Courtney Raia 471 Applied Project 1.

Description of Student & Operational Definition LT is a second grade student on the autism spectrum. She follows schedules very closely, and problem behaviors can arise from a change in schedule or when a transition does not run smoothly. She uses a picture schedule while within the classroom, and has a mobile picture schedule for use in other areas of the school. The students receptive communication is strong, and she generally understands what is being asked of her, especially when accompanied by a picture such as on her picture schedule. She has recently started using PECS as a communication system, and is currently using communication book to make requests of preferred items. LT makes a lot of vocalizations, and is singing or humming throughout the majority of the day. When agitated or overwhelmed, these vocalizations seem to get louder. The behavior that is being targeted in this project is that the student climbs up on top of tables and desks. This behavior can be described as the majority of the students body being on and supported by the table, with her feet off the floor and at least three limbs on or directly above the table. This includes standing on top of a table, knees on a table, sitting on the table, or laying her body across a table with her feet off the floor. A non-example of climbing on the table would be sitting in her chair with her feet resting on the top of the table, or sitting in the chair with her head resting on the table. 2. A-B-C Observation See attached data sheets. LT was observed in various parts of her school day, including during her breakfast in the school cafeteria, different periods of time in her classroom, and in the cafeteria during lunch

as well. What was discovered was that there are many times that the behavior happens in a chain, where she will perform the same behavior two or three times in a row before stopping. The observations found that the student was always rewarded with one of two consequences, when the target behavior either results in a time out or being reprimanded. This is a large benefit that was discovered from these observations, as it shows what the student is obtaining when she is climbing on the table. We know that this consequence has an impact on the student continuing her behavior, which will be very helpful in forming both a hypothesis and functional analysis manipulations. Another benefit that was discovered is through making these ABC charts, it is easy to see the big picture of the behaviors that occur, as sometimes it was difficult to notice what really happened before, after, and during the behaviors. A problem encountered during these observations was that sometimes the chain of behaviors happened so quickly; it was difficult to get it all down on paper, or what may have been the antecedent that caused it. 3. Functional Assessment Interview See attached interview form. Summary Statement: When LT is left alone in the classroom or in the cafeteria, she is likely to climb on top of the table to obtain attention. Because my cooperating teacher was unavailable for an interview, LTs aide, KL, was interviewed. From this interview, many things were discovered about the student. LTs aide shared that LTs behavior can often be affected if she does not get a lot of sleep the night before, because that generally causes her to come to school late. When the student arrives late to school, she is off schedule, which can have a large impact on her behavior. The

interview also provided information on when the target behavior most frequently occurred following breakfast and lunch, as well as the grooming time period after lunch. The aide described how the behavior is most likely to happen when the student is left alone for a period of time, such as when she is working with another student. It is least likely to occur when an individual is working one on one with LT. When talking about the behavior of climbing on the table, we determined that it probably has an efficiency of 4 on a scale of 1-5. This is because although the behavior is rewarded through reprimands almost immediately, it does take a significant amount of physical effort to climb on top of a table. Through completing this interview, there were a couple problems encountered. First was that because my cooperating teacher was unavailable to be interviewed, LTs aide was instead. Because the aide does not know a lot about LTs home life, there were a few questions that we were unable to answer. However, I have interviewed LTs mom in the past, and was fill in some of the holes with my own information. Additionally, it was hard to find time to sit down and just do the interview, so it was broken up into two thirty-minute sessions. One benefit that Ive discovered from this interview is that although I have spent some time observing and working with the student, it is helpful to get an insight on someone who spends the majority of the school day with her. She was able to fill me in on times of the day that I do not see, and what works best and is to be avoided with this student. This was helpful on getting some insight on the function of the behavior, as it narrowed down functions by eliminating thoughts that were not possible. An example of this is asking if the behavior occurs with one person more than others, and she did not think it really seemed to make a difference. Another example of a function that was ruled out was avoiding difficult tasks, because the

