Contingent observation and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior in a daycare setting : a multielement/multiple baseline comparison

• Main Author: McCullough, Carolyn Sue
• Other Authors: Sparzo, Frank J.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Child rearing.; Interaction analysis in education.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/178232; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/250930

One purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of two classroom management procedures, contingent observation (CO) and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (Alt-R), in decreasing inappropriate naptime behavior of three to five year old children in a public daycare setting. A second purpose was to determine the effectiveness of the combined Multielement/Multiple Baseline Design in controlling for condition change interactions, specifically contrast and induction effects. Concommitant to the study, a third purpose was to determine the effectiveness of CO and Alt-R in decreasing negative teacher. attention to inappropriate naptime behavior and increasing positive teacher attention to appropriate naptime behaviors.Four daycare caregivers within a public daycare center were trained in the CO and Alt-R procedures following baseline observations. Fifty regularly enrolled three to five year old children in two classrooms participated as subjects. Treatment conditions in Classroom A involved multielement manipulations of three treatment conditions, contingent observation, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior and' baseline. '..During the regular naptime session one of the three conditions was implemented. To control for sequence effects, the three conditions were presented in a random order.The contingent observation procedure consisted of five steps. Contingent upon an occurrence of inappropriate naptime behavior (e.g. out of cot, talking out, physical contact with another child, ate.) the caregivers were instructed to1. describe both inappropriate and desired appropriate behavior to the target child;2. separate the child from the group and place him/her at the edge of the setting where peer models could be observed doing the appropriate behavior, (i.e. napping appropriately);3. reinforce peer models displaying appropriate naptime behavior and instruct the target child to visually attend to these models;4. return the target child to the group when verbal indications were given to the caregiver that he/she "understood" what was expected (i.e. the child verbally described the behavior desired or gave a verbal affirmative response to caregiver questioning);5. prompt (if necessary) and immediately praise subsequent appropriate naptime behavior in the target child.Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior involved reinforcing appropriate naptime behavior that was incompatible with the existing inappropriate behaviors and ignoring the inappropriate behaviors (e.g., lying quietly on a cot was incompatible with out-of-cot behavior). Baseline conditions consisted of no teacher attention to appropriate behavior and negative teacher attention to inappropriate naptime behaviors.The combination multielement/multiple baseline design was unique to this study. Multielement manipulations randomly alter different treatments within the same time phase relatively rapidly. Multielement manipulations combined within the multiple baseline allowed a simultaneous replication in a second setting of the strongest treatment found within the multielement manipulations. The multielement design has been criticized because of problems with the effects of condition change interactions. Presenting the strongest treatment within a second setting allowed control for these effects. Induction effects (more behavior than would be predicted from baseline data) were evident in the concommitant data on teacher behavior. Under baseline conditions in the multielement manipulations the teacher's rate of praise showed an increasing trend while negative teacher attention was at zero for four of the five baseline presentations. This was a significant change from pre-treatment conditions.Contingent observation decreased inappropriate naptime behavior from a baseline mean of 95% of the observed intervals to a mean of 29%, or from a mean of 16 misbehaviors per minute to a mean of 1 per minute. Further, contingent observation appeared to be most effective in maintaining low rates of inappropriate behavior over the naptime session. The rate and kind of inappropriate behaviors changed significantly, from a high rate of out-of-cot, talking-out and various physical behaviors to infrequent head-lifting off the cot.