ERIC EJ767619: Evaluation of a Classwide Teaching Program for Developing Preschool Life Skills

2007·0.63 MB·English

by  ERIC

JOURNALOFAPPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYSIS 2007, 40, 277–300 NUMBER2 (SUMMER2007)
EVALUATION OF A CLASSWIDE TEACHING PROGRAM
FOR DEVELOPING PRESCHOOL LIFE SKILLS
GREGORY P. HANLEY AND NICOLE A. HEAL
UNIVERSITYOFKANSAS
JEFFREY H. TIGER
MUNROE-MEYERINSTITUTEFORGENETICSANDREHABILITATION
UNIVERSITYOFNEBRASKAMEDICALCENTER
AND
EINAR T. INGVARSSON
JOHNSHOPKINSUNIVERSITYSCHOOLOFMEDICINE
Recently, nonmaternal center-based child care has been linked to problem behavior in young
children (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2003). In response,
acomprehensiveprogramtopromoteprosocialskillswasevaluatedinaclassroomof16children
between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Classroom observations were conducted during evocative
situations to determine the likelihood of problem behavior (noncompliance, vocal or motor
disruptions, aggression) and preschool life skills. A classwide teaching program was then
implemented in a staggered manner across instruction following, functional communication,
delay tolerance, and friendship skills. These four categories of preschool life skills, which
includedtwotofourrelatedskills,wereselectedforclasswideteachingbecausetheywereeither
identified by educators as important for early school success, have often been taught following
functional assessments of more severe problem behavior, or both. Skills were taught on
a classwide basis during typically scheduled activities (circle, free play, transitions, meals) via
instructions, modeling, role play, and feedback. A multiple probe design showed that the
programresultedinan74%reductioninproblembehaviorandamorethanfour-foldincrease
in preschool life skills. Similar beneficial effects of the program were evident in questionnaire
datagatheredpriortoandatthecloseoftheevaluation.Finally,theteacherswhoimplemented
theprogramreportedoverallhighlevelsofsatisfactionwiththeclasswideteachingprogram,the
target skills, and the results. Implications for the design of early childhood experiences for
preempting the developmentof seriousproblem behavior arediscussed.
DESCRIPTORS: delaytolerance,classwideteaching,functionalcommunication,friendship
skills,instruction following,preschool lifeskills
_______________________________________________________________________________
Problem behaviors such as aggression, dis- are associated with long-term social and
ruption, and noncompliance in young children academic difficulties (Agostin & Bain, 1997;
Ledingham & Schwartzman, 1984). Poverty
Wethanktheteachersinthechilddevelopmentcenter and developmental disability are well-recog-
who implemented the classwide teaching program and nized risk factors for developing problem
who assisted in the evaluation of the program, Emma
behavior, which in turn interferes with school
Hernandez and Stacy Layer for their contribution to the
development of the classwide teaching program, Kylie success and necessitates costly support (Kohen,
Larsonforherassistancewithdatacollectionandanalysis, Brooks-Gunn, Leventhal, & Hertzman, 2002;
and Kevin Kupzyk for his assistance with the statistical
Olson & Hoza, 1993). A less obvious factor—
analyses.
RequestsforreprintsshouldbeaddressedtoGregoryP. nonmaternal center-based child care—has re-
Hanley, Applied Behavioral Science Department, 4001 cently been linked to problem behavior in
Dole Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
youngchildren.TheNationalInstituteofChild
66045(e-mail: [email protected]).
doi:10.1901/jaba.2007.57-06 Health and Human Development (NICHD)
277
278 GREGORY P. HANLEY et al.
study of early child care (2003) recently and incidental and errorless teaching (Brede-
reported that time spent in nonmaternal care kamp & Copple, 1997; Doke & Risley, 1972;
across the first 4.5 years of life was positively Essa, 2002; Etzel, 1997; Hart, 1982; Hart &
correlated with mother and child-care provider Risley, 1975; Jolivette, Stichter, Sibilsky, Scott,
reports of aggression and disobedience. This &Ridgley,2002;Jones,Drew,&Weber,2000;
relation between time spent in nonmaternal LeLaurin & Risley, 1972; Pretti-Frontczak,
childcareandproblembehavioroccurredacross Barr, Macy, & Carter, 2003). Our goal in
all family types, and appeared to be insensitive designing the current program was to balance
to the quality of care. Thus, nonmaternal the advantages of proactive environmental de-
center-based child care may be another risk sign with thoughtful, gradual, and repeated
factorfor the development of problem behavior introduction of conditions that may evoke
that may negatively affect children’s social and problem behavior in order to teach socially
academictrajectories.Becausefinanciallossmay desirable responses to challenging classroom
be just as, if not more, detrimental to family situations. We call these desirable responses to
and individual child functioning (Newcombe, commonly occurring and evocative classroom
2003), an alternative to recommending that situations preschool life skills.
