Relative Efficacy of School-Home Notes and Classroom Based Contingencies in Low Income Elementary School Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

• Main Author: Palcic, Jennette Lea
• Other Authors: Nate Call
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2005
• Subjects: Psychology
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07052005-114902/

A great deal of evidence suggests that ADHD negatively impacts childrens academic performance and on-task behavior. School-home notes have proven to be an effective and acceptable method of classroom behavior management. A school-home note is a daily report card in which a teacher rates a student on any number of target behaviors. The note is then sent home so that the child may receive consequences contingent on that day's behavior. Although successful at decreasing off-task behavior in the classroom, treatment integrity is not always maintained at acceptable levels. Additionally, ADHD children have been shown to be more responsive to immediate rather than delayed rewards which are inherent in home based rewards. This study compared the efficacy of classroom and home based rewards. Children were provided with a daily behavior report card and were evaluated on four target behaviors. Rewards were provided either at home or in the classroom contingent on appropriate behavior. Results indicated that both interventions improved on-task behavior as well as classwork completion and accuracy.