For my second intervention strategy, I choose to do a self-monitoring card. I teach Autism and have a chosen a student of mine, who we shall call Joe Smith. This student exhibits the following behaviors; an inability to transition, can be very defiant and angers easily. He screams, yells, and spits at times when he is very upset. He also can be very self abusive.
Joe is a foster child and it was reported that he has a history of severe neglect, exposure to violence and extreme environmental deprivation. He is currently classified as Autistic with MI. He exhibits obsessive-compulsive traits and is oppositionaly defiant. We witness these characteristics on an almost daily basis. Examples of the latter are when he is serving time in the "Time out" area, and his time is up, he refuses to come out and says his time is not up, and transitioning from the classroom to the cafeteria for lunch by asserting that he is not hungry when he has been complaining of hunger pains. .
We have implemented a strategy that has shown signs thus far of successfully modifying the amount and extent of behaviors Joe exhibits while transitioning to and from class. I have focused on four behavioral tasks; .
1) Transition from the special ed room to the Gymnasium. .
2) Following directions while in class .
3) Using appropriate language while in class and lastly .
4) Transition back to the special ed. room.
To implement a behavior modification plan we have identified a number of reinforcers that can be introduced in different environments. Among those reinforcers are; crayons, shoestring, sitting on the couch in the library, Burger King and a 10-minute walk. These reinforcers are pictorially portrayed utilizing the pecs system and are prominently displayed above his desk. Joe is learning to use the pictures along with a visual component of a daily tally sheet. This sheet shows Joes success or failure by tallying the number of crayons he has earned.
