Reference no: EM133376638

Assignment:

Emelda, a 10-year-old with autism, attended a special self-contained class in a public school. She spoke in complete sentences but exhibited echolalia--parroting words, phrases, or sentences she heard. Academically, she was performing at about second-grade level. The primary objective of intervention was to increase her rate of correct academic responding. The first step was to observe the naturally occurring ecological, teacher, and student variables in the class. Ecological variables include such things as the particular activity (e.g., language), tasks being presented (e.g., discussion, use of media, physical arrangement (e.g., class divided into groups), and instructional grouping (e.g., one-to-one or small group). Teacher variables included who (teacher or aide) was giving instruction, whether the teacher was at the desk or among the students, and various categories of the teacher's behavior (e.g., whether demanding an academic response, focusing on one student, giving approval or disapproval). Students variables were such things as whether Emelda was participating in the task, moving about the classroom, paying attention, or engaging in off-task behavior such as self-stimulation.

Through correlation of ecological, teacher, and student variables with Emelda's correct responses to academic tasks, teachers and researchers found the naturally occurring procedures that were most effective in helping her learn. The conditions under which Emelda and other students learned most effectively included the following:

3 to 5 students per group

combinations of verbal interaction (discussion formats) with media (e.g., pictures or drawings of what is being discussed)

individualized sets of media materials for each student

5-minute rotations of media/concept presentations

a minimum of three sets of materials to teach each concept

frequent group (choral) responding

fast-paced random responding (i.e., not calling on students in a predictable order)

serial responding--3-5 quick responses per student

frequent student-to-student interactions (Kamps et al., 1991, p. 377)

1. What are the aspects of Emelda's social system or context that needed to be altered?

2. How is the ecological approach compatible with a behavioral model?

3. Supposing that altering the social context does little or nothing to change a student's behavior (remember that nothing always works), what alternatives would you suggest, and why?