BEAMS Scholars: Kelsea Maule & Brianna Wuensch

Introduction: Antecedent and consequence based intervention package was used to decrease maladaptive behaviors that were functioning as a means to obtain attention from staff and peers. In conjunction with Differential Reinforcement of Other behaviors(DRO), we utilized social narratives and a token economy (e.g., school dollars) to reinforce appropriate attention seeking behaviors. DRO is a differential reinforcement procedure that involves providing the student attention contingent on the absence of the target behavior on a time interval schedule. Social narratives describe social situations for learners by providing relevant cues, explanation of the feelings and thoughts of others, and expectations of specific behaviors. A token economy is a reinforcement system that rewards student’s with tokens that are later turned in for varying reinforcers, such as 1:1 time with a preferred teacher and fun activities (e.g., nail painting).

Participant: A 9th grade female, African-American student, whose primary langauge is English

Methods/Materials: Every 30 seconds a staff member would give positive verbal praise to the student by utilizing the timer to ensure they were reinforcing at a 30 second interval contingent of the absence of the problem behavior. Other materials used included: timer, the school-store menu, class dollars, visuals for classroom behavior rules/expectations, and social narratives. The intervention was only conducted over 4 days, due to the COVID-19 pandemic school closures. 

Results:  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars were unable to fully implement the intervention and measure its effectiveness. However, they were able to start the intervention and cross-train staff before students were sent home for about 4 days. Data collection showed that the student's behaviors decreased on the second day of implementation and through to the end of the week. It is believed that the student's behaviors would have decreased over time given this immediate effect, and given the function of her behavior in combination with the frequency of it.

Conclusions: Overall, all the students in the classroom appeared to benefit from the SE and SP dyad colalboration, in addition to the target student. This collaboration allowed for more understanding of cross-discipline collaboration between the SP and SE teacher to best support students. 

BEAMS Scholars: Kimberly Almaguer

Introduction: The problem was that the students in this special day classroom showed a decrease in attention and participation from the beginning of the day to in the afternoon. As a result, this intervention was implemented to see if doing exercise by walking around campus would help increase student engagement and participation in afternoon academics. There is data to suggest that exercise helps reduce problem behavior in all students from younger to older and including students with disabilities. Some studies suggest that the exercise helps the students focus and be calm. 

Participant: Two male middle school students in a special day class (1 Chinese, 1 Hispanic), both whose primary language is English.

Methods/Materials: The intervention was implemented from Feb 3, 2020 to March 12, 2020. The walking activity was introduced to the students in a premade icon card or hand written on their visual schedule as “walk”. It entailed walking together as a group, following  makers on the floor around the school campus, that led to a total of a half mile walk. The walk was done with one teacher and one paraprofessional staff member for support. It took between 12-16 minutes to complete the walking activity. The dependent variable in this study was student engagement. Student engagement during a reading activity was defined as the student making eye contact and correctly answering a reading comprehension question about a text read to them (name was called and question was asked) within 10 seconds of being asked. The reading activity included books at the students current independent reading level (kindergarten) that included visuals, read aloud by the teacher. The questions that were asked were who, where, what questions that were asked with all the stories (ie. Who was picking apples? What were they eating? What did she see?) Both students were given 10 opportunities to answer a different question. All of the data was collected by two paraprofessionals in the classroom while the teacher presented the reading lesson.

Results: During baseline, Student 1 made eye contact and answered an average of 4.57 questions correctly (range =3-6 questions) within 10 seconds out of 10 opportunities. After the intervention was introduced, he demonstrated an immediate increase in engagement by making eye contact and answering an average of 6 questions correctly (3-8 range) within 10 seconds out of 10 opportunities per session.

Results for Student 2 are presented in Figure 2 During baseline, Jorge made eye contact and answered an average of 5.71 questions correctly (5-6 range) within 10 seconds out of 10 opportunities. After the intervention was introduced, he demonstrated an immediate increase in engagement by making eye contact and answering an average of 5.86 questions correctly (5-7range) within 10 seconds out of 10 opportunities per session.

Conclusions: This experience impacted the students because they were able to have more engagement and they enjoyed the walk around the campus. It was embedded into their schedule by the end of the intervention and they would ask for it. It also impacted the staff because they had to take data and they learned about baseline/ intervention data. Towards the end of the intervention, students with behaviors that highly refused to participate in other activities or to even leave the classroom were sometimes participating and willing to walk with the group. It also helped with a lesson about staying with the group out in the “community” because they got to practice it. 

