The Effects of DRO and DRA for Increasing Academic Engagement and Decreasing Disruptive Behavior of Elementary Students in General Education Classrooms

<p>The research literature suggests that functional assessment and differential reinforcement methods are effective for decreasing an array of problem behaviors. However, research is limited in the number of studies including children of typical development exhibiting common problem behaviors (e.g., inappropriate vocalization, off-task behavior) in a general education setting. In addition, previous studies have failed to report data regarding increases in appropriate replacement behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relative effectiveness of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) and differential reinforcement on alternative behavior (DRA) for decreasing problem behavior and increasing academically engaged behavior with elementary-age students of typical development in a general education setting. Participants included two elementary-age students receiving general education instruction. Following a functional behavior assessment, the relative effectiveness of DRO and DRA was evaluated using an alternating treatments design (ATD). Results suggest that both DRO and DRA are effective for decreasing problem behavior and increasing academic engagement, with DRO being more effective for one participant and DRA being more effective for the other.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Halphen, Jonna Lea

Contributors dc:contributor

• Brad Dufrene
• Daniel Tingstrom
• Heather Sterling

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/507

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1560