Peer Modeling of Commenting During Small Group Direct Instruction for Academic Behaviors

Abstract

During small group instruction, two groups of children-each group comprised of one child with a disability and two without disabilities-were taught to read words using a progressive time delay procedure (PTD). Apart from the children with disabilities, two typically developing peers in each group were taught to comment on tokens given for correct responding. Academic responding was similar to that in previous studies including older children, but observational learning of peers' words was variable within and across participants. Although adequate baseline comparisons were not possible and experimental control was not demonstrated, peers and one participant with a disability exhibited variable but increasing levels of commenting over time. Commenting increased over time in one generalization context (generalization across adults) and remained at low levels in the other (generalization across materials).

Developing Student Critical Consciousness: Twitter as a Tool to Apply Critical Literacy in the English Classroom

“…Additionally, Twitter seems to be an effective tool to facilitate peer learning, providing dual affordances. A number of studies, in settings from elementary school through higher education, have found peer modeling to facilitate student learning (Ledford & Wolery, 2013;Murphy, 2015;Richards, Heathfield, & Jenson, 2010;Urlacher, Wolery, & Ledford, 2016). In the present study, Twitter was found to facilitate peer modeling, in which students were able to learn from peer tweets, helping them to better understand assignments or to compare their own work as a measure of adequacy.…”

Research to Practice: Promoting Academic and Social Behaviors in a Small Group

“…Small group instruction prepares children for elementary school and later grades, specifically by teaching children how to learn. Urlacher, Wolery, and Ledford (2016) found that preschoolers with and without special needs could learn to name sight words and practice social skills (make a comment to a peer) during the same brief sessions (10 min each). Children participated in these sessions in the classrooms while sitting at a table, on the floor, or on the playground.…”

Massed Trials Versus Trials Embedded Into Game Play: Child Outcomes and Preference

“…Even when recommended and evidence-based practices are used (e.g., Division for Early Childhood, 2014), practitioners must make numerous decisions regarding how they are used (cf. Ledford et al, 2016). Trial arrangement is one such decision.…”

“…Progressive time delay (PTD) has been used in both massed (e.g., Urlacher, Wolery, & Ledford, 2016) and embedded (e.g., Venn et al, 1993) trial arrangements in early childhood settings. During initial sessions, children are immediately prompted to engage in desired behavior, reducing the opportunity for errors (Wolery, Ault, & Doyle, 1992).…”