BEAMS Scholars: Mayra Polanco & Christian L'Heureux

Introduction: Although research shows the effectiveness of social skills training, there is little research surrounding and the availability of social skills training for  high school students. In an effort to use evidence-based practice, the team reached out to education leaders within their network and consulted with their BCBA supervisor for resources, strategies, and suggestions. GritX (The Young Adult and Family Center - UCSF, 2019) and the book Flexible and Focus (Najdowski, A.C., 2017) were shared as possible avenues to build social skills and coping strategies. In combination with the GRR framework (Fisher & Frey, 2013), a class-wide social skills training (Chaffee et al., 2017) was delivered to this student and his class. GritX was selected as it emphasized the development of self-awareness, self-management, relationship building, social awareness, and responsible decision-making. These are identified as five critical competencies in the development of social and emotional skills according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional (CASEL). 

Participant: A male 11th grade, White & American Indian/Alaska Native student whose primary language is English.

Methods/Materials: The intervention was implemented from November 12, 2020 to February 14, 2021. Class-wide administration of GritX with focus on gratitude, self-awareness, emotional identification, responding vs. reacting, managing levels of anxiety, changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk, and the power of self-affirmations. A token economy was used to reinforce appropriate interactions with others using “P.L.U.S. Bucks” as soon as the student engages in expected and appropriate behavior. “P.L.U.S. Bucks” earned may be used to purchase items from the “PLUS Store” during his break and lunch. Interviews were conducted with the student using a self-awareness worksheet, which allowed the student to reflect during the interview process, increasing his levels of self-awareness. Direct behavior rating was used as a progress monitoring tool to collect data on academic engagement, disruption, and respectful behaviors. 

Results: The student's baseline showed that he was able to engage in appropriate interactions with peers and staff an average of 33% of the time. By the end of the intervention, he showed some improvement in his ability to communicate his emotions, demonstrate accurate self-perception, and improve his self-efficacy. 

Conclusions: The complimentary service delivery styles between dyad members in terms of flexibility, communication styles, willingness to both make suggestions and to listen, and emphasis on student-teacher relationships allowed for a positive classroom environment. BCBA supervision was highly helpful in allowing the prioritization of needs in the classroom and for individual students. This was especially important due to the high degree of needs within the classroom based upon the nature of the P.L.U.S. Program, and the students that it serves.

BEAMS Scholars: Alex Moreno & Ezra Fernandez-Castaneda

Introduction: The behavioral concerns this intervention aimed to address for the target student was aggressive destructive behaviors. ABC data showed that aggressive behavior served the function of escape and access, while the destructive behavior served the function of sensory stimulation or sensory-seeking. In order to address the functions of DERG's problem behaviors, the support team selected to explore a Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) intervention to provide him with functionally equivalent replacement behaviors. DRA is an evidence-based intervention with an extensive history that functions by reinforcing an alternative response to a problem behavior instead of, or minimally, reinforcing the problem behavior (Vollmer, Peters, Kronfli, Lloveras, & Ibañez, 2020). In an empirical review of DRA spanning 30 years, 116 empirical studies, and multiple settings (e.g., schools, home, clinics, vocational programs, and inpatient facilities), Petscher, Rey, & Bailey (2009) found that DRA is an effective intervention since it successfully reduced and treated aggressive, disruptive, and noncompliant behaviors for individuals with developmental disabilities, including ASD.

Participant: A 12 year old, 7th grade, Hispanic/Latino student whose primary language is Spanish. The student's primary disability is Autism. 

Methods/Materials: The intervention phase of this collaboration took place over a period of approximately 3 months, from December 2019 to March 2020. Data was collected on an average of 1-2 times each week. The materials used to address the first competency skill were the AFIRM modules from the National Professional Development Center on ASD (The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder, 2019) section on Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behaviors. Paraprofessionals were afforded time during their workday to complete the modules in order to create background knowledge of this evidence-based practice. When DRA was implemented, unwanted behaviors would be put on extinction and desired behaviors would be highly reinforced. To teach more socially appropriate functionally equivalent replacement behaviors, the team concluded that asking for a break should replace aggression and asking for and chewing on gum would replace ripping and eating his clothes (destructive behaviors). 

