Natural School Setting Research Articles

Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism: a Video Modeling Social Stories Approach

Abstract The present study evaluates the effects of a social story procedure as developed by Gray (2010). The social story alone was presented in a video modeled format to four middle school students who were eligible for the special education autism criteria and who were instructed primarily in a public middle school general education setting. Using a multiple baseline design across participants in their natural school setting, this study found consistent improvements in all participants’ social responses when greeted by peer helpers. During the follow-up phase, participants’ prosocial greeting responses remained consistent with intervention phase responses. One of the primary purposes of this study was to find more reliable evidence-based treatments and outcomes for those individuals afflicted with autism, a growing population within our society. Importantly, this study placed particular emphasis on a social story protocol as employed in the absence of other concurrent treatments. Participants were exposed to a video modeling protocol within a natural school setting. Social stories videos were focused on peer-interactive greeting behaviors. Techniques for establishing generalization of prosocial peer-interactive behaviors are discussed, and strategies for observing students during follow-up conditions are described.One of the primary purposes of this study was to find more reliable evidence-based treatments and outcomes for those afflicted with autism, a growing population within our society. Importantly, this study placed particular emphasis on the social stories protocol as employed in the absence of other concurrent treatments. Participants were exposed to a video modeling protocol within a natural school setting. Social stories videos were focused on peer-interactive greeting behaviors. Techniques for establishing generalization of prosocial peer-interactive behaviors are discussed, and strategies for observing students during follow-up conditions are described.

Protocol for a Systematic Review: “No Excuses” Charter Schools for Increasing Math and Literacy Achievement in Primary and Secondary Education: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Protocol for a Systematic Review: “No Excuses” Charter Schools for Increasing Math and Literacy Achievement in Primary and Secondary Education: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Developing a model for continuous professional development by action research

This paper presents a case study of the work of two teacher educators with an in-service science teacher. This case study forms one cycle of a larger action research study that will eventually lead to a model of how the third-space concept for teacher professional development can be realized in natural school settings. The case study took place in a Grade Eight integrated science class and was designed to facilitate collaborations at multiple levels – between teacher educators within a university setting, among practitioners within a school setting and between university teacher educators and school practitioners. Among the issues emerging as the research evolved were the various roles we assumed, such as coach, critical observer, decision-maker and advisor. Issues related to developing trust, teacher confidence, teacher tacit knowledge, time for reflection and classroom realities were significant findings. The research facilitated our personal and professional growth as we gained insights into the inside working of the curriculum and our responses to situations that emerged. This first phase of the research provided the experiences and theoretical insights that, with further research, can contribute toward developing a model of continuous professional development within a Caribbean context.

Study protocol for the evaluation of an Infant Simulator based program delivered in schools: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial

BackgroundThis paper presents the study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a school based program developed to prevent teenage pregnancy. The program includes students taking care of an Infant Simulator; despite growing popularity and an increasing global presence of such programs, there is no published evidence of their long-term impact. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the Virtual Infant Parenting (VIP) program by investigating pre-conceptual health and risk behaviours, teen pregnancy and the resultant birth outcomes, early child health and maternal health.Methods and DesignFifty-seven schools (86% of 66 eligible secondary schools) in Perth, Australia were recruited to the clustered (by school) randomised trial, with even randomisation to the intervention and control arms. Between 2003 and 2006, the VIP program was administered to 1,267 participants in the intervention schools, while 1,567 participants in the non-intervention schools received standard curriculum. Participants were all female and aged between 13-15 years upon recruitment. Pre and post-intervention questionnaires measured short-term impact and participants are now being followed through their teenage years via data linkage to hospital medical records, abortion clinics and education records. Participants who have a live birth are interviewed by face-to-face interview. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and proportional hazards regression will test for differences in pregnancy, birth and abortion rates during the teenage years between the study arms.DiscussionThis protocol paper provides a detailed overview of the trial design as well as initial results in the form of participant flow. The authors describe the intervention and its delivery within the natural school setting and discuss the practical issues in the conduct of the trial, including recruitment. The trial is pragmatic and will directly inform those who provide Infant Simulator based programs in school settings.Trial registrationISRCTN24952438

Preschool intervention scripts: Lessons from 20 years of research and practice.

