Initiative Description: Students were nominated for possible participation by the school principal and classroom teachers due to the frequency/intensity of their challenging behaviors and the amount of time they spent out of their assigned classrooms because of their disruptive behavior. Baseline phases consisted of typical teaching practices and school staff employed reinforcement strategies with all 3 students. The intervention took place during an English Language Arts instructional block for 2 of the 3 students. Instruction included teacher-directed whole group reading, writing, and grammar activities followed by independent seatwork. The intervention setting for the 3rd student took place during morning arrival in which he turned in his homework and parent communication log and completed a brief writing assignment. The replication setting for 2 students was a second regularly scheduled English Language Arts block. The students engaged in buddy reading, guided reading groups, independent seatwork, followed by stories on tape, engaged in whole group listening and reading comprehension activities, and additional vocabulary instructions. The replication setting for the 3rd student during an English Language Arts block during a dyslexia intervention group. Instruction included letter-sound correspondences, cursive writing, encoding words, work list reading, and narrative story reading. All 3 participants were also observed displaying off-task and challenging behaviors less frequently and replacement behaviors more frequently in replication settings.

Study Results: Intervention reduced off-task behavior, disruptive behavior.

Reference: Mckenna, J. W., Flower, A., Falcomata, T., & Adamson, R. M. (2017). Function-based replacement behavior interventions for students with challenging behavior. Behavioral Interventions,32(4), 379-398. doi:10.1002/bin.1484

Level of Evidence: Very Good