Results: Due to student absences, in addition to the winter break between the months of December and January and the school closures in mid-March due to the declared national COVID-19 pandemic, data was limited. At baseline, data shows that the student engaged in aggression an average of 6 times and ripping and eating his clothes (destruction) an average of 4 times. Overall, after a total of 16 trial days for DRA with the student, the average of aggressive behaviors decreased to less than 2 instances, and destructive behaviors also decreased to an average of only 1 instance. 

Conclusions: One of the most important aspects to highlight was the development of this collaborative partnership. Prior to being paired, the school psychologist trainee and the education specialist had minimal professional collaboration. Also, generally during the early stages of the BEAMS program, school psychologist trainees and education specialists would generally gravitate towards their own cohort. After being paired together, it was crucial for both team members to have an open and respectful dialogue about each member’s preferences for communication and work ethic. Additionally, each member expressed their hopes and expectations for their own professional outcomes. This served as the foundation on which the rest of the project was built
on.

BEAMS Scholars: Heather Sedley & Jason Huey

Introduction: The student was observed to need a high frequency of prompting to complete tasks. Prompt dependency is defined as holding a prompt until the learner completed the task/instruction. The team's goals were to help the student become more independent and become less prompt dependent. After consultation with the BCBA supervisor, the dyad decided to implement the following interventions: 1) Task Analyses & Chaining, 2) Behavior Expectations, Visual Supports and Reinforcement intervention package, and 3) Prompt Fading Techniques. 

Participant: A 12th grade, White, female student whose primary language is English. 

Methods/Materials: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in school closures, the intervention was not able to be implemented. However, the following procedures were to be used:

• Task analysis & chaining was used to increase compliance and break steps into more teachable units. The team targeted two vocational activities - shredding paper and mailroom sorting.
• Visual Supports and Reinforcement was used by using an app program called Choiceworks. Choiceworks is a visual support tool that allows the teacher to create multiple steps or tasks as part of a schedule. After completing the schedule the learner can be reinforced.
• Prompt Fading Techniques were used so the student was more likely to increase independence, be on-task with or without prompts without becoming prompt dependent to complete a task, especially a familiar task. 

The following data was to be collected:

• Latency (time delay) from time adult delivered the task demand to time A.C. initiated the task (in seconds)
• Number and type of prompts (i.g. Verbal, positional, gestural) delivered to A.C. during task 
• Number of papers shredded during Paper Shredding task
• Number of mail items sorted during Mail Sorting task

Results: The intervention was not able to be implemented, therefore there were no outcome data. Baseline data showed:

• The student required an average of 25 prompts from staff to complete her requirements for shredding paper
• The student required an average of 17 prompts during mail sorting to complete the required steps
• The student took an average of 60 seconds to respond to task demand

Conclusions: The SP and SE teacher dyad were able to learn from each other different skills and strategies to support students in the classroom. The collaborative efforts allowed for the design of an intervention that may be generalized to future students in the future.

BEAMS Scholars: Marisabel Coronado & Fanny Lindvall

Introduction: The purpose of this intervention was to improve on social skills and social emotional support in the classroom for students, specifically with anxiety concerns. Recently, schools are utilizing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in their classrooms to provide healthy development supports where students can understand and manage emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (Jones et al., 2015). SEL programs have shown to enhance students’ healthy social development, thus enabling students’ motivation to learn and succeed academically (Jones et al., 2015). A common SEL evidence-based practice that is popularly used is mindfulness, which has demonstrated positive effects on a student’s social and academic development in various settings (Durlak et al., 2011). Mindfulness is an empowering practice as it teaches students ways to cope with negative feelings such as stress and anxiety at a young age. An evidence-based curriculum that bridges mindfulness and education in the classroom is the Mind-UP Curriculum. The Mind-Up curriculum is a program that focuses on the use of mindfulness practices to enhance student’s SEL skills (Maloney et al., 2016).

Participants:

Methods/Materials: The MindUp curriculum manual and supporting materials were used in the implementation of this intervention. Lessons were about 45 minutes long and 3-4 were taught every week. Students were not able to sustain attention for the whole duration of the 45 minutes so it was split into two sections, one session before recess and one session after recess. Data collection was based on GAS goals created for 6 students. GAS goals use a structure of breaking down goals into baseline, first objective, second objective, annual goal, and exceeds annual goal. The intervention was implemented from 2/13/2020 to 3/13/2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in school closures. 

