SPED 841 Single Individual Intervention

Samantha Seeger

University of Kansas
 “Academic engagement is a strong predictor of academic performance. One way in

which academic engagement is measured is through the observation of attention, or on-task

behavior. On task behavior is beneficial to a child’s academic well-being and is associated with

markers of academic success” (Otero, 91). According to the dictionary, on-task is defined as

“concentrating or focusing on what is to be done” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/on--task).

Joshua, an eight year- old, third grade student struggles with on task behavior. By designing a

single individual intervention using a Single-Subject Design Protocol, I was able to get to know

Joshua on a more personal level as well as an academic level.

Student Background. As teachers, we understand the importance of getting to know our

students. Often students feel more comfortable when you are genuinely curious about them as

their teacher. Joshua comes from a family with two parents, a sister and a brother. He is the

middle child. Throughout this process I was able to communicate with his mom. According to

mom, Joshua’s sister takes up a lot of their time due to her own disability and his brother is still

very young, requiring much of their attention as well. She admits that Joshua often falls by the

way side at home. She is supportive of anything we want to do at school to help Josh and often

looks for parenting advice. As we spoke, I was able to describe what was being observed

throughout the school day. Joshua often zones out and has a glazed over look about him. When

given a reminder to get started he will either ignore you, make faces at you and get upset, or get

right to work. Mom says she notices the same behaviors at home and thinks he is taking a page

out of his sister’s book. Mom and I discussed the intervention in order to assist Joshua in

initiating and completing independent tasks. She was on board with the intervention and was

curious to see what the weekly progress would look like.

 Academic background. Michael Schultz, a teacher/blogger, asked his students the

importance of getting to know them. Their response was, “so that they would know them as

people. They felt it was important for their teacher to know them so that they could help them

when they were upset, having a difficult time with friends or the other things that were going on

in their busy lives. They felt it was important to know and understand their interests, hobbies,

and what was important to them so that a teacher could treat them with kindness and respect”

(Schultz). Students have multiple facets to them. After Joshua’s mother I had the privilege of

speaking with his Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade teachers as well. Each teacher had

great things to say about Joshua. Kindergarten saw an active child who was craving for attention

in a positive manner. First grade saw a child willing to learn and loved to read. He always

wanted to contribute to class discussions until halfway through the year. The teacher noticed that

Joshua kept coming to school without brushed hair, dirty clothes, and seemed to have lost the

‘light inside of him’ as he described it. According to the first grade teacher and mom this was

when Joshua’s sister was diagnosed. Second grade saw similar findings to the current year where

he doesn’t want to work, is often glazed over, and can either be disrespectful or receiving of

reminders.

After getting to know Joshua on a personal level, I then turned to academic data.

Academically Joshua is currently on grade level, but his lack of task completion is hindering his

learning because he is often behind requiring further differentiation. According to the Fountas

and Pinnell Benchmark Reading Assessment, Joshua is reading at a level N/O which is where he

should be mid third grade. His math benchmark indicates he received a 78% on the latest fraction

unit. Writing is often a struggle to get started, but once he does he has extremely creative ideas.

All in all, Joshua is on grade level at this point.

 Observational data. During this project, the observational data also included behavior

data and anecdotal notes. Below is a time on task chart indicating where Joshua was on task or

off task and what that off task behavior looked like. He was observed throughout the day at

various times, but this chart shows 9-9:10 a.m. The results show that he was off task 8/20 times

during a ten-minute lesson. Spacing out and looking around were observed the most. The results

overall showed that there was no definitive pattern behind Joshua’s on-task behavior. It did not

matter the subject being done or the time of day, Joshua was portraying off-task behavior even

with multiple reminders.

Some strategies that were initially implemented as tier 1 included the whole-class behavior chart

system, ongoing verbal praise for following directions independently, home-school

communication of progress behavior chart, a reward system if work was completed, and a

checklist on his desk to provide steps of what needed to get done. The baseline data involved an

average of ten additional prompts or redirections required daily during the morning task

initiation and work completion. With no additional prompts, the morning activities is started ten

minutes into the lesson and only 30% of work is completed.