parents minimize the amount of time their The specific preschool lifeskills taught in the
young children spend in nonmaternal care current study were derived from two distinct
(Belsky, 2001) would be to identify the sources. The first was the functional assessment
nonmaternal care conditions that produce and treatment literature. A functional assess-
socially competent children. The present study ment is an empirically rooted and recently
describes an evaluation of a program designed legislated (Individuals with Disabilities Educa-
forchild-carecenterstowardachievingthisgoal. tion Act, 1997) tool for identifying the condi-
Critical features of this program involve tions associated with problem behavior (Iwata,
arranging for controlled exposure of preschool- Kahng, Wallace, & Lindberg, 2000; O’Neill,
ers to evocative situations in which problem Horner, Albin, Storey, & Sprague, 1990). The
behavior is likely to occur while teaching most rigorous assessment is the functional
appropriate social skills during these critical analysis (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, &
situations. This active teaching model may be Richman, 1982/1994), in which relations be-
contrasted with primarily proactive approaches tween problem behavior and environmental
that involve avoiding situations that may evoke events are demonstrated within single-subject
problem behavior in preschools. Because the experimental designs. Hundreds of studies have
emergence of problem behavior is often con- reported the use of a functional analysis to
sidered part of normal development (e.g., identify the reinforcers that maintain problem
Bredekamp & Copple, 1997), recommenda- behavior (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003).
tions to early childhood educators often Once the social function of problem behavior is
emphasize carefully designing the environment identified, perhaps the most commonly used
to avoid problem behavior. Common recom- intervention involves teaching an alternative
mended strategies include ‘‘man-to-man’’ (as behavior (e.g., saying ‘‘excuse me’’) that serves
opposed to ‘‘zone’’) supervision of children, thesamefunctionastheproblembehavior(e.g.,
child-led free-play activities, frequent choice yelling to gain access to the teacher’s attention),
provision, multiple sets of play materials, thereby reducing problem behavior. This in-
predictable schedules, high levels of noncontin- tervention,whichwasinitiallydescribedbyCarr
gent praise and encouragement, developmen- and Durand (1985), is typically referred to as
tally appropriate and embedded instruction, functional communication training. Once the
PRESCHOOL LIFE SKILLS 279
sociallydesirablebehavioroccurstotheexclusion (Hagopian et al., 1998; Hanley et al., 2001;
of problem behavior, skills relevant to tolerating Vollmer et al., 1999), and multiple strategies
delays to the functional reinforcers are then are available for teaching young children to
taught (Hagopian, Fisher,Sullivan, Acquisto, & tolerate reinforcement delay (Kanfer & Zich,
LeBlanc, 1998; Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 1974; Mischel, Ebbensen, & Zeiss, 1972;
2001;Vollmer,Borrero,Lalli,&Daniel,1999). Schweitzer & Sulzer-Azaroff, 1988). Thus,
Hundreds of studies also have shown thesesocialbehaviorswereselectedforinclusion
function-based interventions being effectively in the set of preschool life skills to be taught to
applied following the development of usually young children who may be at risk for
severe problem behavior in young children developing problem behavior due to the
(Hanley et al., 2003), presumably because there extensive amount of time spent in nonmaternal
must be a preexisting pattern of problem care but who have not been reported to engage
behavior for the functional assessment to be inlevelsofproblembehaviorwarrantingclinical
conducted. Due to the remarkable progress in referral. It should be noted however, that the
the development of function-based interven- current study did not examine the preventive
tions, the time seems appropriate to consider effects of these interventions over an extended
preventive applications of the technology to periodoftime,butratherfocusedonevaluating
deter the development of problem behavior in the short-term effects of this approach on
young children. problem behavior and preschool life skills.
