Week 6 - Discussion: SPECIAL EDUCATION-Reinforcement, Handle with Care

Reflect on a time (either with a student or in another situation) when reinforcement was effective. What were some of the variables that made it effective? How was reinforcement given (type of reinforcement, schedule of reinforcement, and other factors)? How was the person given buy-in to or control over reinforcement? What was the most important take away regarding the effectiveness of reinforcement?
ANSWER EXAMPLE BELOW WRITTEN BY CLASSMATE:
I had a student in 2nd grade who had Aspergers and was struggling to be successful with his initial placement in the general education classroom setting. He was with a great teacher, but it just was not the right setting and fit for his learning style. Some of the variables that were successful were that hes was moved by administration in the first month of school to my classroom because he was disruptive and not completing his school work. He needed a teacher who understood and was willing to give him the time he needed to be successful. He would come in discussing randomly with his peers about “Batman and Venom.” He had been fixated on everything that was Batman. One of the most successful variables was changing his classroom setting and environment. Rather than making it an issue, I just nodded and smiled at him. I would tell him him with a quick acknowledgement that I thought it was great he was interested in Batman, but at this moment look at what your classmates are doing and then I would ask him what he should be doing. I would redirect his focus to what was going on in the class. Then we created a schedule that would allow him to bring in a Batman Character, book, and items that had to do with Batman. We came up with a schedule, that after “x” amount of minutes, he would get 5-10 minutes to use his Batman items. This was ongoing. At every opportunity I had, I would let him incorporate a component of Batman into his work. For example, if we were writing a narrative he could use Batman as one of the characters or use bats to count, add, subtract, multiply, or divide. that was included was coming up with a plan to engage this student. Other successful variables included being with peers he could relate to and partner with, getting a lot of verbal praise for what he was doing correctly and when he was working on an assignment, and being able to work with me, the teacher to meet his specific learning goals. Another reinforcement I gave him was a chart in which he filled it in with a happy face, plain face, or sad face at the end of each subject. On a daily basis he would self-reflect and put the face down on how he thought he did. Then I would give him my evaluation of each subject and we would discuss it. This worked well because he got immediate feedback and if he got 90% happy faces, he would get time to do an activity of choice. This created buy-in and control for his own behaviors and task completion. The most important take-away was figuring out what my student liked and how to incorporate that in his learning, so he would want to learn and complete his work successfully.
One time a reinforcement was not successful is when I had a student who was being evaluated for an IEP and he was placed during this time in my small group instruction for extra support. He came in with a negative attitude and did not want to be in the class with another student. He completely shut his learning off. He immediately blamed his peer for everything and was disrespectful to his peers and the class. I created a behavior chart in which every time he did a task successfully (task completion), he would receive a plus. He was able to do this himself, as a self-reflection piece and I would then evaluate him and he could see what I was thinking and see if he was on target or not. After, earning 5 pluses, he would get 10 minutes of a student choice activity that we had previously agreed upon. It was effective in the beginning, but as time went on, his attitude was getting less positive about the extra support. He kept telling me that if the other student was not in the class, then he could do his work and would not be disruptive. Even contacting his mom, she said it all had to do with the other student and it was his fault. He kept projecting onto the other student. I added breaks for him as well, but he just used that to get out of doing work. Over time, he became more defiant about completing anything. I gave him constant positive verbal praise as well. I also tried a token economy for the group, in which they would receive a ticket every time they completing something or were positive with their peers. They would then earn something, such as computer time. The reinforcers were not working for this particular student. I tried other ways to help him be successful, such as having him sit in a different spot and providing preferential seating, and having him take short breaks between lessons. One of the online resources might help to understand why the reinforcement was ineffective because it can help to provide a way to create best practices for ensuring that a behavior support model is being used effectively. For example, the website Best Practices in Developing a Positive Behavior Support System at the School Level” at https://www(dot)thewatsoninstitute(dot)org/nu_upload/files/ (Links to an external site.) PBIS%20Best%20Practices.pdf can provide in understanding of how to involve other individuals, including the school psychologist and parents to help understand where his behavior was stemming from. It also would help because it discusses how the school can set up a school-wide PBS system with clear expectations and what they are. Therefore, the student would have known what to expect and how he should behave from the beginning. I would suggest that the school should set a school-wide PBS system. The school did not have this in place. It would have helped to change the overall climate of the school to a more positive learning environment, so when students, such as the one I mentioned entered class, would know what to do immediately and what the positive outcomes/reinforcers would be. This student struggled with behavior in every class. It was anything new coming into mine. The biggest take-away is that I learned that no matter how effective a strategy is and how well it works with other students, it may need to be something completely different for one student in order to have success.