Target Behavior: On-task behavior

Operational Definition: Off-task behavior refers to any behavior that

involves engaging in activities other than
attending to teacher instruction or assigned
tasks.

Examples include getting up out of the seat at an

Examples of Behavior: inappropriate time, walking around the
classroom, spacing out, starring off, and playing
with school supplies.

Staying seated at desk during instruction and

Non-examples of Behavior: focusing on completing assignments quietly. Also
using materials only for assignments.

Replacement Behavior: On-task behavior

Operational Definition: A behavior that involves engaging and attending

to teacher instruction or assigned tasks.

Staying seated at desk during instruction and

Examples of Behavior: focusing on completing assignments quietly. Also
using materials only for assignments.

Non-examples include getting up out of seat at

inappropriate times, walking around the
classroom during instruction, using materials
inappropriately, spacing out, and starring off.

Non-examples of Behavior:
 Intervention Discussion. I was able to share this information with the Special Education

teacher as well as our SRBI leader in order to discuss the intervention plan. We discussed

Joshua’s academic history, home life, and current behaviors. I was able to share what

intervention plan I had in mind given that tier 1 has not been successful. The intervention plan

included a behavior chart consisting of 5 subjects to initiate work, complete work, and work

quietly. The intervention model/strategy consisted of a home-school communication of progress

on the behavior chart. The student would select an incentive daily for meeting target, the teacher

would provide verbal praise and continuous corrective feedback. There will be two rewards, one

short term and one long term. If the student received 3 out of 5 stars for the day, he would

receive a reward of his choice from a list generated by him and the teacher. If the student

received 20 out of 25 stars for the week, then he would receive a reward from a different list. We

discussed that Joshua was capable of initiating tasks throughout the school day based on previous

data, meaning that it did not matter the subject being taught. We came up with a smart goal for

Joshua, which is the student will independently initiate and complete tasks during each of the

five subjects, reducing teacher reminders from 5 to 3 prompts. Both colleagues really liked the

idea of this intervention plan.

Literature Review. Reviewing scholarly literature was the next stop on this journey. Sue

Plesa from Kansas Public Schools discusses behavior management within the classroom by

stating that, “on task behavior is important when students are independently practicing skills”

(Plesa, 191). One study I read about consisted of six students who were chosen by their teachers

for having a “marked difficulty maintaining on-task behaviors” (Otero, 91). The study used a

single-case design to assess self-monitoring with and without reinforcement. The purpose was to
‘determine whether the students’ on-task behaviors and accuracy of self-monitoring were

affected by offering tangible reinforcement for accuracy of recording’ (93). This was similar to

Joshua; with this new intervention in place he would have to self-monitor. Two components to

self- monitoring are self-observation and self-recording. Self- observation is where “a student

learns to identify and monitor a specific behavior and self- recording, requiring the student to

record whether they were engaging in a target behavior” (92). Joshua was going to learn to do

just that. For the intervention that was planned, he had to learn how to self-observe his behavior

in order to see if he would earn a star. If he was able to complete the task, then he would put the

star in the chart himself. The article displayed that giving the students the knowledge of self-

monitoring assisted them in successfully being on-task. The students reported that “they felt the

intervention was helpful. The teachers reported that the intervention was easy to implement”

(100). This study supports the intervention plan with Joshua, for instance, it allowed me to see

how self-regulation is beneficial for students to be accountable for their actions. The second

article looked at the effects of teacher greetings on student on-task behavior. Allday’s article

resulted in teacher greetings were associated with an increase in on-task behavior for all children.

The teachers were instructed to greet the target student at the door by using the student’s name

along with a positive statement. Following the doorway greeting, teachers were instructed to

continue their normal routine (318). This article was very interesting and definitely changed the

way I greet all my students first thing in the morning. This was definitely my ah-ha moment and

I immediately changed where I stand in the morning and what I say to each child before anything

else. These three articles have assisted the intervention planning process and implementation in a

positive way.

