ERIC Number: EJ787615
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jan
Pages: 23
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1047-4412
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Comparing Methods of Identifying Reinforcing Stimuli in School Consultation
Damon, Sharon; Riley-Tillman, T. Chris; Fiorello, Catherine
Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, v18 n1 p31-53 Jan 2008
Reinforcement-based interventions, the most frequently used treatments for school-age children, rely on accurately identifying stimuli that will serve to reinforce appropriate classroom behavior. Research has consistently demonstrated that the results from a forced-choice pairing procedure are the best predictors of reinforcing stimuli. Interestingly, systematic evaluation of potential reinforcers is rarely implemented in the school consultation setting. Considering the importance of the reinforcer on reinforcement-based interventions, and the literature focusing on the significance of the selection procedure on accurately identifying a reinforcer, this is concerning. The purpose of these two studies was to examine the effectiveness of identifying reinforcing stimuli for students in the consultation setting using two different methods: stimulus forced-choice and asking the teacher to identify potential reinforcers. The effectiveness of the selected stimuli as reinforcers was studied on two student outcomes: academic production and on-task behavior. The results of the two studies suggested that the reinforcers selected using a forced-choice procedure were more effective than the reinforcers selected from a teacher-identification procedure. Further, results indicated that although stimuli derived from both reinforcer assessment methods were useful at increasing rates of desired behavior, stimuli derived from the forced-choice reinforcer assessment were more consistently effective. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Stimuli, Student Behavior, Reinforcement, Intervention, Outcomes of Treatment, Consultants, Consultation Programs, Classroom Observation Techniques, Convergent Thinking, Evaluation Methods, Program Validation, Disability Identification, Educational Psychology
Lawrence Erlbaum. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A