interviewee stated that LT has never climbed on the desk when engaged in work, although that she may yell when trying to perform a difficult task. 4. Functional Assessment Observation See attached FAO form. Revised Summary Statement: When LT is left alone in the classroom or cafeteria and her aide is working with another student, she is likely to climb on the table in order to obtain attention. The first summary statement was changed following the FAO for a few reasons. First, after observing the student for four hours, it was clear that the antecedent was not only that the student was working or sitting alone, but also that her aide was providing attention to another student. Because this happened with nearly every behavior, it seemed as though it was an important piece to add to the summary statement. One problem I encountered during this observation is that there were two separate occasions in which the student would climb on the table during or immediately following her time out, but because it was still within 3 minutes of the first behavior, it was still recorded as only happening once. This is only perceived as a small problem because it hinders looking at the true number of times the student actually climbed on top of the table. However, the student received the same consequence each time, so the data is not truly affected. A benefit that was discovered through completing the Functional Analysis Observation was that looking in the data in this way shows that the perceived function of the behavior was obtaining attention for each occurrence of the behavior. This is very helpful in forming the hypothesis statement. Additionally, observing the student performing these behaviors for a second time allowed me to notice that immediately before the student was about to climb on top of the table she looked at

her aide for multiple different behaviors. This is beneficial in determining the functions of the behavior as well. 5. Functional Analysis Manipulations Through assessing via the A-B-C charts, the Functional Analysis Interview, and the Functional Analysis observation, I was able to develop two hypotheses about the function behind LTs behavior of climbing on top of the table. Hypotheses: 1. When LT is left alone and her aide is working with another student, she will climb on top of the table in order to obtain attention. 2. When LT is sitting or working independently, she will climb on top of the table in order to escape an activity. The first hypothesis was derived from information provided in all three forms of assessment strategies. When collecting data for the ABC charts, it was noticed that LT was always alone when the behavior occurred, and that she was always provided with some sort of attention (generally a time out) as a result of the behavior. LTs aide confirmed this suspicion by confirming that if LT was to be left alone for a period of time, she would likely climb on the table. Through personal observations of LT in multiple settings during the Functional Analysis Observations, it was clear that each time she performed the behavior it appeared to be attention seeking. The second hypothesis was derived based on both the ABC Chart observations and the interview as well. Similarly to the last hypothesis, these two sources showed that the behavior was most likely to occur under the antecedent condition of being alone. However, the function of this hypothesis is based on when the student behaves this way in the cafeteria. LT never climbs on the table until her food is finished, and she is always removed from the cafeteria once

she has. Perhaps she is climbing on the table as a way to escape the meal. This could also be possible while she is in the classroom, because she generally climbs on the table when she is independent during free time, and she may be attempting to escape the activity. Based on the two hypotheses, there are a few different variables that can be manipulated in order to determine whether or not the hypotheses are correct. Possible FAMs: 1. To determine whether or not the first hypothesis is correct, the amount of attention provided to the student for the behavior could be manipulated. This can be done by spending two days providing constant attention to the student during the time periods in which she is most likely to climb on the table, and to not provide any attention to the student for the next two days. This could be tested through a ABAB Reversal design, where the level of attention is altered. 2. The second hypothesis can be tested by manipulating the amount of time the student spends on an activity. This would include removing her from the cafeteria immediately upon finishing her meals for two days, then letting her sit in there following her meal for two days, etc. See attached graph and data sheet. Because I feel as though the first hypothesis is more likely to be correct, the FAM that was implemented was the first option using a ABAB Reversal design. For the first two days of the implementation, the student was not provided any attention during the time periods that were identified from earlier assessments. This was the No Attention phase. For the second two days, the student was provided constant attention during those time periods, and data was recorded in the Attention phase. This was switched to both phases once more. From looking