Abstract This paper reviews applications, methods, research, and practice procedures for supporting intervention implementation through scripts. The recent emphasis in education on evidence-based practice and data-based programming suggests that intervention plans will become increasingly rigorous and scrutinized. Furthermore, research in applied behavior analysis suggests that many interventions are difficult to carry out in natural school settings without specific and often considerable support. Our focus is on young children. However, the methods to be described have broad applicability and could play an important role in multidisciplinary collaboration. Key Words: Intervention Plans; Intervention Support; Intervention Adherence; Intervention Integrity; Treatment Integrity; Intervention Fidelity; Evidence-based Practice; Scripts; Preschool Classrooms, Teachers and Children Introduction Intervention scripts are used ubiquitously in behavioral intervention research and practice. In research, scripts describe knowledge of common routines and activities as well as their behavioral relationships (e.g., Abelson, 1981; Bower, Black & Turner, 1979; Fivush, 1984; Furman & Walden, 1990; Schank & Abelson, 1977). We use the term script to describe a contextualized intervention plan. In contextualizing plans, intervention steps are developed with parents and teachers, tried out, and refined as necessary. These features may make scripts different than some treatment plans. Scripted plans may be derived from information about successful patterns of interaction within activities and routines and also from intervention design principles and research (e.g., Ganz, Cook, & Earles-Vollrath, 2007; Goldstein & Cisar, 1992; Gronna, Serna, Kennedy, & Prata, 1999). Scripted plans also have the potential to demystify what may be complex processes of change for informed consent purposes. Scripts can help adults implement an intervention and they can help children by serving as models for appropriate language and actions. From 1990 to 1999 we conducted research on how to achieve effective scripted interventions (Barnett, & Air et al., 1999; Barnett, & Bell, et al., 1997; Ehrhardt, Barnett, Lentz, Stollar, & Reifin, 1996). Since that time, the procedures have been used for training professionals and providing comprehensive intervention-based services (Barnett, et al., 2002; Bonner & Barnett, 2004). A basic premise is that, since interventions are often hard to carry out by teachers and parents, scripts can help to support implementation in a way that is consistent with the research fidelity (i.e., accuracy of differentiating components) and that maintains the integrity (i.e., accuracy of implementation) of the plan (Gresham, 1989; Moncher & Prinz, 1991). As an overview, intervention-related support variables may include a problem-solving consultation process, scripts for the desired performance, coaching, feedback, and brief trials or tryouts to refine plans or compare alternative intervention conditions. Scripts are modified for appropriate levels of support to help teachers, parents, students, or others in reaching and maintaining fluency. Much of the discussion that follows pertains to the use of scripts for specific instructional methods and the development of language and social interaction skills. Language is a natural focus for intervention because it is prerequisite for complex learning (Hart & Risley, 1995) and social interaction. There is also a well-established link between levels of communicative competence and challenging behaviors (Goldstein, 2002). Furthermore, for many young children, it is not possible to isolate language from other developmental domains (Barnett, Macmann, & Carey, 1992). This paper reviews the concepts, methods, research, and applications supporting scripted interventions. Our focus is on young children. …

Modes of cardiovascular regulation during middle childhood.

