COLLATERAL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACCOMPANYING REINFORCEMENT OF OUTDOOR PLAY IN A PRESCHOOL CHILD 1, 2

Three preschool children participated in a behavioral training program to improve their grossmotor skills. Ten target behaviors were measured in the training setting to assess direct effects of the program. Generalization probes for two gross-motor behaviors, one fine-motor skill, and two social behaviors were conducted in other settings. Results indicated that the training program improved the gross-motor skills trained and that improvements sometimes generalized to other settings. Contrary to suggestions in educational literature, the gross-motor training program did not produce changes in fine-motor skills or social behaviors. Implications for educators and for the development of the technology of generalization are outlined.

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trained, Generalized, and Collateral Behavior Changes of Preschool Children Receiving Gross‐motor Skills Training

Kirby

Holborn

1986

“…In many studies, teacher approval is operationalized as verbal praise (Hall, Panyan, Rabon, and Broden, 1968;McAllister, Stachowiak, Baer, and Conderman, 1969;Ward and Baker, 1968;Wasik, Senn, Welch, and Cooper, 1969). Yet, in other studies, verbal approval is supplemented with nonverbal attending behaviors on the part of the teacher such as smiling, patting, holding, touching, moving toward the child, making eye contact, varying tone of voice, among others (Becker, Madsen, Arnold, and Thomas, 1967;Buell, Stoddard, Harris, and Baer, 1968;Cooper, Thomson, and Baer, 1970 their individual effect on student behavior is rarely evaluated. Even when observational codes include nonverbal teacher behaviors such as facial expressions and physical contact (Becker et al, 1967) or proximity of the teacher to the pupil , it remains unclear whether these behaviors contribute to behavior change in the students independently of verbal approval alone.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

THE EFFECT OF NONVERBAL TEACHER APPROVAL ON STUDENT ATTENTIVE BEHAVIOR¹

Kazdin

Klock

1973

The effect of contingent nonverbal teacher approval on student attentive behavior was examined in a dassroom with 12 retarded children. After baseline data were gathered on contingent verbal and nonverbal teacher approval and student attentive behavior, the teacher was instructed to increase her use of contingent nonverbal approval (smiles and physical contact) and to maintain her baseline level of verbal approval. After a reversal phase, the nonverbal approval phase was reinstated. Nonverbal teacher behaviors increased during the experimental phases, whereas verbal teacher approval (alone or in conjunction with nonverbal behaviors) did not increase. Attentive behavior increased for 11 of 12 students during the phases in which contingent nonverbal teacher approval increased. Correlational data suggested that nonverbal teacher approval accounted for behavior change of the students to a greater extent than did changes in the amount of teacher approval per se or in the teacher's use of verbal approval.Teacher approval or attention has been used extensively to alter student behavior in the classroom. In many studies, teacher approval is operationalized as verbal praise (Hall, Panyan, Rabon, and Broden, 1968;McAllister, Stachowiak, Baer, and Conderman, 1969;Ward and Baker, 1968;Wasik, Senn, Welch, and Cooper, 1969). Yet, in other studies, verbal approval is supplemented with nonverbal attending behaviors on the part of the teacher such as smiling, patting, holding, touching, moving toward the child, making eye contact, varying tone of voice, among others (Becker, Madsen, Arnold, and Thomas, 1967;Buell, Stoddard, Harris, and Baer, 1968;Cooper, Thomson, and Baer, 1970 their individual effect on student behavior is rarely evaluated. Even when observational codes include nonverbal teacher behaviors such as facial expressions and physical contact (Becker et al., 1967) or proximity of the teacher to the pupil , it remains unclear whether these behaviors contribute to behavior change in the students independently of verbal approval alone. One reason that nonverbal attending behavior usually is not evaluated is that verbal approval, as opposed to facial expressions and physical contact, constitutes most (about 85 %) of teacher attending behavior (Madsen, Becker, and Thomas, 1968). Moreover, teacher training is more likely to emphasize and alter verbal behavior as opposed to nonverbal behaviors (facial expressions and physical contact) (Kazdin, in press). Nevertheless, nonverbal teacher behaviors alone may provide an important source of reinforcement in the classroom. Indeed, several texts and manuals on behavior modification in the classroom advocate the use of nonverbal approval behaviors either to supplement praise or to provide reinforcement in their own right (

“…Reynolds and Risley (1968) demonstrated that material as well as social reinforcers could be used to modify social behavior in the nursery. Buell, Stoddard, Harris, and Baer (1968) The present experiment attempted to increase the rate of interaction between an isolate boy and his nursery school classmates. The study was designed to minimize the time and effort required of the teacher.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, it was possible that the child's peers would react in a socially reinforcing manner to being given candy and that this would further strengthen his interaction behavior. The strategy was similar to Buell et al (1968), who strengthened one kind of behavior likely to facilitate peer reinforcement for other forms of social behavior.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

MODIFICATION OF PRESCHOOL ISOLATE BEHAVIOR: A CASE STUDY¹

Kirby

Toler

1970

A 5-yr-old preschool boy with a low rate of interaction with his nursery school classmates was induced to pass out candy as a tactic to increase his rate of interaction with them.Interaction with classmates increased markedly during the periods he passed out choices of candy. These changes may have been due to increases in both his rate of initiating activities with his classmates and to increases in his classmates' rate of initiating activities with him. A total time of less than 1 hr was required of the teacher during the experiment.The problem behaviors of nursery school children studied by psychologists utilizing operant conditioning principles have been varied, and have included such target behaviors as crying and whining, excessive passivity, and isolate play. Of particular interest here are the studies concerning isolate behavior, defined as a low frequency of interaction with other children. Allen, Hart, Buell, Harris, and reported success in modifying the isolate behavior of a 4-yr-old nursery school child using teacher attention as the reinforcer. A similar study of a 3-yr-old isolate boy reported by Harris, Wolf, and Baer (1964) indicated that by changing the contingencies for adult attention, rapid changes in social behavior of the child resulted. Reynolds and Risley (1968) demonstrated that material as well as social reinforcers could be used to modify social behavior in the nursery. Buell, Stoddard, Harris, and Baer (1968) increased a nursery school child's rate of social contact with other children by increasing the child's use of outdoor play equipment through teacher reinforcement.The above studies relied heavily on the reinforcing effects of teacher attention. Reyn- 'The authors wish to express appreciation to Judy