at the data, it was determined that the hypothesis was correct. When there was an aide with the student the whole time, she did not once attempt to climb on top of the table. However, as seen on the graph, on days that the aide worked with other students and the student was left to sit independently, she climbed up on top of the table. This proves that the function of the behavior is in fact to obtain attention, because the student only demonstrated the target behavior on days that she was not provided with attention. 6. Preference Hierarchy See attached data sheets. A Multiple Stimuli without Replacement format was used to assess the students preferences. Before beginning the assessment, the students aide was asked a few questions about activities and foods that the student seems to enjoy, as well as some that she did not seem to care much about. The classroom has a choice board that the student uses for choice time daily, which was used for this assessment. The icons for all of the items were placed on the choice board and the student was brought to the board. She was prompted with choose one, and was directed to the chosen item immediately after selection. The student was allowed three minutes with the item before she was to make the next choice. Her previous choices were not replaced to the board after being chosen. This process was done with both food options and leisure options 1-2 times a day across the span of a week. The ratios of number of times the items were chosen were added together in order to determine a percentage of likelihood of being picked. The results were as follows: Leisure 1. Smart Board 2. Leap Pad Food 1. Pretzels 2. Goldfish

3. Water Play 4. Play-Doh 5. Books 6. Dolls 7. Rice & Beans 7. Data Collection Technique See attached baseline data form.

3. Oreos 4. Sandwich Crackers 5. M&Ms 6. Animal Crackers 7. Skittles

The data collection technique that was chosen for this intervention was event recording. This is format of data collection was chosen because the frequency of the students behavior occurring is the target of this intervention. Once the student is sitting on the table, it does not matter how long she does the behavior, as the number of times she sat on the table is what is important. The overall goal of this intervention will be to eliminate or reduce the number of occurrences of the behavior, so using an event recording technique to record the frequency of the behavior will be most effective. The form that is attached is the form that should be used for this intervention. It includes the date, the time periods in which the data is being taken, and tallying the number of times the behavior occurs. In order to use the data sheet, one must record the date and write the time in which the observations have start. They then should record the number of times the behavior occurs via tally marks in the Occurrences column. The time in which the observation is complete should be recorded in the Time End column. The total number of tallies for that period of time is then written in the Total column, and the total for the day should be written in the Day Total column.

8. Baseline Data See attached data sheet and line graph. 9. Inter-Observer Agreement Inter-Observer Agreement was determined using the method of Session Inter-Observer Agreement. The session agreement is calculated by summing the tally marks for both observers, and dividing the smaller total by the lager total. This product is then multiplied by 100 for a percentage of agreement. Session IOA = 3/3 = 1 x 100 = 100% The IOA assessment was conducted on the first day of data collection, when LTs aide collected data along with me for two separate sessions. The operational definition of the behavior was written on the data sheet to make the behavior clear for all users, and was explained to the second observer before it began. We observed for the same time periods, and she was instructed to tally mark each time the behavior occurred. Following that time period, the results were analyzed and the agreement was calculated. The assessment showed a 100% inter-observer agreement, where both observers recorded three occurrences of the behavior. This shows that the data taken is valid, as the same occurrences were being recorded as behaviors. 10. Reference List Joosten, A. V., Bundy, A. C., & Einfeld, S. L. (2012). Context influences the motivation for stereotypic and repetitive behaviour in children diagnosed with intellectual disability with and without autism. Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities, 25(1), 262-270. This article describes a research study that determined the functions of four different childrens behaviors. Though the process of the functional analysis will not be helpful in

developing a competing behavior model, their suggestions and discussion on how a behavior depends on its environment and context will be helpful. The article suggests that if a student is demonstrating a behavior during free time in order to obtain attention, then an intervention should teach the student to reach the objective in a different manner. This could include functional communication training, which includes teaching the student a more functional and appropriate way to communicate their needs rather than the disruptive behavior. This could be very useful in developing LTs intervention.

LeGray, M. W., Dufrene, B. A., Sterling-Turner, H., Olmi, D. J., & Bellone, K. M. (2010). A comparison of function-based differential interventions for children engaging in disruptive behavior. Journal of Behavior Education, 19(1), 185-204. This journal article describes an intervention done on three preschool children who demonstrated the disruptive behaviors of inappropriate vocalizations while in the classroom. Through functional assessments, two of the students behaviors were determined to have a function of gaining teacher attention. The intervention utilized two phases: one of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), and one of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). In the DRO session, any 30 second period of time without the inappropriate behavior was rewarded. In the DRA session, inappropriate behaviors meant reinforcement was withheld, while the alternative behavior (appropriate vocalizations) was reinforced. This method of differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors could be helpful in teaching LT an appropriate alternative behavior.