Data collection. This is the chart that was created for Joshua. This chart indicates the five
days of the week with each subject above. The ‘I can’ statement will remind Joshua of the tasks

that need to be done in order to earn a star. The teacher and him will reflect on task initiation and

completion in order for him to place a star where needed. Joshua and I sat down to discuss what

it means to be on-task and how/why he struggles. We discussed the plan that was going to be put

in place and how it works. He loved the idea of the plan and looked forward to putting a star on

his chart. We then created a list of short term rewards and long term rewards. The rewards

consisted of sitting with a friend, computer time, no shoes day, and the big one was electronic

day. Joshua was thrilled at electronic day and looked forward to filling his chart with stars. He

was motivated and couldn’t wait to get started.

I can earn a star by starting my work and completing my work with only 3 reminders or less.

Studies/Scienc
Word Work
Reading
Writing

Social
Math

e
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday
 Results

Data was collected on the effectiveness of the intervention over the course of 1 week. The

intervention showed varied results in the exhibition of the target behavior during data collection.

Day one Joshua earned three stars. He was starring off during morning work and did not compete

the task. During reading Joshua starred off and was glazed over not even initiating his task even

after three reminders. Math, Science and Word Work proved to be successful for Joshua. Day 2

and day 3 Joshua earned three stars as well. The greeting as stated in Allday’s article improved

with Joshua because morning work became a star instead of exhibiting off-task behavior. Joshua

earned star for Science and Word Work as well. Reading, Math, and Writing went well and

Joshua initiated with three reminders and completed each independent task. Day 4 was Joshua’s

best day. He only required at max two reminders to initiate and complete the tasks in Writing,

Mathematics, Social Studies, and Reading. Word Work was a struggle for both of those days as

it is right before lunch time. Friday Joshua came in glazed over, did not acknowledge the

greeting prior to coming into the room and was very down. He refused to talk to anyone, even

the guidance counselor so his whole day was thrown off and he did not earn any stars. He did not

complete a single task either. Overall, Joshua was on-task 52% of the time. That is an increase

from the 30% baseline data and 40% pre-intervention data.

 On Task Behavior
4.5

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Number of Stars Earned

 Findings

The results of this intervention show that the intervention is designed appropriately to

meet Joshua’s function needs of on-task behavior. The data shows a consistency in the use of the

replacement behavior from a baseline of 30% to 52% during one week.

The intervention is designed to allow Joshua to avoid off-task behaviors, by allowing him

rewards when displaying the replacement behavior. In addition, Joshua is able to gain rewards

that motivate him and is his choice (given a pre discussed menu of options) and positive

feedback between home and school.

Joshua was able to reach his daily goal each day of the week, except for Friday. Joshua

chose computer time for each day and is awaiting electronic day. The team and I met again to

determine that we need to implement this intervention for five more weeks to ensure success.
 Works Cited

Allday, R. A., & Pakurar, K. (2007). EFFECTS OF TEACHER GREETINGS ON STUDENT

ON-TASK BEHAVIOR. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40(2), 317-20. Retrieved
from https://search-proquest-
com.www2.lib.ku.edu/docview/225037769?accountid=14556

Otero, T. L., & Haut, J. M. (2016). Differential effects of reinforcement on the self-monitoring of
on-task behavior. School Psychology Quarterly, 31(1), 91-103. Retrieved from
https://search-proquest-com.www2.lib.ku.edu/docview/1659979643?accountid=14556

Plesa, S. (1984). On-Task Behavior. Learning Disability Quarterly, 7(2), 191-191.

doi:10.2307/1510322

Schultz, M. (n.d.). The Importance of Getting to Know Your Students. Retrieved February 27,
2017, from http://www.bamradionetwork.com/edwords-blog/the-importance-of-getting-
to-know-your-students
 Self- Assessment Rubric

Content/Required Elements 5

Creativity 4

Presentation 5

Professionalism 5

Use of Sources 4