The preventive approach described in the The second source from which preschool life
current study involved teaching skills—the type skills were derived was the school readiness
thatareoftentaughtoncethefunctionofsevere literature, in which early elementary teachers
problem behavior has been identified—prior to and early education experts have been surveyed
the development of severe rates or forms of to identify skills they deemed critical for school
problem behavior. For example, if problem success. A number of researchers have assessed
behavior is evoked by difficult situations and is and reported teachers’ readiness views over the
sensitive to negative reinforcement, a function- past 20 years (Davies & North, 1990; Hains,
based intervention would likely strengthen Fowler, Schwartz, Kottwitz, & Rosenkoetter,
compliance (Lalli et al., 1999; Piazza et al., 1989; West, 1993). During this time, the
1997) and antecedents to compliance such as emphases have generally shifted from academ-
eye contact (Hamlet, Axelrod, & Kuerschner, icallyorientedskillstosocialskills(Heaviside&
1984), and teach an alternative response to Farris, 1993; Lin, Lawrence, & Gorrell, 2003;
escape or neutralize difficult situations (R. H. Piotrkowski, Botsko, & Matthews, 2001). Lin
Horner,Day,&Day,1997;Fisheretal.,1993; et al. published the most recent and compre-
Lalli, Casey, & Kates, 1995). By contrast, if hensive evaluation of kindergarten teacher
problembehaviorisevokedbydeprivationfrom opinions of school readiness using data from
social or material reinforcers and reinforced by the National Center for Education Statistics
these same events, a common function-based (2000).Theseauthorssummarizedtheopinions
intervention is to teach responses that would be of over 3,000 kindergarten teachers from
effective in gaining adult or peer attention and different regions of the country reporting
acquiring various important materials (Durand during the 1989 through 1999 school years.
& Carr, 1991; Hagopian et al., 1998; Hernan- Thefiveskillsreportedtobemostimportantor
dez, Hanley, Ingvarsson, & Tiger, 2007; essential by this cohort of kindergarten teachers
Wacker et al., 1990). Delays to important included (a) tells needs and thoughts, (b) is not
reinforcers can also evoke problem behavior disruptive,(c)followsdirections,(d)takesturns
280 GREGORY P. HANLEY et al.
and shares, and (e) is sensitive to others (84%, behavior before and after the children had
79%, 78%, 74%, and 62% of the sample rated experienced classwide teaching of the preschool
theseparticularskillsaseitherveryimportantor life skills. In addition, teacher satisfaction with
essential, respectively). These data provided the target skills and the teaching program was
additional support for targeting functional evaluated.
communicative responses in our study and also
provided the impetus for targeting additional
METHOD
skills (e.g., saying ‘‘thank you,’’ acknowledging
Participants
and complimenting others, sharing, comforting
Sixteen children, 7 boys and 9 girls, ranging
others in distress) that involved children pro-
in age from 3 years 9 months to 5 years
viding social reinforcers for others.
3 months, participated in the current study.
To teach these skills, we used a behavioral
One child (Kevin) had been diagnosed with
skills training approach that involved providing
nonspecified developmental delays, and the
instruction to all members of the classroom
other children were typically developing. All
while they collectively interacted in their
children had intact speaker and listener skills
routine activities (referred to here as a classwide
that were generally consistent with their ages,
approach). Behavioral skills training was select-
and were classmates in an inclusive, full-day,
ed because this approach has been proven to
university-based preschool serving 20 children.
result in lasting changes in complex behavior of
Thepreschoolwasopenfrom7:45a.m.to5:30
young children (e.g., Himle, Miltenberger,
p.m. each weekday and was closed during all
Flessner, & Gatheridge, 2004; Miltenberger &
university holidays. Four children were exclud-
Thiesse-Duffy, 1988). A classwide approach
ed from the evaluation (but not from the
was adopted primarily because all of the
classwide teaching) due to inconsistent atten-
children who attended this classroom were
dance. The 16 participants spent a mean of
presumably at risk for developing problem
8.5 hr per weekday in the classroom. All of the
behavior as a function of the extensive amount
children had been enrolled in full-time non-
of time each child experienced nonmaternal
maternal care for at least 1 year prior to
careconditions(NICHD,2003)andbecauseof
participating in the current study.
