Can a Single-Classroom Treatment Approach Change Academic Performance and Behavioral Characteristics in Severely Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents: An Experimental Inquiry

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the use of cognitive behavior modification components, including self-instruction and self-monitoring, led to increased academic performances. Further, the second experiment demonstrates that the academic skill improvement also led to a reduction in inappropriate classroom behaviors. The subjects were two institutionalized adolescent males with identified severe behavioral disorders. The first subject displayed academic deficits in the area of mathematics. He also demonstrated several inappropriate classroom behaviors during the performance of math tasks which included clenched fists, closed eyes, crying, refusals to work, and guttural noises. The second subject's most severe academic and behavioral problems occurred during reading. His inappropriate classroom behaviors included excessive yawning, sleeping, off-task verbalizations, rocking in his seat, and staring into space. The treatment package in each experiment was comprised of self-instructional training which focused on the academic problems. Both subjects demonstrated improved academic performances. Informal observations of Subject 1 suggested that a reduction in inappropriate behaviors coincided with the improved academic performance. Behavioral data were collected on Subject 2 and the results demonstrated that the inappropriate behaviors were reduced as academic performance increased.