The Impact of Communication and Behavior on Learning/Evaluation

SpEd 417/517

Guest Speaker

InstructionIntegration and performance of cognitive, social, and motor skillsCommunication Bill of Rights -

National Joint Committee for the Communicative Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities, 1992

Trend shift to multimodal communicationSix tenets

Skill Development

Early communicationpre-linguistic skillspragmatics

Intentionalityperlocutionary stageillocutionary stagelocutionary stage

Means & Functions

Means used for communicative functionsnon-verbalidiosyncratic behavior - eye poking, slapping, etc.conventional means - pointing, words, etc.

Above means used to express communicative functions

behavioral regulationsocial interactionjoint attention

Assessment

Skills assessmentreceptive and expressive languageecological assessmentcommunication mode

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Family involvementGestural communicationAided systemsSelection and use of AAC

Instructional Strategies

Interaction styleSocial exchangesInteractionDesigning strategiesNaturalistic proceduresInterrupted chainsConversational skill trainingVan Dijk Method

Challenging Behavior

TrendsCommunicative intentBehaviors may signify a more global problem

Defining Problem Behavior

StereotypicSelf-injuriousAggressiveSocially inappropriate

Functional Approach to Behavior Modification

Eliminative approachPositive behavior support

Functional assessmentSupport plan developmentPlan implementation and evaluation

Functional Assessment

Indirect assessmentDirect assessmentSetting eventsHypotheses developmentExperimental analysis

Components of a Functional Behavioral Assessment

Strengths

Problem behaviors

Desired behaviors

Slow triggers

Fast triggers

Actual consequence

Perceived function

Hypothesis

Behavior Support Plan

Teach functionally equivalent communication skillsDevelop support plan

long-term supportsreplacement skillsprevention strategiesconsequence strategiesongoing assessment process

Reinforcement strategiesConsequent strategies

Designing a Behavioral Intervention Plan

Consider one behavioral categoryStereotypic behaviorSelf-injuriousAggressiveSocially inappropriate

Westling & Fox Chapter 9

Evaluating student progressAlternate assessmentStudent portfolio assessmentDirect measurement procedures

Alternate Assessment

Authentic skillsSkills across domainsMeasures taken across timeAdequate supportsassistive devicespeopleother supportsServe to improve student programming

Portfolio Assessment

schedule of student activitiesdaily logincident record

Direct Assessment

defining the behaviorobservation of the behaviorrecording the data

event recordingrate measurespartial-interval recordingmomentary time samplinglatency measurementduration measureswhole-interval recordingtask analytic recording

Direct Assessment

Data collection during baseline, instruction, and probe sessions

Data collection during generalizationGraphing direct measurement dataInterpreting graphs

Activity AnalysisGeneric response components identified

Discriminative stimuli that prompts target response

Range of stimulus characteristics

Response variation of the learner

Anticipated problems, errors, exceptions

Peer interaction