Obtaining meaningful baseline measures of children's cardiovascular activity (CVA) has been difficult because of constraints inherent to laboratory procedures that are used to assess individual differences in response to stress. To circumvent these problems, we performed repeated baseline measures of pulse rate (PR) and blood pressure for 174 children (aged 7-10 yr) in their natural school setting throughout 2 1-week periods. In addition, experimental assessments of cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) were conducted after each baseline period while children participated in a challenging cognitive task. Multivariate analyses of physiological indices revealed three primary styles of cardiovascular functioning. Two of them, characterizing children either with high PR and low blood pressure or conversely with low PR and high blood pressure, have already been described in the research literature. However, analyses also revealed a third group of children (48% of the subjects) who had both low PR and low blood pressure. Findings indicate developmental differences in cardiovascular regulation and highlight the need to consider both variations in baseline CVA as well as in CVR when examining children's physiological adaptation in everyday settings.

Analogical reasoning in restructuring scientific knowledge

This study presents the results of an experiment which investigated analogical reasoning in knowledge acquisition in a natural school setting. The aims were to evaluate the efficiency of analogy in the conceptual restructuring of a science topic and compare the effects of analogy in different learning conditions. Two analogical topics of physics (water flow and heat flow) were studied by means of two experiments performed in the classroom with concrete objects. Eighty-four 5th graders, divided into three experimental conditions (given analogy, constructed analogy, no analogy), took part in the study. The quantitative analysis mainly confirms the hypothesis that analogy can be a productive way to trigger a process of knowledge restructuring while students learn a new topic. However, the effective use of the analogy was affected by the experimental condition: When the analogy was constructed by the learners themselves, instead of being presented and justified by the teacher, it acted indeed as a more powerful tool in understanding the new topic which required changing their initial conceptions. The qualitative analysis shows the children’s explanations of the heat flow phenomenon and different conceptual outcomes of the learning process. Finally, educational implications are considered.

In vivo functional assessment and multi-element interventions for problem behaviors of students with disabilities in classroom settings

Persons with developmental disabilities often do not follow instructions or complete tasks in educational settings, thus further disadvantaging themselves as they try to lead more normalized lives. The purpose of this paper was to address the problems of three persons referred for not following instructions and for engaging in associated behavior problems (e.g., crying, hitting, throwing materials) when given instructions. A functional assessment was conducted in the natural school setting without any prescribed conditions as in analogue functional assessments. Results of the assessments showed that problem behaviors for two subjects occurred much more in demand conditions requiring active responses than in demand conditions requiring passive responses. The results for a third subject showed problem behaviors were associated with toileting demands, less so with other demand conditions, but not with conditions in which there were an absence of demands. Individualized multi-element interventions were based on the negative reinforcement hypothesis and were intended to make tasks less aversive and to make instructions easier to understand. Results of the interventions showed increases in task engagement and decreases in problem behaviors during the active tasks and toileting tasks for which interventions were programmed, as well as for the passive tasks and other demand conditions for which no interventions were programmed. Results were discussed in terms of the value of functional assessments in directing therapists to base interventions on hypotheses of the function of the presenting problem.

SOCIAL WORLD APPROACH TO CULTURAL STUDIES

Cultural sociologists and those studying socialization share an interest in understanding the ways in which media are important within social life. Studies of mass media include those focusing on the production of culture, the content of cultural products, and individual interpretations of media images. However, a fourth domain in cultural studies, the social world, or the context in which media are experienced, has been disregarded. This ethnographic analysis of an adolescent microculture uses a unique method for studying media influence—a group of friends in their natural school setting spontaneously and collectively make gendered meanings based on media content. The influence of mass media on gender relations can be seen as the boys produce and reproduce meanings, based on stereotypical media messages, within their peer group. This occurs through appropriating scenes from cable television films that embody traditional male culture, identifying with the models of masculinity available through media content and imputing stereotypical notions of gender to the mass media. Integrating this important fourth realm of cultural studies—the social world of media—with an interpretive reproduction approach to socialization provides a fuller understanding of how mass media are influential within modern society.

