Increasing Independent Seatwork: Breaking Large Assignments into Smaller Assignments and Teaching a Student with Retardation to Recruit Reinforcement

Abstract. A withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent intervention on independent seatwork and student-teacher interactions in a student with mild mental retardation. During the intervention phase, long assignments were changed to multiple, briefer assignments. After completing each brief assignment, the student recruited social reinforcement and the next brief assignment from the teacher. Results showed that this procedure increased the amount of independent seatwork the student completed without decreasing accuracy levels. Interaction data suggested that the intervention decreased teacher disapprovals and did not require additional teacher time. The discussion focuses on applied implications of the current study and plausible causal mechanisms that account for the current findings. ********** Students with learning problems (e.g., learning disabilities, mild mental retardation) often have academic skill deficits (Reschly & Ysseldyke, 2002). Although numerous strategies and procedures have been developed to address these skill deficits, none are likely to enhance academic skills unless students choose to engage in academic activities (Skinner, Wallace, & Neddenriep, 2002). For example, after students acquire a skill (i.e., reach acceptable levels of accuracy), assigning independent seatwork will only enhance students' skills (e.g., fluency, maintenance, and generalization) if students choose to complete the academic assignments. There are several reasons why students with learning problems and skill deficits may be less likely to choose to engage in assigned academic tasks than students with stronger academic skills. First, because their skills are not developed, academic tasks are likely to require more time and effort to complete (Binder, 1996; Homer & Day, 1991). Second, because students with skill deficits often require more time to complete assignments, any reinforcement delivered contingent upon assignment completion will be delivered at lower rates (Skinner, 1998). Third, students with skill deficits may have a history where attempting to complete academic assignments has been infrequently reinforced or even punished (e.g., students receive aversive social stimuli for working slowly or poor grades for not completing their work). This learning history may increase the probability of these students choosing to engage in alternative, as opposed to assigned, academic behaviors (Dunlap, Kern-Dunlap, Clarke, & Robbins, 1991). Several strategies have been shown to increase the probability of students engaging in assigned academic activities. One strategy is to reduce the effort required to complete assignments by decreasing assignment length or replacing high effort tasks with low effort tasks (Gates & Skinner, 2000; Cooke, Guzaukas, Pressley, & Kerr, 1993; Homer & Day, 1991, Kern, Childs, Dunlap, Clarke, & Falk, 1994). However, such procedures may not be acceptable to educators (educators may refer to this as watering down the curricula), as they reduce opportunities to respond and consequently may reduce skill development (Martin, Skinner, & Neddenriep, 2001). An alternative strategy that may increase the probability of students engaging in assigned tasks without decreasing assignment demands is to increase assignment completion rates (Logan & Skinner, 1998). One way to increase students' assignment completion rates is to break large assignments down into smaller discrete assignments (Malott, 2000; Skinner, 2002). For example, if an assignment requires 30 minutes to complete, that assignment could be broken down into three assignments, each requiring 10 minutes to complete. Thus, the student is completing three assignments in 30 minutes as opposed to one assignment in 30 minutes. Another strategy that has been shown to enhance student academic responding is to encourage students to sell-monitor their academic behaviors (Skinner & Smith, 1992). …