A practical use of the random alternating treatments design as a package to increase compliant behavior in preschool children
A practical use of the random alternating treatments design as a package to increase compliant behavior in preschool children

Summary/Abstract: Teachers of preschool-aged children (3 – 5 years old) are often concerned when children without previous experience attending school, display serious noncompliant behavior. In this study, antecedent interventions to increase compliance were examined and compared using a single case experimental design known as random alternating treatments. The conditions were advance notice, behavioral momentum, and task-choice. During intervention 1, the child displayed a high percentage of noncompliant behaviors indicating the need for increased proximity, eye contact and stating his name prior to making a request. These antecedent modifications were applied to all conditions during intervention 2, with an immediate increase in compliance. A generalization phase was included to test these antecedent modifications among additional staff, which resulted in continued compliance. For this participant, the task-choice condition was most effective. This study demonstrated the feasibility and practicality of the random alternating treatments design as an efficient tool to determine response to intervention during the pre-referral process to special education, eliminating over-identification of children with behavioral concerns.

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