Although this project included a variety of assessment methods, there were some potential limitations. First, there were no ongoing preference assessments before conducting the reinforcement assessment in different days. Kennedy and Haring (1993) indicated that individuals with profound intellectual disabilities could change not over time, even within the course of one day. In addition, these individuals also demonstrated habituations and novelty effects which may influence the validity of further reinforcing testing or assessments (Logan et al., 2001). Therefore, it is important to reassess participant’s preferences frequently to ensure the experimenter is always using the preferred items. However, it is relatively time-consuming to conduct …show more content…
Third, the reinforcement assessment results showed that the participant might have a difficulty on understanding the task. Additional research can be done to include a thinning schedule in the reinforcement assessment. Specifically, experimenter can conduct a rich reinforcement schedule (such as FI 10s) at the beginning of the assessment and then gradually increase participant’s engagement time to get a reinforcer by using FI 20s, FI 30s and FI 40s schedules. This method may help participant to have more exposure on the tasks and reinforcers and understand the contingency at the beginning of the sessions. Fourth, the quality of the observational data should be taken into consideration as some of the interobserver agreement data in this project were low (below 85%). Cooper, Heron and Heward (2014) indicated that experimenters and clinicians should always choose the valid assessment of IOA to ensure the reliability of the observation data and their interpretations
His clinical focus on following instructions will include being able to follow one step verbal directions independently to improve his sequencing and memory recall skills used in functional daily
Paired-stimulus preference assessment. Separate paired-stimulus preference assessment (Fisher et al., 1992) will be conducted to identify preferred edible reinforcers for each participant. Between 12-16 stimuli were used for the assessment. Items were identified through parental reports and previous preference assessment conducted with behavioral teams. Before the assessment begins the participants will get to sample each piece of each type of food. Items will then be presented in pairs in which the therapist will tell them what both items are and then prompt them to “choose one”. Choice of an item will be defined as reaching towards or asking for an item. For edible reinforcers they will be allowed to consume the food chosen. If a participant
Similar results in which participants accessed the application to make requests for preferred stimuli were reported by Achmadi et al. (2012); Kagohara, et al. (2010) and van der Meer et al. (2012) while Kagohara et al. (2012) reported participants’ successfully making requests for preferred stimuli and identifying educationally relevant
Six videos in all were uses at approximately 8 to 10 seconds in duration. A multiple probe design across participants was used. Each participant was assigned three stimulus categories and a fourth was used to assess across category generalization. The procedure for both baseline and treatment consisted of 18 trials per session and for additional trials that were used for generalization probes which consisted of an exemplar from the fourth stimulus category. The 18 trials for treatment were broken down in to 9 teaching trials and 3 exemplar trials from each of the three training categories. A flow chart for the steps of the procedure can be found on page 286 of the (Kerth et al., 2011) study.
A multiple stimuli without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment was conducted to identify tangible reinforcers to use as part of the token system as a means to reduce undesired student behavior. According to Daly, Wells, Swanger-Gagné, Carr, Kunz, and Taylor (2009), multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments are helpful for identifying preferred common classroom activities as reinforcers with children with behavioral disorders. Using an MSWO, Daly et al. (2009) identified and used high, medium, and low preferred stimulus contingent on the completion of math problems. The researchers reported a high correlation between the preference ranking and number of problems the students completed. For this study, the MSWO assessment will be conducted over the course of three consecutive days. For a selected item to be ranked as preferred, it must be selected in at least 80% of opportunities (Tarbox, Ghezzi, & Wilson, 2006).
Diagnostic/Prescriptive/Evaluative (DPE) process is a type of instruction according to Thomas (1996) that helps students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) accomplish the best chance of success and independence, when accompanied with life goal planning, and goal instructional analysis (GIA), which is a fundamental part of the DPE teaching. The DPE process takes lesson planning, breaks down instruction into manageable segments specialized for the individual student, which provide the necessary educational flexibility to ensure successful outcomes. The first step of this process is to diagnose the student’s skill level along with his/her strengths and weaknesses, and then devise or prescribe a lesson path, where student progress can be
I will be able to take kaylen to the park if I am able to decrease the amount of symptoms per day.
Arnold, S, R. C, Riches, V. C., Stancliffe, R. J. (2011). Intelligence is as intelligence does: Can additional support needs replace diversity? Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 36 (4), 254-258.
Participants attended sessions six (6) times per week for six (6) consecutive months. Each session consisted of 15 minutes devoted to a test session and 60 minutes of a practice session. The hour session was divided in two 30 minutes. Study group # 1 received 30
Neely, L., Rispoli, M., Camargo, S., Davis, H., & Boles, M. (2013). The effect of instructional
The study published by DeVries and Feldman in 1983, showed that token reinforcement can increase the rate of sight word acquisition within students with a learning disability in a resource room setting. The study was comprised of two participants, a nine year old boy with directionality and perceptual difficulties and an eleven year old boy with auditory figure ground discrimination. Both participants were two years below grade level in word recognition, had a diagnosis of a learning disability and average intellectual function level, and both were from southwestern USA. After a baseline of each student’s sight words recognition, multiple lists of different five unknown sight words were selected, to use during the intervention. The teacher explained the guidelines of the token system; if the student could remember a sight word 24 hours after the lesson, the teacher would get put a star next to the word. Once the student earned 5 stars (one for each word) they would a sticker on their goal sheet. DeVries and Feldman’s study used stickers as tokens. The children chose a prize of a pre determined list created by a survey they took. The students could then trade in their stickers for a tangible prize from their prize menu. The prize menu was derived from a survey the participants took during the baseline. The goal sheets were sent home to receive the award of parental praise. The study showed that both students increase their sight word vocabulary by 330 percent or more
The literature presented by author justified developed of the experimental intervention. The researchers used the review of the literature to describe variables and amount of research that had been done on each variable. Numerous appropriate references were used in experimental intervention. These literatures subsidize to the overall support to experimental intervention and to reasoning for proving the problem statements.
Are you the type of person who wants to be able to go to work everyday doing something you love, helping others who need it, and getting a smile on your face just by the smallest of things that someone does? That is the type of person I am, which is why I chose the career path of a Behavior Specialist. A Behavior Specialist is someone who works with a person who may have a disability, and they study and work with them to make things as easy as possible for their daily life. They focus on the perception of life, however sometimes hesitate to present the strong conclusions how behaviors cause certain emotion (Thompson). A Behavior Specialist is also known as a Social Psychologist, because they study how a person’s mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people (“Pardon Our Interruption”). The four main behaviors that Behavior Specialists look for when studying the actions of a person are, “Self-awareness, emotion, motivation, and feelings” (“Modeling the Early Human Mind”). Although I believe being a Behavior Specialist is a dream job, there are always issues that go along with any job, in this case emotions play a role in the occupation working with people who need extra help.
Reward and recognition programs must connect the needs and expectations of the workforce with the company’s overall goals and strategies. A program that reinforces important company values and goals will encourage employees to act in line with such goals and emphasize the importance of achieving these goals. Alternatively, rewards which do not connect with organizational goals may convey a misleading message and encourage employees to act in a manner that does not facilitate the
When it comes to inspiring behavioral changes positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment in terms of changing the behavior in the long term. How effectively positive reinforcement affects behavioral changes is closely tied to how behavioral changes are incentivized and rewards bestowed. The case is similar for the application of negative reinforcement. However, rewards and punishments must significantly affect a person’s current situation--for better or worse--in order to inspire change. Let’s look at how positive reinforcement typically results in long-term behavioral change more effectively than punishment overall.