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Cole Patterson is 7 years and 10 months old and will be starting the second grade.
He is a curious, intelligent, and artistic little boy who hopes to be a doctor one
day. Cole has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and Anxiety
which invariably has an impact on his behavior and learning.
Target Behavior
Cole has a variety of negative behaviors that occur when he attempts to read or is
asked to read. Though the behaviors vary they can all be classified as task
avoidance behavior which can be operationally defined as: running to his room,
closing his eyes in an attempt to avoid looking at the words, sliding slowly
underneath the table (as if he’s melting away) repetitive loud noise-making (such
as humming, laughing, repeating syllables or letter sounds loudly and in short
spurts as if he is a robot with a glitch, I often describe this as “stuck-on repeat”)
and outright refusal, verbal arguments, or attempts to bargain (saying “I’ll do it
later”).
The Goal
The goal of this project is to use Operant Conditioning and shaping to positively
reinforce and increase desirable behaviors (reading a page in a book) and
subsequently reduce the total number of incidents of undesirable behavior as it is
defined above with the ultimate goal being completion of an appropriate reading
level book with no incidents occurring (I doubt we’ll get there in the course of this
project).
I used an ABC chart to gather my more specific quantifiable data; here I offer my
observational data to help illustrate the logic behind the Behavioral Modification
Plan outlined in the next section.
Number of incidents: 43
Cole progressed very well in the first week. Predictably, he had a more difficult
time starting out. He had an increased number of incidents on the last day, which
I attribute to the large number of pages he read to try to “catch up” with his
sister’s progress on her chart. He was motivated by the chart, which became a
primary reinforcer for him because he enjoyed coloring in the blocks and seeing
his progress. Cole seems to be accepting reading as part of his daily routine and is
arguing less about it.
The Plan: Week Two
Overall Results
Summary