Neitzel, J. (2010). Positive behavior supports for children and youth with autism spectrum disorders. Preventing school failure, 54(4), 247-255. This journal article from Preventing School Failure describes many methods and key ideas for positive behavior supports for students with autism. It describes the three tiers of positive behavior supports as they apply to students with autism, including preventative supports, targeted interventions, and individualized interventions. This can be very helpful when determining antecedent-based strategies to prevent LT from climbing on the table.

Sigafoos, J., & Meikle, B. (1996). Functional communication training for the treatment of multiply determined challenging behavior in two boys with autism. Behavior modification, 20(1), 60-84. Retrieved from http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/20/1/60 This article describes the intervention of two boys with autism who exhibited destructive and disruptive behaviors within the classroom. Functional analysis assessment of the two students demonstrated that the function of these behaviors was both attention-seeking and object seeking. The implementers of this interventions utilized functional communication training in order to teach the students to communicate appropriately when they would like attention or a preferred item. The first phase of the intervention consisted of teaching the student to tap the teacher on the shoulder in order to ask for attention. This was taught using a 1-second time delay. This could be very useful in developing an alternative skill to teach LT, as her behavior has been determined to be attention motivated as well.

11. Intervention Program Based on the observations to complete the ABC chart, the functional assessment interview, the functional assessment observations, the functional assessment manipulations, and the baseline data, an intervention to prevent the current behavior and to teach LT an alternative behavior has been developed. See attached competing behavior model. Antecedent Strategies: Because LTs behavior has been determined to be attention-motivated, it will be important to determine how long the student goes before initiating the behavior. This way, we will know how long to allow her to work, sit, or play independently before providing more attention. A preventative strategy is to schedule attention based the amount of time the student can sit independently. For example, if the student can work independently for five minutes without attention, provide her with attention every five minutes. This way, the behavior is prevented from occurring. Teaching Alternative Skills: An alternative skill to teach LT rather than climbing on the table would be to tap on her teachers or aides shoulder in order to obtain attention. This alternative skill was chosen for a few reasons. This skill was chosen because the functional assessment determined that although highly effective at gaining attention, the problem behavior was not very efficient because it requires a large amount of physical effort to climb on top of the table. Tapping a teacher on the shoulder would obtain attention just as quickly, but it requires far less effort to touch someone than it does to climb. Additionally, tapping an individual on the shoulder is far more of a socially appropriate behavior than one climbing on top of the table.

Consequence Based Intervention: An intervention for changing LTs problem behavior of climbing on top of the table includes: Reinforce the student immediately when she begins to work, play, or sit independently while the teachers are with other students by providing her a pretzel or preferred item and verbal praise. If the student climbs on top of the table, ignore the behavior, as paying attention to the behavior is reinforcing. Begin teaching to tap on the shoulder using most-to-least prompting. This requires one person to communicate with, and one to do the prompting. o After the student has sat/worked/played independently for one minute, the prompter immediately goes to the student and prompts them to walk to the other individual (who should be occupied with another student) and tap her on the shoulder. o The student should immediately be rewarded for tapping on the shoulder with attention and praise. o Following the attention, direct the student back to work independently and both teachers should be near another student. o Continue in this manner until the time period is over. o Prompts should be faded to partial physical, verbal, then gestural. o When the student becomes independent after one minute (3 consecutive days), then increase the demand to working or playing for two minutes. Then increase to five minutes, eight minutes, fifteen minutes, etc.

Continue to reinforce the intervals of time (pre-determined) that the individual sits, plays, or works without attention

Data Collection Procedure: Data can be collected by setting up a data sheet divided into one-minute intervals. For each trial, record the level of prompt used on the student. If the student climbed on the table during the interval, record an X in that box. If she taps the teacher on the shoulder to obtain attention independently, record a + in that box. Through recording in this way, we will know if the student is making progress based on the level of prompt required. Additionally, we will be able to see how many times the student is still demonstrating the problem behavior a day, as well as if she is beginning to perform the skill independently.