Date of Award

Fall 12-1-1976

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Merle Ohlsen

Second Advisor

Glen Brown

Third Advisor

Reece Chaney

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare two mild punishment techniques, positive practice overcorrection and time-out, for decreasing talking out and out of seat behavior in relatively normal children. Other variables considered were the practicality of administering positive practice and time-out, the generalization of the technique to other problem behaviors, and emotional side effects resulting from the administration of the techniques. The hypotheses formulated and tested considered which technique most effectively decreased target behaviors and what effect these treatments had on social interactions of treated children. Subjects were 18 males and two females between six and nine years of age chosen from five elementary schools in the Terre Haute, Indiana area. Two frequency counts of talking out and getting out of seat without permission were made. These were taken by the trainer and teacher. Trainer (N-20) observations were over three phases of four sessions each; baseline, time-out, and positive practice. Teacher (N=8) observations provided a multiple baseline design and were for 16 sessions spread over five phases; baseline one (data collected before the trainer came to class for the first time), baseline two (data collected on the school days trainer baseline data was iv collected), time-out, positive practice, and follow-up. Sessions were on consecutive school days with two sessions for baseline one, four for baseline two, four for time-out, four for positive practice, and two for follow-up. On days when trainers were present teacher observations were at times when trainers were not present in the classroom. Two groups of 10, distinguished by order in which treatments were presented, were treated by a different trainer for each child. Ten trainers and four teachers collected observational data for each group. Other measures employed were: (1) the Devereux Child Behavior Rating Scale which was filled out by 14 teachers prior to and following treatment as a measure of change on behaviors not directly treated; (2) a questionnaire given to all the children and trainers; and, (3) comments by trainers, teachers, and children. A separate examination of each child's data showed that both treatments were effective for decreasing talking out and getting out of seat without permission in most cases, and an analysis of variance for repeated measures on two dimensions demonstrated that positive practice was significantly more effective than time-out (at .05 level). Comments by trainers, teachers, and children suggest that positive practice was considered more practical and was preferred by trainers. Little generalization to other behaviors (measured by Devereux Child Behavior Rating Scale) v was found. Furthermore, suppression of target behaviors was minimal when trainers were not present. Three major areas of future research have been described: (1) the development of new overcorrection procedures aimed at treating a variety of behaviors and populations; (2) the comparison of overcorrection techniques to other techniques with a variety of populations and behaviors; and (3) the examination of overcorrection's parameters to determine the most salient characteristics of the procedure. Research questions posed by the current study were: (1) how rapidly and effectively will positive practice generalize to the classroom situation when treatment is shifted from trainer to teacher; (2) how may positive practice be applied in large classroom situations; and, (3) will positive practice be as effective for treating talking out and getting out of seat without permission in elementary classrooms when compared to treatments other than time-out?

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