Intervention Characteristics
Characteristics of interventions:
Interventions should be based on the relationship already in the environment.
Interventions should be relevant to the social setting, so that when it goes away, the intervention should last.
Interventions should satisfy the person who brought the referral to you
Interventions should be based on the results of the hypothesis testing.
Interventions should be monitored for treatment integrity.
Principles guiding the development of interventions.
Interventions are to prevent future and greater problems. This prevents the referral from coming to the sch-psych after the problem is out of hand.
The resulting outcomes should match the events from the referrals
You should use naturally occurring activities in the classroom to support your interventions. The teachers will be more likely to accept this. The new behavior is more likely generalize.
Critical components of interventions that have to do with academic variables.
Opportunities for the student to respond increase the likelihood that the child will develop skills. (one on one instruction helps, small groups, ask more questions, etc.)
Positive contingencies for accurate, independent performance.
Immediate feedback.
Pacing of instruction.
How does error correction occur?
What kinds of targets are identified for contingencies? (target accuracy, rate, percentage of improvement, etc.)
Using modeling, prompting, etc.
Critical components of interventions that have to do with behavioural variables.
Try to transfer the control of the behavior from the intervention to the natural ecology, including skills that need to be performed outside of the classroom setting.
Must have opportunities to practice here as well.
Treatment integrity (helps us identify what parts of the intervention work, and which parts dont, because we know it is being implemented correctly.) This leads to validity and reliability.
Factors which affect treatment integrity
Difficult treatments make it less likely that they will be implemented correctly.
How much time is required to do the intervention?
What kinds of materials or resources are needed?
Social Validity of interventions
Has social significance in that setting for the child
Is relevant to the teacher
It is relevant to the goals for improvement.
Levels of social validity
Social significance choosing goals which are important to the teacher and will be valuable to the student
Social acceptability teacher accepted, associated with her repertoire., not too difficult to implement
Social importance Deals with the effects of the intervention what really happens as a result of the intervention.
o Direct effects
o Intermediate effects (secondary effects) target one thing, something else changes as a result.
o Distal effects long term effects related to the intervention.
How can you know if s/t is socially valid?
Look at what is normal for the child at his/her age.
Are we targeting a functional approach? Basic skills? Something broader?
Look at interview information.
Ask the relevant judges (consumers)
Look at archival data.
Look at social markers. How do people act?
Look at other choices.
Check the integrity assessments
Technical adequacy of problem solving.
Biggest problem: Identifying the behavioural question. This must be written in observable, measurable terms.
Ex. from case study: Justin is unable to accurately read the individual words from passages designed for his grade level. The accuracy goal is 94%, and Justin currently reads at 50%.
For someone else to carry out this intervention, there are resources and obstacles which must be considered.
Resources:
Reading passages from classroom teacher.
Knowledge of (via worksheets, etc) the specific rules included in the reading passages
Obstacles:
Lack of student, absence, etc.
Time and availability of one on one instructors
Lack of availability of teacher for cooperation
Time to take the kid out of the classroom.
Alternative options:
Small group which may already exist for the students at similar levels in the same room
Computer programs.
To show effect size:
(Baseline Mean Intervention Mean)/(SD of all)
Filed under: EDC 514-515 Academic Assessment for Intervention
Copyright: March, 2004 - David Profitt
