SELF-DETERMINED TOKEN ECONOMY SYSTEM

Does the consistent use of a self-determined token economy system increase the attention span of children with autism?



Does the consistent use of a self-determined token economy system increase the attention span of children with autism?

Data Analysis

Introduction

In this section we will analyse the data collected for the six children of ages five to ten who have been diagnosed as having severe autism. These students have been selected by the Special Education classroom teacher because they are eight to ten years old. Data was collected over a three week period each day of the week from 1:00-1:30 p.m. Students were involved in completing a language worksheet. During that time duration recording cards were used by the teacher assistant to collect time on task calculations.

While data were being collected, the teacher was interacting with the students in an effort to (1) assist them with the tasks and (2) to gather examples relating to their ability to focus.

During the first week, the teacher provided verbal praise to the students during the language activity. During the second week the teacher used a teacher-determined token system as a reinforcement strategy. This strategy involves the teacher choosing the type of token reward. The teacher will explain to the students that they will receive a token upon completion of the worksheet. During the third week will be the introduction of a self-determined token economy system. This token system will afford the students the opportunity to select their choice of a token reward. Tokens will be in the forms of smiley face stickers, plastic chips for points and rewards coupons to redeem edibles or prizes. The data analysis will be based on the bar charts and other statistical techniques.

Week 1: verbal praise only

During the first week the teachers stressed on the Verbal praise only to check the behavior of students. It was observed that the were very hyper-active ,talkative, noncompliant while teacher gave instructions. The break down of work of different students is given in the table below:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Student 1

5 min

10 min

10 min

9 min

Student 2

4 min

8 min

10 min

10 min

9 min

Student 3

5min

6 min

5 min

10 min

7 min

Student 4

5min

4 min

5 min

5 min

7 min

Student 5

7min

4 min

4 min

7 min

7 min

Student 6

7min

6 min

6 min

The bar chart of the data collected for the first week is also given below:

From the graph it can be see that the students worked least on Monday whereas students worked well on the other days. On Tuesday, student 3 worked for maximum number of minutes whereas on Wednesday student 1 and 2 worked for maximum number of minutes. On Thursday students 1, 2 and 3 worked for maximum number of minutes whereas on Friday students 1 and 2 worked for maximum number of minutes.

The table below shows the averages of the 6 students. The table shows that the student 2 worked maximum on the three days whereas student 4 worked least during the week.

Averages

Student 1

8.5

Student 2

9.25

Student 3

7

Student 4

5.25

Student 5

5.5

Student 6

6

Week 2: Teacher-Determined Token

During the second week the teachers stressed on teachers determined ...