A Positive Version of the Good Behavior Game in a Self-Contained Classroom for EBD: Effects on Individual Student Behavior

A within-participant withdrawal design was used to examine the effects of a positive version of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) for three students in an elementary special education classroom for students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD). Results indicated immediate improvements in disruptive behavior and academic engagement for all three students when the GBG was implemented which was generally replicated in the second intervention phase for academic engagement. Tau- U effect sizes ranged from .76 to .95 indicating large and very large effects for both behaviors for two students and academic engagement for the third student, but Tau- U for the third student’s disruptive behavior was .32 (considered not effective). Two students exhibited slight decreasing trends in academic engagement behavior and increasing trends in disruptive behavior near the end of intervention phases. A preliminary within-session analysis also suggested students’ behavior was generally better in intervention phases both during and not during the GBG when compared with their baseline levels of behavior. Social validity information suggested generally positive teacher and student perceptions about the GBG initially, with less positive student perceptions 10 weeks following the conclusion of the study. The teacher reported implementing the GBG 5 times over the 10 weeks following the conclusion of the study.

A Technology-Based Self-Monitoring Intervention for Secondary Students with High-Incidence Disabilities

Secondary students with high incidence disabilities who also display disruptive behaviors struggle to be successful in general education settings. As a result, general education teachers are looking for ways to utilize technology to provide them with opportunities to implement evidence-based interventions in their classrooms. In this study, teachers used MoBeGo, an iPad application, in a single-case withdrawal design (ABAB), to implement self-monitoring in high school general education classrooms with four students who received special education services for a high incidence disability. The results of this study indicate that teachers could implement MoBeGo with fidelity to improve students’ academic engagement and appropriate behavior. Additionally, both the teachers and students rated MoBeGo as a socially valid intervention. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The Effect of Using the Reinforcement Board on Increasing Attention among Students with Intellectual Disabilities during Performing Writing Tasks

The current study aimed to examine the effect of using the reinforcement board on increasing attention among students with intellectual disabilities while performing writing tasks in the class. A related purpose was to explore students’ ability to maintain and generalize the behavior of attention. The withdrawal design (ABAB), one of the Single Subject Designs, was used. The study sample consisted of 4 students with intellectual disabilities in grade 5 who attend Dhul-Noreen elementary school for boys in Jizan. Results showed that the reinforcement board strategy was effective in improving and developing the attention of students of intellectual disabilities during the performance of written assignments within the classroom with a success rate (100%). In addition, students maintained the behavior that they learned with a rate ranging between (96-100%) and also improved their ability to generalize this behavior in different environments with a success rate ranging between (96-100%). Finally, the results showed the functional relationship between the use of reinforcement board strategy and the improvement of the level of attention of students with intellectual disabilities.

Effects of Visual Activity Schedule on Decreasing Transition Latency

A visual activity schedule (VAS) was used with a 7-year-old African-American (Non-Hispanic) male at-risk for school failure. An ABAB withdrawal design was used to assess the effectiveness of a VAS on decreasing latency during transitions. Results indicated that a VAS decreased transition latency between activities and reduced teacher prompting associated with the transitions. Limitations of this study and implications for practitioners and researchers are provided.

Low-profile elastic exosuit reduces back muscle fatigue

We investigated the extent to which an un-motorized, low-profile, elastic exosuit reduced the rate of fatigue for six lumbar extensor muscles during leaning. Six healthy subjects participated in an A-B-A (withdrawal design) study protocol, which involved leaning at 45º for up to 90 s without exosuit assistance (A1), then with assistance (B), then again without assistance (A2). The exosuit provided approximately 12–16 Nm of lumbar extension torque. We measured lumbar muscle activity (via surface electromyography) and assessed fatigue rate via median frequency slope. We found that five of the six subjects showed consistent reductions in fatigue rate (ranging from 26% to 87%) for a subset of lumbar muscles (ranging from one to all six lumbar muscles measured). These findings objectively demonstrate the ability of a low-profile elastic exosuit to reduce back muscle fatigue during leaning, which may improve endurance for various occupations.

Efficacy of a No-Team Version of the Good Behavior Game in High School Classrooms

Disruptive behavior (DB) negatively affects the learning process in various ways, interfering with the educational process of individual students, the teacher, and/or the class as a whole. Group contingency interventions, such as the Good Behavior Game (GBG), are often used classwide to provide teachers with evidence-based management strategies while improving student behavior. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of a streamlined, no-teams version of the GBG in general education high school classrooms. Although the GBG has been assessed in a variety of settings, it has limited empirical evidence for use with secondary-level students, indicating a significant need for such an evaluation. The effects of the intervention were determined with an A/B/A/B single-case withdrawal design in three classrooms (ninth, 10th, and 11th grades). The results of the study indicated that the no-team version of the GBG was effective at reducing levels of DB and increasing levels of academic engagement in each classroom. Furthermore, the intervention procedures were found to be acceptable to each of the teachers, indicating that the streamlined version of the GBG is an efficient and effective strategy for improving student behavior in high school classrooms.