the practical advantages classwide approaches
confer in terms of efficiency and vicarious Setting
learning(Greenwood,Terry,Arreaga-Mayer,& The preschool classroom included carpeted
Finney, 1992). and tiled areas; an open, child-sized bathroom
The ultimate aim of this developing line of area; cubbies for storage of children’s personal
research is to determine if teaching preschool items; and several pieces of child-sized furni-
life skills will protect children from the risk ture. There were two shifts of teachers in the
associatedwithextensivenonmaternalcare.The classroom each day (7:30 to 11:30 a.m. shift
more modest goal of this study was to de- and 1:45 to 5:45 p.m. shift) who implemented
termine the short-term efficacy of a program the teaching program. There were four student
designedtosimultaneouslyteachessentialsocial teachers and one supervisor on each shift. The
skills and minimize the problem behavior of teachers were junior- and senior-level under-
a group of preschool children. In the current graduatestudentswhowerespecializinginchild
study, both direct and indirect measures care and development or early childhood
(classroom observations and questionnaires, education and were enrolled in a practicum
respectively) were used to determine the course to develop professional skills. The
probability of preschool life skills and problem teachers were given guidance and performance
PRESCHOOL LIFE SKILLS 281
feedback from on-site supervisors who held Dependent Measures and Interobserver Agreement
masters degrees in human development or Direct measures. Using paper and pencil,
behavior analysis (second and fourth authors, teachers recorded children’s behavior during
respectively). Although supervisors interacted specified evocative situations. Three categories
with the children, their primary role was of behavior were recorded by teachers during
teaching and evaluating the student teachers; each observation: a preschool life skill, a prob-
thus, the teacher-to-child ratio in the classroom lem of commission, or a problem of omission
was 1:5. (see the Appendix for descriptions of each skill,
Observations of children during evocative and see Table 1 for a description of problem
situations, challenging conditions that presented behavior). These measures were developed for
an opportunity for the child to display appro- ease of use by teachers and because they
priate preschool life skills or engage in problem captured the types of responding that were
behavior,wereconductedinthemainclassroom important across the multiple and different
(36 m by 20 m) across five typically scheduled evocativesituationsinasinglescoringsystem.If
activities(freechoice,circletime,meals,centers, problem behavior and a preschool life skill
and transitions). Evocative situations are de- occurred during the same observation (this
scribed in detail in the Appendix, but included rarely occurred), only problem behavior was
eventssuchasanadultgivinganinstruction,the recorded; the categories were thus mutually
child being told to wait, an adult diverting exclusivesuchthatonlyonewasscoredforeach
attention toanother,and so on.Free choice was observation. The same three measures were also
a60-minperiodinwhichchildrenindependent- collected during the teaching conditions that
ly selected one of nine simultaneously available occurred between baseline probes. Each child
activities (dramatic play, blocks, art, games, was observed five times in each of the 13
computer, etc.). Circle time was a 15-min evocative situations in the initial baseline
teacher-led activity during which children sat in period. Thus, 1,040 observations were con-
a half circle facing the lead teacher. The lead ducted prior to implementing the classwide
teacher engaged the children in songs, finger teaching program. In all subsequent baseline
playing, and conversations, or occasioned par- probes,eachchildwasobservedtwiceineachof
ticipation in science, craft, or cooking activities. the 13 evocative situations (416 observations
Family-style dining was arranged during meals. were conducted in each subsequent baseline
Small groups of children sat with a teacher at probe). Data are reported as the percentage of
a small table, children passed and served food situations in which these three different re-
and beverages, and the teacher modeled appro- sponse types occurred.
priate mealtime behavior (e.g., washing hands A second observer, either a classroom teacher
prior to eating, appropriate use of silverware, or a researcher, simultaneously and indepen-
chewing with mouth closed). During centers, dently recorded target responses during 45% of
children rotated between different teacher-struc- baseline observations and 36% of teaching
tured activities that included manipulative skills trials. An agreement was defined as scoring
(e.g., block building), art skills (e.g., cutting, the same response category during each obser-
drawing,pasting,clayforming,tracing,writing), vation or trial. Interobserver agreement scores
andconceptskills(e.g.,matching,pointingto,or were calculated by dividing the number of
naming colors, shapes, alphabet). Transitions agreements by the number of agreements plus
involved children moving from one activity to disagreements and multiplying by 100%. Mean
anotheractivity(e.g.,fromsnacktimetowashing agreement for the direct measures was 95%