Results: 

• B was able to increase her self-management strategies to reduce her anxiety when unexpected changes/transitions occur in home or school environment from 13% to 58%.
• L showed an improvement in self-awareness through participation in group discussions or activities from 0% to 51%.
• I showed an improvement in self-awareness in her ability to identify strengths and interests in group discussions or activities from 32% to 43%.
• G was able to improve his use of coping strategies when encountered with a frustrating situation from 15% to 80%. 
• J showed an improvement in appropriate peer/teacher interactions from 0% to 40%. 
• A showed an improvement in her ability to communicate emotions using her AAC device from 30% to 40%.

Conclusions: This intervention had a significant impact on the community within the classroom. It has increased the responsiveness of student to student interactions. Students continue to referr to the program to identify why they are not ready to learn. They have become more open in expressing their thoughts and emotions. It has also helped increase student participation in non-preferred activities. Overall, positive changes academically and behaviorally were reported in all students. Recognition was received from administration at the school level as well as the district level for the use and work that the SP and SE dyad have been doing in the classroom. 

BEAMS Scholars: Mohammad Salamah & Courtney Lagus

Introduction: Grabbing behavior can interfere with a student’s ability to engage in lessons both in small groups or whole-class instruction. Providing behavioral skills training to staff on antecedent and consequence strategies may reduce grabbing behaviors and may be generalizable to future students exhibiting similar behavior.

Participant: A Middle Eastern or North African, 6th grade student with autism. Her primary language was English but she had limited language ability. The participant engaged in grabbing behaviors including grabbing classroom staff’s clothes, hair, masks, and/or accessories. The student’s grabbing behavior required her to need 2:1 staffing support.

Methods/Materials: During baseline, the student’s grabbing and attempts to grab was measured via partial intervals (30 seconds) across 10 minutes. ABC data was simultaneously collected which identified the function of the target behavior as attention. Throughout the 7-week intervention period, scholars trained all staff on antecedent (e.g. using a timer for breaks, keeping student’s hands engaged in appropriate activities, e.g. fidget toys) and consequence strategies (e.g. reducing or removing attention following grabbing behavior) in order to reduce grabbing behaviors. In addition to training, scholars provided immediate feedback to staff after each 10 minute interval.

Results: A decrease in both the range and frequency of the grabbing behavior. During the baseline phase grabbing behavior ranged from 20%-90%. During the intervention phase, grabbing behavior reduced down to 0%-45% and the trendline was gradually decreasing.

Conclusions: The student’s grabbing behaviors were reduced to where she could fully participate in lessons. Her ability to participate in small group lessons with peers without demonstrating problem behavior has positively impacted peers and staff. Staff was able to support her 1:1 again without the need of additional support from other staff. This has additionally led to IEP team meetings focusing on mainstreaming the student to be able to socialize and work alongside general education students. Parents noted that grabbing behaviors also reduced in the home environment.

BEAMS Scholars: Tracie Laverdiere & Elenie Anteneh

Introduction: Children on the autism spectrum encounter difficulties with social communication and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Research on self-monitoring interventions shows that it effectively fosters independence and reduces the occurrences of inappropriate behaviors. When paired with a token economy system, self-monitoring interventions were effective in increasing on-task behavior and reducing stereotype behavior among children with ASD. Research on token boards and token economy systems shows that they are effective in reducing inappropriate behavior when traditional behavior management methods (e.g. positive reinforcers) are not effective. Providing consistent and enduring available visual cues rather than transient verbal directions alone increases independent access to reminders without instructor prompts. Furthermore, it enables children to review and rehearse behavioral expectations ahead of time. The current study investigated the effectiveness of a self-monitoring rubric and visual token boards on inappropriate classroom behavior (profane language) of an autistic student. 

Participant: The student participant was a White/Syrian, 13-year-old, 7th grade student. He was eligible for special education under the primary disability of autism and secondary disability of orthopedic impairment. His first language was Chaldean and he was at a beginning level of English proficiency. He was described as kind, energetic, and social with good pragmatic skills. He was frequently observed engaging in profane language targeted towards peers and adults. There were four collaborating paraprofessionals. All four participants were White. One participant had 2 years of experience as a paraprofessional and all others had 10 years of experience. 

