains at the prescribed volume level (silence, whisper, or talk out loud) for the entire interval, he will be positively checked. When JR speaks at an inappropriate voice tone in an interval, he will be negatively checked. The total number of positive intervals should show the baseline of his current target behavior.

Baseline Data Sheet

Baseline Data
10 9 8 7 6 # whole 5 Intervals of successful behavior 4 3 2 1 0 session 3 2 2 1 3

Talking expectantly instances

Assessments Conducted
Data

Analysis

Examined baseline data in light of observed instances of the target behavior.

Observations
Used ABC observation form to examine instances of target behavior in line with

antecedents and consequences over 2 observation periods.

Used summary analysis form to compile data from multiple sources of

information.

Interviews
Conducted informal interviews with 3 instructors that had observed JRs target

behavior in their classrooms.

Hypothesis
The

function of this behavior is increased attention from instructors. In observation, it appeared as if JR may be seeking out stimulation, as he was unengaged in the typing class when observed.
However, informal interviews indicated that he displayed similar

behavior in classes in which he was fully engaged.

The common factor between classrooms that indicated high levels of

the talking out behavior was the attention he received from instructors by engaging in the behavior.

Function-based Intervention Instructor Attention

Step

1: JR will be told the steps to following the prescribed target behavior and the consequences associated with them.
Prescribed Speaking Level Procedure: (i) As you enter the classroom, look at the board at the front of the class. (ii)

Determine what level of speaking is indicated by the arrow pointing at the chart. (iii) Speak only at the indicated level or lower.

Step 2: Implement Consequences

Reinforcement Procedures: To increase the extent to which JR stays at the expected voice level he will earn a sticker

for every 10 minutes in which he is able to stay at the indicated level. Once he has 5 stickers, he will be able to give a 5 minute tutorial to the instructor on computer mechanics. JR is highly interested in computers and has enjoyed teaching peers basic computer programming in the past. Since it was determined that JRs behavior seeks out adult attention, he will be able to teach his instructor.
Punishment Procedures: If JR cannot comply with the prescribed volume level he will not earn a sticker.

Step 3: Generalize skill to expected level of compliance.

In order to produce the desired behavior level, the amount of time JR needs to stay at the prescribed volume level will

increase by 5 minutes every 3 school days until he only receives a sticker for staying at the prescribed volume level for an entire class period (45 minutes).

Research Design & Condition of the Study

Interrupted

time series research design.

JR receives both a pretest and a posttest to determine the effectiveness

of the intervention.
If the intervention is affective, the pretest and posttest (both lacking the

intervention) will have a lower frequency of the target behavior.

Recall that the target behavior is the positive measure, not negative: The target

behavior to increase is talking at an expected volume during class time. The data should show higher levels of the target level during the middle

intervention period (roughly 5 sessions).

Results
Talking expectantly instances (post intervention)
10 9 8 7 6 # whole Intervals of successful behavior 5 4 3 2 1 0 session 5 4 4 6 7 7 8

Results
JR

showed an initial improvement, presumably based upon the step by step instruction of the replacement skill. However, after the improvement he regressed to previous levels quickly. By the 4th session, I once again explained the system and reframed the manner in which I explained the reward: You are going to help improve our class in the future by giving me feedback and teaching me computer skills that can be used next year in order to make the class less boring. Results show that the alternative explanation of the reward system was more effective and there was an immediate improvement of the target behavior.

Discussion
Initial

observations were not correct.

It is important to look at the subject in multiple environments, times, and with

different instructors. My initial hypotheses was incorrect based on observations in my own classroom. It wasnt until interviewing other instructors that I found a common functional link to the behavior.

It is important to continually refine the language of your study.

In the process of completing the FUBA, I was continually forced to re-write

paragraphs and refine phrases based upon some of the initial steps of my project.
Precise language is the key to the scientific integrity of the intervention.