Christina Svenjak EDUG 781 Functional Behavior Analysis November 25, 2013 1.

One of my students has difficulty staying in his seat, especially during independent work. More specifically, he has trouble during independent reading in the morning. He will stand up when he should be reading and will ask the teacher and paraprofessionals questions such as if he can use the bathroom or get water multiple times during the period. He will also get up and speak to other students who are trying to work or pick out new books when the directions are to read only one book during the period. He will often call out while the teacher is trying to teach without raising his hand. Overall, the behavior disrupts the class enough to where the teacher must stop instruction to remind him how to correctly behave. The change would be to increase the times he sits quietly during independent work and raise his hand when he wants to answer a question or ask a question during the teacher's instruction.

2. I focused on the frequency of him getting out of his seat throughout the day, as well as specifically which periods he exhibited this behavior. I followed this behavior for a week. Date 14-Oct 15-Oct 16-Oct 17-Oct 18-Oct Independent Reading 4 3 3 2 3 Amount of getting out of seat during: ELA Math Social Studies 3 0 4 1 2 0 3 0 1 0

Science 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

The Frequency of Getting out of Seat

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 14-Oct 15-Oct 16-Oct 17-Oct 18-Oct Amount of getting out of seat during: Independent Reading Amount of getting out of seat during: ELA Amount of getting out of seat during: Math Amount of getting out of seat during: Social Studies Amount of getting out of seat during: Science

3. The antecedents of this behavior occurs during independent reading in the morning, then throughout ELA periods. During independent reading, they should be choosing a book on their level, reading for an entire 30 minute period, then responding to what they read. He often will choose a book too easy or too hard for him even if he has been instructed the correct way to chose a book. During ELA, there is also a lot of independent writing. The behavior is that he needs to stand up from his seat instead of sitting and doing his work. He will often walk up to the teacher if she is not actively teaching or one of the paraprofessionals and ask if he can leave the room, either to go to the bathroom or get water. He will also stand up and wander, either saying he needs to sharpen his pencil or needed help on a section of his work. The consequences are the teacher or paraprofessionals asking him why he is up and what he should be doing. This is reminding him of what he should be doing and taking responsibility for it, but it has not completely prevented or stopped the behavior permanently. The student does this action

to get out of doing work. He will try to waste time by going to the bathroom or stand up to sharpen his pencil. It either shows he simply does not want to do the work or he is having trouble with doing it. This student is much more verbal and has trouble getting his thoughts down on paper. Because the behavior happens exclusively during ELA related periods, it shows that he probably needs extra help in those subject areas.

4. Most of the children in class work well with positive reinforcement. They already have a check mark system where every student starts off with 5 checks at the beginning of the week then can gain or lose checks depending on behavior. If they have 3 or less checks, they cannot go to the treasure box at the end of the week. For this student, I will implement a person behavior modification. At his desk, he will have a small chart. Half of the chart is the "smiley face" which is for every period he sat quietly, did his work, and raised his hand before he got up from him seat. The other half is the "frown face" which is for every time he got up from his seat without permission. By the end of the day, if he has more checks in the smiley section than in the frown section, he will receive a sticker as a reward. If he has more in the frown section, he will lose privileges such as prep the next day or recess. The fact that it is blatantly obvious he is having issues within anything related to ELA, I would focus on the issues and difficulties he is having. I would start with pulling him during independent reading and spend the entire period with him, focusing on the reading and the responding. Because I know he is a much more verbal student, I would encourage him to talk out his ideas with me before he begins writing. A graphic organizer could also be useful before he begins writing so his ideas are focused. By giving him extra help and attention, it could also prevent the acting out.

5. I would evaluate the success by continuing to count the amount of times he got up from his seat for the next two weeks. If the amount decreased, then this behavior modification was a success. If it has no change, I would continue more rigorously to focus on the issues he is facing within ELA. I would perhaps bring in the ELA support base team to really ground where his issues are coming from and begin a process of extra help.