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: The special educator prepared and organized materials (i.e. visuals on student desks with the expected behaviors), facilitated daily lesson plans and explicit instruction, collected data, and trained paraprofessionals on fidelity of implementation and collecting reliable data. The school psychology trainee facilitated year-long, on-going behavioral consultation sessions with paraprofessionals and teachers. The school psychology trainee also provided behavioral support (i.e. data collection, reinforcement of expected behavior, teaching replacement skills, and worked in close proximity with the student to maintain on-task behavior). The school psychology trainee and special educator monitored together developed a token economy system, explained to the student how to use the system, and discussed progress as measured by frequency data.

Methods/Materials: The student was observed for five baseline sessions with an ABC data sheet. Observation times varied but generally ranged from 5-6 hours, excluding physical education classes. Once attention was determined as the consequent event maintaining profane language, a token board was developed. The student was trained on the process of obtaining tokens and earning reinforcers. Tokens were initially given more frequently to gain student understanding of the system, then the criteria to earn tokens were limited to not engaging in profane language and completing  tasks during independent and small group activities. The token economy system was implemented across the school day. The school psychology trainee trained the special educator, who then trained each paraprofessional in the classroom. Additionally, the student and teacher were provided with an engagement rubric (behavior rubric) that indicated the student met the criteria of: 1. Check schedule, 2. Go to the next location, 3. Do activity, and 4. Ask for a break/Say another word. Each criteria was based on 1 point for a total of 4 possible points. The student and teacher both measured the student’s engagement with the rubric at the end of each center rotation, indicated by a timer, during reading and math blocks. The rubric provided visual examples and non-examples for the student to choose from. The student scored themselves by circling or pointing to the picture that displayed the target behavior. At the end of the blocks, the teacher and student added their scores and compared answers. In the instance of discrepancies, the teacher reviewed with the student why they did not score the same and what the target behavior looks like. Over 6 weeks, data on frequency of profane language use and percentage of steps completed on the engagement rubric was collected.

Conclusions: The student displayed increased academic engagement, became cognizant of his own behavior, and was able to recognize when he was and was not using inappropriate language throughout the day. He was highly motivated by the visual token board and the ability to choose from different reinforcers. Rather than providing verbal prompts for redirection, educators were able to just point to his rubric or visual token board. Paraprofessionals expressed support from the SP and SE that they had not experienced before. Paraprofessionals expressed that school psychologists in the past had always avoided working with the mod/severe population and would only come into class if they had to.

BEAMS Scholars: Mohammad Salamah & Haley Kitchens

Introduction: Students with Autism can demonstrate difficulty with perspective-taking and may spend less time engaged in reciprocal conversations with others. Facilitating peer support using a Peer Network could increase social interaction between autistic students and their general education peers. Collaboration between School Psychologists and Special Educators can effectively facilitate positive peer interactions and improve school engagement for autistic students in the general education setting.

Participants: Student 1: A White, sixth grade student exhibiting symptoms of Autism. Hebrew is the primary language and they are fluent in English/non English learner. Student 2: An American Indian and Japanese 6th grade student exhibiting symptoms of Autism. English is the primary language and they are fluent in English/non-English learner.

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: The SP and SE dyad collaborated with a general education teacher to identify neurotypical peers to support each participant. The dyad developed an individualized “Peer Support Plan” and reviewed strategies with neurotypical peers.

Methods/Materials: The CSESA peer support manual was adapted to identify specific ideas for how peers could initiate conversation or provide feedback during various times throughout the day. Six weekly check-ins with neurotypical peers were held, lasting 10-15 minutes to review concerns and role-play situations. Data was collected covertly in natural settings throughout the school day.

Results: Student 1 saw an increase from 40% to 85% in positive peer interactions that lasted for more than 2 exchanges. Student 2 saw an increase from 42% to 74% in positive peer interactions that lasted for more than 2 exchanges.

Conclusions: Both participants displayed an increase in conversational attempts and number of peers interacted with per observation. Participants’ teachers reported increased positive social interactions for participants. This study contributes to the literature an understanding of how collaboration between Special Educators and School Psychologists can promote peer interactions in the general education setting. Overall, the Peer Network intervention is a socially-valid step toward improving peer relationships for autistic students in the general education setting.

BEAMS Scholars: Yuet Wing Cho & Paulina Huezo

Introduction: Previous studies have shown success in increasing on task behavior using positive reinforcement with token economy and response cost with token economy (Hirst et al., 2016, p. 340). Furthermore, DeJager et al. (2020) demonstrated that using a token economy with response cost can help to increase student achievement in terms of behavior and academic progress. 

