Using effective practices to teach students with disabilities.pdf

Systematic Instruction for Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities

Contents

• About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
• Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
• Foreword Mark Wolery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
• Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
• Chapter 1 Using Effective Practices to Teach Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Chapter 2 Developing Data Sheets and Collecting Baseline Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
• Chapter 3 Using Graduated-Guidance, Most-to-Least Prompting, and System-of-Least-Prompts Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
• Chapter 4 Using Time-Delay and Simultaneous-Prompting Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
• Chapter 5 Increasing the Efficiency of Instruction Through the Addition of Nontargeted Information and Through Instruction in Small-Group Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
• Chapter 6 Using Naturalistic Language Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
• Chapter 7 Facilitating Maintenance and Generalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
• Chapter 8 Teaching Functional Core Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
• Chapter 9 Working with Peers, Paraprofessionals, and Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
• Chapter 10 Setting up Instructional Schedules and Classroom Environments . . . . . . . . 147
• Chapter 11 Teaching with Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
• Appendix A Procedural Flowcharts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
• Appendix B Blank Data Collection Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
• Appendix C Resources from the Professional Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
• Appendix D Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

About the Author

Belva C. Collins, Ed.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of Kentucky, where she serves on the program faculty in the Moderate and Severe Disabilities Program. Dr. Collins began her career as a teacher of students with intellectual disabilities in rural Southwestern Virginia before coming to the University of Kentucky to work as a research assistant on several federally funded grants to validate the use of response prompting strategies in special education. She has continued this line of research throughout her career in higher education and has been successful in guiding the applied research of her students in investigating variations of systematic instruction in classroom and community settings. This work provides the foundation for this text. In addition to disseminating her own scholarly writing, Dr. Collins

Chapter Objectives

• List and describe the components of an instructional trial
• Task analyze a chained task, and describe how it can be taught across three instructional formats: forward chaining, backward chaining, and total task presentation
• State principles for presenting a consequence following a correct response
• Provide examples of general and specific attentional cues and responses, and describe the rationale for delivering one over the other

Basic Components of Systematic Instruction

Instructional programs using direct instruction are composed of individual instructional sessions, and instructional sessions are composed of individual instructional trials. An instructional session may have as few as one instructional trial or as many as the instructor deems necessary for learners to have ample opportunities to perform a targeted behavior or skill. Instructional programs differ from lesson plans in that instruction continues across daily sessions until learners reach criterion on the performance of a behavior; lesson plans typically address a single day of instruction on a specific topic. Instruction on the behaviors targeted in instructional programs may be embedded across lesson plans.

Effective Teaching Practices

To envision systematic instruction through a simple formula:

• A → B → C (A = antecedent, B = behavior, C = consequence)
• S → R → C (S = stimulus, R = response, C = consequence)

Instructors must ensure that learners have antecedents that will result in the desired behaviors.

Discrete and Chained Behaviors

All behaviors that are taught to a learner can be classified as discrete or chained. Discrete behavior consists of a single step. A chained task consists of discrete behaviors that are linked together to perform a more complex behavior. A task analysis is a means of breaking down a chained task into small, discrete behaviors or steps.

Three Formats for Teaching Chained Tasks

1. Forward chaining occurs when one step of a task analysis is taught at a time.
2. Backward chaining occurs when the instructor performs all of the steps for the learner except the last step of the sequence and then teaches that step to the learner.
3. Total task presentation is the most natural way to present a task.

Antecedent

The antecedent is the stimulus preceding a behavior that the instructor wants a student to perform. Tasks should include both the task directions and the natural antecedents to help learners know what to do.

Consequence

If correct responses are to increase, it is important that every behavior or response be followed by a consequence. This can provide feedback to the learner to reinforce the likelihood of correct responses in the future.

Attentional Cues and Responses

Before every instructional trial, it is necessary to secure the attention of learners. General and specific attentional cues should be used to ensure that learners are ready for instruction. An example of an attentional cue is when the instructor calls out the learner’s name to capture their attention.

Instructional Trials and Formats

An instructional trial consists of an antecedent (or stimulus), a behavior (or response), and a consequence. There are three basic trial formats:

1. Massed trial format
2. Spaced trial format
3. Distributed trial format

Phases of Learning

Different trial formats may be appropriate for facilitating different phases of learning:

1. Acquisition
2. Fluency
3. Maintenance
4. Generalization

Objectives

It is crucial that the instructor have a behavioral objective for each behavior to be taught, thus focusing the lesson and allowing for an appropriate data-collection system.