Carolyn W. Green, Dennis H. Reid, Jeannia H. Rollyson, & Susan C. Passante (2005).
An enriched teaching program for reducing resistance and indices of unhappiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
38, 221-233.
We evaluated an enriched teaching program for reducing resistance
and indices of unhappiness displayed by 3 individuals with profound
multiple disabilities during teaching sessions. The program involved
presentation of preferred activities before, during, and after each
teaching session, discontinuation of identified nonpreferred activities,
and a brief break and preferred activity following occurrence of
resistance. Implementation of the enriched teaching program was
accompanied by reductions in resistance and indices of unhappiness
for each participant. Results also indicated no negative impact of the
program on participant performance of the teaching steps or staff
teaching proficiency. Staff questionnaire responses provided a
degree of social validation for the observed changes in that staff
reported the participants liked the enriched teaching program more
than the traditional teaching process. Directions for future research
discussed include identifying critical aspects of the overall program
and the potential relation between teaching proficiency and the
program's enrichment effectiveness.
DESCRIPTORS: unhappiness, responsive teaching, profound
multiple disabilities