Constructing conceptual knowledge and promoting “number sense” from computer-managed practice in rounding whole numbers

This study sought to identify how high achievers learn and understand new concepts in arithmetic from computer-based practice which provides full solutions to examples but without verbal explanations. Four high-achieving second graders were observed in their natural school settings throughout all their computer-based practice sessions which involved the concept of rounding whole numbers, a concept which was totally new to them. Immediate post-session interviews inquired into students’ strategies for solutions, errors, and their understanding of the underlying mathematical rules. The article describes the process through which the students construct their knowledge of the rounding concepts and the errors and misconceptions encountered in this process. The article identifies the cognitive abilities that promote student self-learning of the rounding concepts, their number concepts and “number sense.” Differences in the ability to generalise, “mathematical memory,” mindfulness of work and use of cognitive strategies are shown to account for the differences in patterns of, and gains in, learning and in maintaining knowledge among the students involved. Implications for the teaching of estimation concepts and of promoting students’ “number sense,” as well as for classroom use of computer-based practice are discussed.

The Role of Sleep Disturbances in Attention Deficit Disorder Symptoms: A Case Study

Identified a 10-year-old girl with ADD and a 5-year history of sleep difficulties. Sleep difficulties (delayed sleep phase insomnia) were corrected while performing blind assessments of behavioral symptoms. The intervention (chronotherapy combined with a behavior modification program) resulted in an increase of sleep from 7.2 to 9.2 hours per night. Pre/postintervention behavioral measures indicated significant improvement in positive interactions with peers, increased productivity on a timed arithmetic task, and significantly increased percentage of assigned seatwork completed. Four-month follow-up in the natural school setting indicated improvement in teacher ratings and classroom performance. Despite the persistence of ADD symptomatology, the improvement in sleep apparently contributed to a clinically significant reduction in ADD.

Evaluation of a Videodisc-Based Social Skills Training Program

The study helped determine the effectiveness of a videodisc-based social skills training program for mildly handicapped elementary school children. The program teaches children how to use appropriate phrasing, intonation, and body language in such social interactions as getting involved and being positive The videodisc is used to present examples of appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors, and models to imitate in subsequent role-playing activities. Six elementary school resource rooms, each containing five mildly handicapped students, were randomly assigned to participate in the program (experimental group) or to continue their regular resource room program (control group). Data on the student's social behavior, acceptance by nonhandicapped peers, self-esteem, and treatment implementation were collected over a 4-month period. Experimental group students scored significantly higher on a posttraining measure of peer acceptance and postchecklist of social skills than did control group students. No treatment effect was found for a postchecklist of social behaviors not covered in the program or on a postmeasure on self-esteem. The social behavior of the students in natural school settings was directly observed for 16 weeks. Treatment group students made a greater improvement than did control group students, but the difference was not statistically significant It was concluded that both the videodisc instruction and the peer tutoring were important to the success of the program. Videodisc program design considerations are also discussed.

A school-based primary prevention group for children with alterations in health status.

The implementation of primary prevention measures for the positive mental health of children has been identified by psychiatric nursing leaders as a priority for child psychiatric nurses. Promoting positive mental health behaviors in school-aged children is facilitated by establishing a helping relationship within the context of small-group activity situated in the child's natural school setting. The authors describe the theory and process of establishing a time-limited, closed group in a school setting, for 10 children who were experiencing some alteration in health status.

Behavioral therapeutic approach for an electiveby mute child combining in a natural school setting desensitization with successive approximations

Behavioral therapeutic approach for an electiveby mute child combining in a natural school setting desensitization with successive approximations

Student-Administered Group-Oriented Contingencies:

This study introduced the student-administered group-oriented contingency intervention as a means of increasing arithmetic performance of grade-school children. Arithmetic performance and disruptive behavior were measured across a clinic and natural school setting for four underachieving fifth grade boys. The effectiveness of this intervention was assessed with an ABAB withdrawal design. Concurrent with treatment phases in the clinic setting, generalization to the school setting was evaluated. Findings indicated all four participants showed increases in arithmetic performance in the clinic during treatment phases paralleled by decreases in nontreated disruptive behavior. The first treatment phase in the clinic yielded no spontaneous setting or behavior-setting generalization. Stimuli common to the clinic setting were programmed into the school setting concurrent with the second treatment phase. This procedure resulted in setting and behavior-setting generalization. Further implications of this treatment strategy were discussed.