hands to outside time). (range, 47% to 100%) during baseline observa-
282 GREGORY P. HANLEY et al.
Table 1
Operational Definitions ofProblems ofCommission andOmission
Problemsofcommission
Vocaldisruption Saying‘‘no’’toanadultinstruction,yellingorscreamingwhileindoors,swearing,rudeness,name
calling
Motordisruption Throwingitems,tearingbooks,swipingitemsofftables,kickingitems,knockingoverstructures,
grabbingmaterialsfromothers,runningaway,standingonfurniture,sittingontables,opening
classroomdoors
Aggression Kicking,hitting,pinching,shoving,spitting,forcefulgrabbing,scratching,biting,throwingthings
towardanotherperson,spitting
Problemsofomission
Approximation Engaginginanapproximationofthedesiredresponse
Noresponse Ignoringadultsorotherchildren,noncompliance,notsayingthankyouuponreceiptofrequested
materials
tions and 96% (range, 89% to 100%) during agreement was defined as both respondents
teaching trials. With one exception, all agree- scoring the specific skill as either occurring or
ment measures were uniformly high (above not for each evocative situation. Agreement
80%). Due to the exceptionally low level of coefficients were calculated by dividing the
agreement observed during the second baseline number of agreements by the number of
probe of Situation 8 (47%), those data were agreements plus disagreements and multiplying
removed from the analysis. by 100%. The item-by-item analysis yielded
Indirect measures. Prior to the description of an overall mean interrater agreement of 75%
the classwide teaching program and the initia- (range across dyads was 66% to 80%). In
tion of the direct observations, a 13-item addition, Pearson correlationalcoefficientswere
questionnaire for determining the likelihood calculated by comparing overall questionnaire
of preschool life skills in each of the 13 outcomes(priortoandafterclasswideteaching)
evocative situations was administered to two for each dyad. The mean Pearson correlational
supervisors and the program administrator coefficient was .82, all correlations were either
(questionnaire available from the first author). equal to or greater than .78, and all were
The three respondents were instructed to statistically significant (p , .01). Thus, due to
complete one questionnaire for each of the the binary nature of the responses (skill or no
children with whom they were familiar. Two of skill given each evocative situation), the item-
the 16 children (Kevin and Doug) were new to by-item agreement is acceptable but somewhat
the program at the time of the questionnaire low. By contrast, the outcome agreement is
administration; thus, questionnaires were com- somewhat high considering Cicchetti and
pleted for 14 of the 16 children. Respondents Sparrow’s (1981) cutoff criterion of r 5 .6 for
reported whether or not the child was likely to a good test–retest reliability coefficient.
engage in the preschool life skill given each
evocative situation. The data were converted Procedure
into the percentage of situations in which Consultant model. A consultant model was
a preschool life skill was reported as more likely used to maintain collection of adequate
to occur than problem behavior. These same amounts of reliable data and to promote the
questionnaires were again administered to the integral implementation and scheduling of the
same three respondents after the classwide independentvariable.Theimportanceofthe13
teaching program was completed. evocative situations and descriptions of the
Interrater agreement was calculated by varied opportunities to observe children’s
comparing each completed questionnaire on behavior during routine activities were ex-
a question-by-question basis for each dyad. An plained to the teachers and supervisors during
PRESCHOOL LIFE SKILLS 283
two 1-hr meetings. Preschool life skills were prior to opportunities for rule-following behav-
categorized into four teaching units: instruction ior (e.g., reminding children of the rule that
following (responding appropriately to name, only teachers open doors prior to lining up for
complying with simple and multistep instruc- outside time). The reactive strategies involved
tions), functional communication (requesting (a) descriptivepraise fordesirablebehaviors,(b)
assistance, requesting attention, framed request- following throughwith instructions (i.e., model
ing to adults, framed requesting to peers), delay and physical prompts were delivered following
tolerance (tolerating delays imposed by adults noncompliance with vocal prompts), and (c)
and by peers), and friendship skills (saying a contingent observation procedure for aggres-
‘‘thank you,’’ acknowledging or complimenting sion and vocal and motor disruptions (Porter-
others,offeringorsharing,comfortingothersin field, Herbert-Jackson, & Risley, 1976). Con-
distress).Each unit contained two to four skills, tingent observation involved moving the child
their operational definitions, the general evoc- awayfromtheactivitytoaplacewherethechild
ative situation, the more specific observing and could still observe but not participate in the
teaching opportunities, and a precise feedback ongoing activity, and then returning the child
statement (the latter to be used only during to the activity after 1 min.
