ERIC EJ931936: Embedded Prompting May Function as Embedded Punishment: Detection of Unexpected Behavioral Processes within a Typical Preschool Teaching Strategy

2011·0.34 MB·English

by  ERIC

JOURNALOFAPPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYSIS 2011, 44, 127–131 NUMBER1 (SPRING2011)
EMBEDDED PROMPTING MAY FUNCTION AS EMBEDDED
PUNISHMENT: DETECTION OF UNEXPECTED BEHAVIORAL
PROCESSES WITHIN A TYPICAL PRESCHOOL TEACHING STRATEGY
NICOLE A. HEAL
SOUTHERNILLINOISUNIVERSITY
AND
GREGORY P. HANLEY
WESTERNNEWENGLANDCOLLEGE
This study describes an unexpected behavioral process that influenced behavior during the
teachingofconceptstoa4-year-oldgirl.Theefficacyofandpreferenceforthreestrategiesthat
varied in teacher directedness were assessed in a multielement design and concurrent-chains
arrangement, respectively. The strategy that involved the most teacher direction was most
efficaciousandpreferred.Inaddition,embeddedteacherprompts,commoninchild-ledteaching
procedures,functionedasapunisherforthechild’stoyplay.Implicationsfordesigningeffective
andpreferred teaching conditionsare discussed.
Key words: concurrent-chains arrangement, embedded teaching, punishment, teacher
directedness
_______________________________________________________________________________
Heal, Hanley, and Layer (2009) described Strategy 3 was the most efficacious for teaching
results from assessments of the relative efficacy the name relations and was preferred by most
of and child preference for three teaching children.
strategies that differed in the level of teacher A somewhat surprising result was that the
directedness with six preschoolers. The teacher childrenshowedtheleastpreferenceforStrategy
taught the children color- and animal-name 2, in which the teacher prompted responses
relations. In Strategy 1, the teacher provided when the child touched particular toys. More-
praise for correct responses during an exclusive- over, one participant interacted with target toys
ly child-led play period (based on discovery- lessovertimeduringStrategy2.Incontrast,his
oriented teaching strategies). Procedures in interactions with target toys persisted in
Strategy 2, derived from embedded teaching Strategy 1, which was devoid of embedded
strategies, were similar to those in Strategy 1 prompts. The exclusive decrease in toy play
except that the teacher prompted the child to during Strategy 2 suggests that embedded
vocalize name relations contingent on child- teacher prompts may have punished toy play.
initiated interactions with toys and modeled The analysis of the specific influence of
correct responses contingent on errors. Strategy embedded prompts on play initiations as well
3 was similar to Strategy 2 except that the as on children’s preferences for the teaching
teacher also arranged a brief period of teacher- strategies involving embedded prompts was not
initiatedinstructionaltrials.Resultsshowedthat possibleinHealetal.(2009)becauseembedded
prompts were programmed in two of the three
WethankTaraFahmie,LinhLy,BeckyStrathman,and
teaching strategies (both Strategies 2 and 3).
EricWashington for their assistance withdatacollection.
Addresscorrespondence toNicoleA.Heal,RehnHall, Therefore, the purpose of the current study was
MailCode4609,SouthernIllinoisUniversityCarbondale, toreplicatethegeneralproceduresofHealetal.
1025 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 (e-mail:
with a new participant while isolating the
[email protected]).
doi:10.1901/jaba.2011.44-127 influence of the embedded prompts. To this
127
128 NICOLE A. HEAL and GREGORY P. HANLEY
end, we embedded prompts exclusively in Preassessments
Strategy 2. Prior to the efficacy and preference assess-
ments, three preassessments were conducted
(see Heal et al., 2009, for detailed procedures).
