What behavior intervention would you use?

Question

I have a 7th grade student who does not verbally participate in class. When asked a question that is not based on readily available facts (like something she JUST read), she will sit in silence, often just staring at the teacher. In larger groups, she remains silent because she knows her peers will answer instead. She does this to avoid the risk of being wrong or "looking stupid" in front of her peers. What replacement behavior do I teach that will still allow her to escape the risk of social judgement while increasing her participation in class by answering questions?

Answer 1

Until you can figure out why she doesn't like to answer questions, find another way. Don't make her speak up. You don't know what her peers do or say to her outside of your class.

I found out as an adult that I have autism spectrum disorder (not classic, but not aspergers, somewhere in the middle). In school, I could never figure out the right way to say something, and I was terrified to speak up. When I finally did say something, it was of course wrong, even though I really did know the answer. When I didn't understand something, I would go to the teacher, only to be crushed when asked which part I didn't understand. I could (and can't) explain parts of anything. When I was in college I finally had a really good math teacher, and when I went for extra help, he wrote down 3 problems and watched me work through them, he never asked what part I didn't get. In English Classes, my teachers would always get on my @ss and say I'm not working to my potential. I always scored extremely high for reading comprehension, and all other multiple choice reading tests, yet I can't tell you what themes are in any story, and I can't come anywhere near analyzing a character.

I'm just saying, find another way for her, and any other student that may be shy. Making us talk really doesn't do any good.

You could always have at least one question every class that they all have to write down and hand in. Or you could have her use an in class notebook where she answers specific questions and hands them in at the end of class. This would also help you see if she's not getting something.

Answer 2

First I would review any testing and then request a specialists to observe my class. Behavior needs to be graphed to determine success. You have to find out what triggers the curve.

Answer 3

Have you ever considered whether she might have a learning disability? Have you considered asking parent permission to have her tested? Even if she tests negative for LD the psych part of the eval could shed some light on things.

Answer 4

Since you put this under "Special Education" I'm guessing this student currently has an IEP on file?  If not, then that changes the dynamic of the question a bit.  If the student is on an IEP:

In my district, we would implement a BIP (Behavior Plan) to modify the behavior.  It is also possible that the student has expressive language issues that need to be looked at and addressed in an IEP if they are not already.

Answer 5

First, look at your target behavior. I assume it is class participation, but it seems like (by your explanation) that you differentiate between

a)class participation when she knows the answer, and

b)class participation when she is unsure of the answer.

Is this correct? Does she participate at any other times during the class?

If so, then I would say...why do you want her to answer when she doesn't know the answer?

I think it is totally appropriate to listen to class discussion, and gather information from others when you are unsure. And, if she is participating at other times, why push participation even further?

BUT, if you do want to increase total participation across her day, I would observe and collect data during times that she is participating... take ABC data for participation. Find out what's going on before and after her participation behavior... then maybe probe her about those times.

Regarding the replacement behavior, if your theory of negative reinforcement is correct (removal of embarrassment for absence of participation)...make her look good in front of her peers each and every time she says ANYTHING in class, even if it is wrong. Do this to all students...

I mean, if anxiety is playing a part in this... the idea would be to remove the stimulus that is causing anxiety

Answer 6

Regardless of the presence of a disability or anything there are several ways to encourage students to participate.  The first thing is to set the student up for success.  Before class starts you can tell the student you are going to call on her and tell her what he question will be.  If she gets nothing else right that day other than tht one question and she gets to answer it correctly in front of her classmates it will begin to build her confidence.  Also make sure that your classroom environment is one that encourages students to take the risk of speaking otu and being wrong.  Ensure that you alow sufficien wait-time for students who process verbal information slowly to think about and answer questions.  Good luck.

Answer 7

besides the other problems this child has it also sounds like she has self esteem issues try the site below it worked for my son

Answer 8

Your conjecture about why she isn't answering is what we refer to in behavior analysis as an explanatory fiction. It is a guess about the possible function of the behavior. However, you could be completely wrong.

It would behoove you to go into her ESE file and find out what her disability is. There are several other issues that could be at work here. She may have an underlying receptive or expressive language disorder or auditory processing issues. She also could have a short term memory deficit which means she cannot manipulate information in her brain  that she has just learned, in order to form an answer.

Instead of developing a replacement behavior at this time, you should try to manage any antecedents that are directly related to any learning disabilities she may have. You can do that by looking up the accommodations and modifications on the 'Net.

What I don't understand is why you are so intent on trying to get her to verbally answer a verbally posed question. One of the ways we differentiate instruction is to allow different ways for children to show their knowledge.  One reason that children become manipulative is due to the fact that people put pressure on them to do things they cannot do very well.

I commend you on wanting to teach a replacement behavior, but before you do that, you have a lot more investigating to do.