classwide teaching; see the Appendix). Two of During baseline, teachers arranged specific
theauthorsmetwiththeteachersweeklyduring evocative situations to occur throughout the
30- to 45-min meetings to review the data- day. If the child emitted the targeted preschool
collection and implementation goals as well as lifeskill,theteacherprovideddescriptivepraise.
the teaching procedures that were to be used in Forinstance,iftheteachercalledachild’sname
each upcoming week. The classroom super- andthechildemittedthetargetskill,theteacher
visors provided daily (and often immediate) said,‘‘Ilikethewayyoustoppedwhatyouwere
feedback on the correct implementation of the doing, looked at me, and said, ‘Yes’ when I
teaching procedures and on maintenance of calledyourname.’’Ifthechilddidnotemitthe
adequate data collection. target skill, the teacher continued her typical
Baseline.Theclasswideteachingprogramwas interactions with the child. As noted above, the
evaluated in a classroom context that already teacher implemented contingent observation if
involved explicit strategies for promoting desir- the child engaged in aggression or disruption
able behavior and minimizing problem behav- (e.g., problems of commission). If problems of
ior. These strategies were articulated in the omission occurred following an instruction, the
teachers’ manual, and supervisors provided teacher did not implement contingent observa-
feedback on the correct implementation of tion, but instead followed through with the
these strategies throughout the day. The pro- instruction (i.e., issued a model prompt and, if
active strategies involved (a) the provision of necessary, physical guidance).
high levels of free (putative) reinforcement (i.e., Classwide teaching program. The independent
frequent transitions to new activities, emphasis variable was the classwide skills teaching pro-
oncreativeandnovellessonplanning,emphasis gram. The program was added to the preexist-
on frequent and balanced distribution of ing set of contingencies that were operating in
teacher attention, frequent choices), (b) mini- baseline and consisted of four components:
mizing potentially aversive aspects of the instructions, modeling, role play, and feedback.
classroom (i.e., use of warnings prior to Each preschool life skill was first introduced to
transitions, nondirective prompting, choices of the children during the morning circle time
activities and tasks, errorless direct instruction), activity. During this initial exposure, the lead
and (c) reviewing classroom rules immediately teacher described the skill and the rationale for
284 GREGORY P. HANLEY et al.
its importance. The lead teacher then modeled allowed 2 days to teach each of the skills, and
the skill with the assistance of another teacher followingteachingofalloftheskillsincludedin
when necessary. Each child was then given an a given unit, baseline probes were conducted
opportunityto practice the skill with one of the over 4-day periods. Six days were dedicated to
teachers. If the student engaged in the target teaching Unit 1 (responding appropriately to
skill, the teacher provided descriptive praise, name, complying with simple and multistep
whichspecifiedeachfeatureoftheskillthatwas instructions), 8 days for Unit 2 (requesting
correct. If the student did not engage in the assistance, requesting attention, framed request-
targetskill, theteacher described theskill again, ing to adults, framed requesting to peers),
and provided one additional opportunity to 4 days for Unit 3 (tolerating delays imposed by
practice during circle time. Opportunities to adults and by peers), and 8 days for Unit 4
practicetheskillwerethenprovidedthroughout (saying ‘‘thank you,’’ acknowledging or com-
daily activities (e.g., meals, transitions, free plimenting others, offering or sharing, comfort-
play). Feedback was provided as above, except ing others in distress). The entire evaluation
that during the teaching program, evocative required 15 weeks to complete.
situations were repeatedly arranged following To increase the likelihood that all children
problems of commission or omission until the experienced individual teaching as a part of the
child emitted the skill or the teacher was classwide program, we specified opportunity
required to attend to another child, whichever and performance goals to guide teachers’ time
came first. Operational definitions, evocative allocation throughout the 2-day periods. The
situations, teaching opportunities, and specific opportunity goal specified that each child be
feedback statements for each of the 13 skills are observed in the relevant evocative situations at
provided in the Appendix. least 10 times during the teaching period for
Anadditionalteachingcomponentwasadded each skill. The performance goal specified that
for Skills 8 and 9 (tolerating delays with adults each child independently engaged in the pre-
and children, respectively). During these trials, school life skill on at least five occasions.