METHOD
Three moderately preferred colors were identi-
Participant, Setting, and Materials
fied via a paired-item color preference assess-
Ali, a 4-year-old girl of typical development
ment, and each was then associated (via poster
who attended a full-day inclusive preschool,
boards)withoneofthethreeteachingstrategies.
participated. Sessions were conducted in a
Results of an echoic assessment demonstrated
session room that contained a child-sized table
thatAlihadthenecessaryskillstoechoamodel
and chairs. Twelve color and then 12 animal
prompt. Results of a pretest showed that she
Spanish name relations were taught in the first
was unable to name any of the target relations
and second assessments, respectively (Heal et
in Spanish.
al., 2009, Table 1). Relations were randomly
assigned to the three teaching strategies. Three Efficacy and Preference Assessments
unique sets of toys were associated with each The efficacy and preference assessments were
teaching strategy and rotated across sessions. conducted simultaneously through the use of a
Each toy set included three toys to evoke each multielement design and a concurrent-chains
target response and at least two nontarget toys. arrangement (Heal et al., 2009). One session
block was conducted per day and consisted of
Response Measurement and
three sessions such that Ali experienced each
Interobserver Agreement
teaching strategy once per day. Session blocks
Play and correct responses were recorded alternated between forced and free choice every
during 15-s intervals and are reported as other day. In the first session of each block,
percentages. Play was defined as Ali touching three colored cards, each associated with one of
anewtargettoyduringeach15-sinterval.Ifshe the teaching strategies, were located on the
touched a second target toy during an interval, session room door. The teacher said ‘‘Hand me
play was not recorded. If she touched a target the [color] card’’ while pointing to one or
toyacrosssuccessiveintervals,playwasrecorded ‘‘Hand me the card that you want to do first
only in the interval in which she first touched [next]’’duringtheforced-orfree-choice session
the target toy. These scoring rules were blocks, respectively. No other instructions were
somewhat unique because playing with a new delivered. Following a card selection, the
toywasusedasanopportunitytoprompttarget teacherandchildbothenteredthesessionroom
responses within embedded teaching. Correct to experience the associated teaching strategy.
responsesweredefinedasAliindependentlyand The forced- or free-choice procedure was then
correctly saying the target Spanish color or repeated with the two remaining cards, and
animal name within 5 s of touching the toy or with the final card after the second teaching
within 5 s of a teacher-delivered question. Card session.Thesameteacherconductedallsessions
selection in the initial link of a concurrent- and provided some form of attention during
chains arrangement served as our preference each 15-s interval. The teacher assessed each
measure. A second observer simultaneously but target relation four times during a posttest that
independently recorded responses during 36% followed the completion of each preference
of sessions, and observers’ records were com- assessment (one assessment for color names and
pared on a trial-by-trial basis. Agreement was one assessment for animal names). No differ-
100%, 95%, and 97% for card selection, play, ential consequences were delivered for correct
and correct responses, respectively. responses in these posttests.
PRESCHOOL TEACHING STRATEGIES 129
Teaching Strategies teacher-initiated trials, prompt-delay proce-
During Strategy 1, the teacher held up and dures, and conditioned and back-up reinforcers
labeled a target toy such that each relation was facilitated acquisition of concept classes.
modeled once prior to the start of the session. The second panels depict the percentage of
Once the session started, all interactions were intervals with play during each teaching
child initiated, and the teacher provided no strategy. Play was variable across and within
promptstoengageinthetargetresponses.IfAli all conditions during the color-name assess-
correctly named a target relation at any time, ment. However, a downward trend was clearly
the teacher delivered praise; however, she never evident in Strategy 2 sessions, ending with 0%
provided corrective feedback. During Strategy for the final three sessions. Play persisted at
2,allinteractionswerechildinitiated.WhenAli variable but relatively higher levels during the
touched a target toy (only the first or different animal-nameassessmentinthestrategiesdevoid
toy in each interval), the teacher delivered a of embedded prompts (Strategies 1 and 3). By
prompt to engage in a target response (e.g., the contrast, play occurred at near-zero levels
teacherasked‘‘Whatcoloristhecar?’’whenAli during the condition that included embedded
touched a toy car) but did not physically prompts (Strategy 2). In other words, Ali
interrupt her play. Praise was delivered follow-
stopped touching the toys only during Strategy
ing correct responses, and a model prompt was
2 sessions in which the teacher delivered
deliveredfollowingincorrectresponses.Strategy
embedded prompts. It appears that embedded
3 began with the teacher initiating four to eight
teacher prompts functioned as a punisher; that
instructional trials lasting for a total of 30 to
is, contingent delivery of teacher prompts
60 s. She used a progressive prompt-delay
decreased child-initiated play.
