Effect of behavioral consultation on student and teacher behavior

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of behavioral consultation in changing children's and teachers' behaviors in consultation cases that involved children identified by teachers as manifesting symptoms characteristics of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Twenty teachers of inattentive and disruptive students were randomly assigned to behavioral consultation or to a no-treatment control group. Dependent measures administered before and after treatment included behavioral observations of teachers' and students' behavior, teachers' ratings of students on a standardized measure of hyperactivity, and teachers' ratings of target behavior severity. Intervention effects were investigated with analyses of variance. Children who received consultation improved significantly more than students in the control group on the standardized measure of hyperactivity and on ratings of target behavior severity. A marginally significant intervention effect was found for students' behaviors. Analyses of the relationship of teachers' characteristics and consultation outcomes found that teachers with higher teaching self-efficacy, defined as the teacher's perception of his or her ability to bring about positive changes in student learning or behavior, tended to evaluate the consultation less positively. Teachers' evaluations of the consultant were positively correlated with the degree to which teachers implemented plans developed in consultation and with ratings of students' improvement. The results are discussed in relation to the limitations of the study and to their implications for consultation practice and research.