Date of Award

5-2015

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

Special Education and Rehabilitation

Committee Chair(s)

Nancy Glomb

Committee

Nancy Glomb

Committee

Robert Morgan

Committee

Lillian Duran

Abstract

Teachers sometimes experience problems with disruptive behavior in their classrooms. These aberrant and socially mediated behaviors can be difficult for teachers to manage without the proper research-based skills and training. This project explored the effects of training general education classroom teachers to conduct a functional behavior assessment and deliver noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) for disruptive classroom behavior(s). Participants included four middle school general education teachers and four students who have been identified by each teacher as exhibiting disruptive behavior(s). Procedures included four hrs of teacher training on conducting functional behavior assessments and delivering NCR followed by a post-training questionnaire and rubric based role play to determine the readiness of the teacher to proceed with implementation. Pre-intervention data on the target students was collected by the researcher while the teacher conducted class as usual. Next, the intervention was initiated and data were 4 collected by the researcher and an independent observer trained by the researcher to determine the impact of the intervention on student behavior. The NCR intervention produced decreased disruptive behavior(s) for all student participants. The results obtained indicate training teachers to conduct functional behavior assessments and implement NCR interventions for reducing disruptive behavior(s) has potential to be a viable tool.

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