procedure with a terminal delay of 5 s between
Results of the preference assessments are
the initial vocal prompt and model prompt,
shown in the third panels. Ali’s selections were
along with conditioned (tokens) and back-up
variable during the initial assessment. In the
(toys that could occasion the target responses)
second assessment, she selected Strategy 3 first
reinforcers for correct responses. The second
during five of the seven free-choice session
component of Strategy 3 was conducted
blocks. She never refused to make a selection
identically to Strategy 1 and lasted for 4 min.
(the consequence of which would have been
Session times for Strategies 1 and 2 were yoked
session-block termination and a return to the
to the previous Strategy 3 session time
classroom), so the aversive nature of Strategy 2
(combined time of both components); all
was not necessarily demonstrated. However, it
sessions ranged between 4.5 to 5 min. For
was apparent that Strategy 2 was the least
additional details, see Heal et al. (2009).
preferred teaching method in the second
assessment because she selected Strategy 2 last
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
during three of the last four free-choice session
Results from the efficacy and preference blocks.
assessments and the pre- and posttests are Embedded teaching methods have varied
shown in Figure 1. Strategy 3 resulted in the across and within studies with respect to the
highest percentage of correct responses during timingofthedeliveryofembeddedpromptsand
teaching sessions (top) and during the posttests the consequences provided for correct respond-
(bottom). Ali reached the mastery criterion for ing (e.g., Schepis, Reid, Ownbey, & Parsons,
both target relations only in Strategy 3. These 2001; Tate, Thompson, & McKerchar, 2005).
results are consistent with the results of Heal et In the context of teaching language skills, the
al. (2009), suggesting that the combination of procedural variability can be directly related to
130 NICOLE A. HEAL and GREGORY P. HANLEY
Figure 1. Percentage of correct responses (top); percentage of intervals with play (second panels); and preference
rank,inwhich1representsthefirststrategyselectedand3representsthelaststrategyselected(thirdpanels),duringthe
efficacy and preference evaluations for Ali. Pre- and posttest measures for target relations are depicted in the
bottompanels.
the specific learning objective. The verbal (e.g., requesting; i.e., verbal behavior largely
behavior conceptual system (Skinner, 1957) under the control of a specific establishing
may be useful for understanding the important operationandreinforcedbyarelatedandspecific
differences in the manner in which embedded consequence), embedded prompts are delivered
teachingisimplemented.Whenteachingamand prior to item access and the consequence for
PRESCHOOL TEACHING STRATEGIES 131
correct responding is access to the requested models prior to prompting target responses and
item. In contrast, when teaching a tact (e.g., providing fewer (i.e., more intermittent) em-
color identification; i.e., verbal behavior under bedded prompts during play may increase
the control of a discriminative stimulus and correct responding and decrease the aversive
reinforced with a nonspecific and generalized nature of embedded prompts. Alternatively,
reinforcer) embedded prompts are often deliv- signalingtheconditionsunderwhichembedded
ered following access to items and the conse- teaching will occur or embedding prompts
quence for correct responding is praise (Fox & within less or moderately preferred activities
Hanline,1993;Tateetal.,2005).Inthecurrent (suchthatpraiseisrelativelymorevaluablethan
study, the learning objective was tacting colors the reinforcers associated with play) may also
andanimals,andtheproceduresarrangedinour increase the value of child-led teaching to those
Strategy 2 were consistent with recommended children who experience it.
embedded teaching procedures (Grisham-
Brown,Pretti-Frontczak,Hemmeter,&Ridgley,
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