the teachers taught the children a mediating Towards the end of the 2nd day during which
response in which to engage during the delays, a particular skill was targeted, teachers began to
which was to repeat the phrase, ‘‘When I wait allocate more of their teaching time to those
quietly,IgetwhatIwant.’’Mediatingresponses children who either had not yet experienced 10
were shown by Toner and Smith (1977) to be opportunities to learn the skill or had not been
effective in promoting delay tolerance, especial- observed to emit at least five independent
ly if the response did not specify the item for preschool life skills. Because several of the skills
which the child was waiting. The teaching could sometimes be evoked during a single
involved prompting the children to repeat the social interaction (e.g., responding to one’s
phrase in a progressively quieter manner such name often preceded completing an instruction
that it would eventually occur privately (the and requesting an item preceded a period of
private nature of the mediating response is the waiting for an item) and because the evocative
reason this response was not included in the situations occurred naturally throughout the
definition of delay tolerance). day, the teachers were instructed to teach the
Sequence and timing of training and target skill as well as practice all previously
baseline probes. The initial baseline occurred taught skills during teaching conditions as
over the course of 12 school days. The target much as possible.
skills were taught in order from 1 to 13 and Booster teaching. After all 13 skills had been
were separated in four units. The teachers were taught on a classwide basis (and the final
PRESCHOOL LIFE SKILLS 285
baseline probe was completed), individual skills situations). The implementation goal of 10
were identified for additional teaching. The teaching opportunities per child per evocative
data from the last baseline probe (i.e., those situation was met on 98% (204 of 208) of
observations that followed Unit 4 teaching) occasions. The performance goal of five skills
werescannedtoidentifyskillsthathadnotbeen emittedcorrectlywasmeton99%(205of208)
emitted on either observation or had been of occasions. The mean number of teaching
emitted on only one of the two observations. opportunities was 13, and the mean number of
The data were examined for each child in- skills independently emitted was nine across
dividually starting with the data for Skill 1 and children and evocative situations. The interven-
continuing through the skills in order until two tion was distributed among all 16 children in
skills had been identified. These two skills were the classroom, although more teaching oppor-
then targeted with that childduring thebooster tunities were experienced by 2 children in
teachingperiod,whichoccurredoverthecourse particular (Doug and Kevin). Teaching oppor-
of 8 days. Teachers were also instructed to tunitiesvariedsomewhatmoreacrossskillsthan
provide descriptive praise or feedback and across children, with the most teaching dedi-
additional practice each time they witnessed catedtorespondingappropriatelytoone’sname
a child behaving in any of the 13 specified (Skill 1).
evocative situations. Thus, in addition to
Effects of Classwide Teaching
focusing on the two earliest skills that each
child did not acquire, instruction was provided Direct measures. The effects of classwide
teaching on the relative probabilities of pre-
with respect to the entire 13-skill curriculum
school life skills and problems of commission
whenever possible throughout booster teaching.
and omission are shown in Figure 1. Each of
Experimental Design the four panels represents one of the four
A multiple-probe design (R. D. Horner & teaching units; they are stacked in the order in
Baer, 1978) was used to determine the impact which the units were taught. Each vertical bar
of the teaching program on preschool life skills represents the performance of a single child
and problem behavior. It is important to note with respect to one unit during a single
that descriptive praise was provided for engag- condition. The probability of a preschool life
ing in a preschool life skill throughout both skill is shown by the black bars above each
baseline and teaching conditions. The baseline horizontal axis, whereas the probability of
probes differed from the teaching conditions in a problem of omission or commission is shown
that there was no prompting to emit the by the white and gray bars, respectively, that
preschool life skill and additional practice extend below each horizontal axis. The order of
opportunities were not programmed to follow children is the same across each bar cluster; this
problemsofcommissionoromission.Thus,the order was determined based on performance in
the baseline condition of instruction following
baseline probes were used to determine the
(Unit 1).
amount of learning that occurred and extended
past the initial teaching conditions. During the instruction-following (Unit 1)
baseline, children emitted instruction-following
skills during approximately half the opportu-
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
nities (M 5 52%). Children almost never
DescriptionofClasswideTeachingImplementation responded to their name appropriately (Skill 1;
There were 208 occasions in which oppor- M 5 4%), but most completed a simple
tunity or performance goals could be assessed instruction (Skill 2) and completed a complex
(i.e., 16 children multiplied by 13 evocative instruction (Skill 3) (Ms 5 80% and 74%,
286 GREGORY P. HANLEY et al.
Figure1. Theprobabilityofproblembehavior(barsbelowhorizontalaxes)orpreschoollifeskills(blackbarsabove
horizontalaxes) is shown for each child(vertical bars) across units (panels) andevaluation conditions (columns).