Social skills training with children: proceed with caution.

Three learning disabled children, selected on the basis of peer sociometric ratings and teacher referral, received social skills training. A group training procedure consisting of coaching, modeling, behavior rehearsal, and feedback was used to teach children the target, behaviors of eye contact and appropriate verbal responses. The multiple baseline analysis across target behaviors was used to demonstrate treatment effectiveness on role-play scenes trained during treatment sessions. Duration of speech was measured as an untrained, corollary measure. The following measures were also obtained during baseline, posttreatment, and 1-mo follow up for experimental subjects and three control subjects: (a) performance on role-play scenes not trained during treatment sessions; (b) behavioral observations in a free play setting, and (c) sociometric ratings. In addition, the trained and untrained role-play scenes were administered by novel experimenters following treatment. The results indicated that socially unskilled, learning disabled children can be taught to respond appropriately to role-play situations. However, improved performance did not generalize to the natural school setting and treatment did not effect ratings of peer acceptance. The implications of these findings for future social skills training with children are discussed.

A Hierarchy of “Confusable” High-Frequency Words in Isolation and Context

This study assessed the degree to which disabled readers commonly and identically confuse high-frequency sight words in isolation and context. Disabled readers from a university reading clinic and from fourth-grade classrooms were tested for their ability to recognize 22 target words in word lists and in a story. Series of analyses of variance indicated that both groups recognized more words in context than in isolation, and that the clinic and natural school groups did not differ in the number of errors produced in isolation or in context. A Spearman rank-correlation coefficient yielded a very low, statistically significant correlation between the number of errors in isolation and context for the 22 target words. Hierarchical arrangements of words confused in both conditions and words frequently confused in isolation, but rarely in context, are presented. Inspection of these errors suggests that readers relied on visual characteristics of words for isolated word recognition, whereas errors on these words in context were generally regulated by semantic and syntactic constraints of the story. Findings are discussed in terms of diagnosis and instruction through the use of context materials. Suggestions are given for futher research with learning disabled students in natural school settings to identify specific reversal problems with high-frequency words.

The Interactive Effects of Consonant and Dissonant Teacher Expectancy and Feedback Communication on Student Performance in a Natural School Setting

High, neutral, and low statements of success expectancy were paired with positive and negative success feedback statements in a 2 x 3 factorial design involving 43 low-achieving high school students. The communication was applied to reading comprehension lessons in 10 daily class sessions with two dependent variables, comprehension (test scores) and effort expended as measured by the rate of lessons completed on 33 reading exercises. Incongruent communication combinations (e.g., high success expectancy-negative feedback) produced higher comprehension than congruent combinations (e.g., high success-positive feedback). There were no reliable differences in effort expended. The results are amenable to both an arousal theory and an attribution theory interpretation with some evidence that the attribution interpretation explains the findings more adequately.

The Interactive Effects of Consonant and Dissonant Teacher Expectancy and Feedback Communication on Student Performance in a Natural School Setting

The Interactive Effects of Consonant and Dissonant Teacher Expectancy and Feedback Communication on Student Performance in a Natural School Setting

Effects of indirect reinforcement on performance of kindergarten children

This study investigated the parameters of the social reinforcement labeled “indirect reinforcement” and examined its presence and effect in a natural school setting. It was hypothesized that direct reinforcement to one child in a dyad or to two children in a small group of four would have an indirect reinforcing effect on the remaining children. That is to say that when positive reinforcement was given directly, the observing Ss received negative reinforcement indirectly. When Ss from similar treatment conditions were combined from the pairs and small groups, the treatment effects were statistically significant, with those under indirect negative reinforcement showing the greatest increase in performance. Possible uses for the indirect reinforcement phenomenon in school classrooms were discussed.