Participants: The student is a male, American Indian/Black 6-year-old kindergarten student. His primary language is English. He has a diagnosis of Autism and was chosen for this study because of his increase in off-task behaviors which disrupts his own learning and others' around him.

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: The SE teacher selected the target student from her class who could benefit from a behavior intervention. The teacher took structured ABC data over a 5 day period to determine the function of behavior. The SE teacher was also responsible for implementing the intervention daily and training special education classroom assitants (SECAs) to assist with the implementation. The SP trainee provided classroom behavioral management support through working with the student individually and assisted in collecting observation data in the classroom. Together, the SP and SE dyad analyzed data collected to determine the success of the intervention and make necessary adjustments, in collaboration with a BCBA supervisor.

Methods/Materials: During baseline, a structured ABC data collection form was used to help determine the function of behavior. A token economy with response cost was used to decrease the students’ off task behaviors, including elopement and throwing self on the floor. The student started with 21 stars on their token chart and lost them for unwanted behavior, but had to keep a total of 5 stars to receive reinforcement. The intervention was implemented during 3 sessions throughout the school day for 2 months, and data was collected 1-2 times per week. However, the token economy with response cost was only implemented for 1 month, then a simple token economy with positive reinforcement was implemented for the 2nd month. 

Results: The student showed an overall decrease in the duration of elopement behavior. Use of a 5-star token economy (without response cost) did not appear to be effective in addressing the student's behavior of throwing himself on the floor. However, a simple token economy system was more successful than the token economy with response cost, in terms of reducing the student's elopement behavior. It was observed
that the faster reinforcement helped the student be motivated to stay seated and on task.

Conclusions: Overall, the student showed a decrease in problem behaviors as a result of this intervention. This collaboration between the SE and SP dyad also positively impacted students in the moderate/severe special day class. Additioanlly, the intervention focused on teaching appropriate communication for the participant student (e.g., asking for a break), which 1) helps address challenging behavior and 2) teaches the student important communication skills to use in a variety of contexts.

BEAMS Scholars: Sami Lauf & Hyunji Kim 

Introduction: The educational problem addressed in this case study was inclusion of special education students into the general education setting. Research supports that play intervention increases social communication in students with exceptional needs. In addition, research has shown that peer interventions have promoted social skills for students with disabilities. The case study probed to develop a relationship between special education students and general education students by providing ongoing feedback for peer mediators over the course of a lunch buddy program. 

Participants: 3 female students (Middle Eastern, Non-White/Hispanic, and Biracial) were recruited from a 5th grade general education classroom to be peer mediators ("lunch buddies"). The SP and SE teacher handpicked 3 special education student participants (2 male, 1 female; All Non-White/Hispanic) based on their level of need for interactions with general education students. Special education students in this case study presented with social communication deficits and some minor behavioral problems, such as inattentiveness and being unfocused.

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: For the purpose of this case study, the special education teacher and school psychology trainee teamed up to
create a space for special education students and general education students to play. The SP trainee was responsible for training the peer mediators. The SP trainee collaborated with a BCBA supervisor to help faciliate conversations and provide feedback to the peer mediators. Both the SP trainee and SE teacher collaborated to collect and analyze data throughout the intervention.   

Methods/Materials: Peer mediators attended 3 training sessions to learn more about the special education students and specific strategies to help the student meet their social skills goal. There were a total of 9 intervention sessions which took place once a week. Each special education student received 3 intervention sessions and the start of the sessions for each SPED student were staggered. After each session, the peer mediators were provided with feedback. Data was collected directly after each intervention session to measure progress on each of the SPED student's social skills goal using a Direct Behavior Rating (DBR). The special education teacher took DBR data weekly when there was no Lunch Buddy session. The special education teacher was kept blind to which SPED student at the time was receiving the intervention so that her DBR data would not be biased.

Results: Student 1 showed an increase in nonverbal and verbal communication interaction with peers from 60% to 70.83%, with qualitative data showing that her social initiation skills improved drastically compared to before the intervention. Student 2 increased his average interactions with peers from outside his class from 7% to 75%. Student 3 did not show an improvement in verbal or nonverbal interactions with peers, but he appeared to to interact with his environment more by using more words in the classroom and communicating more directly with people (i.e., looking at people and verbally saying words that can be understood). 

Conclusions: Based on an attitude survey given, the peer mediators grew in their acceptance, comfortability, and advocacy. They also set an example for other students in their classroom to initiate play and friendships with the SPED students. This case study brought to light the many challenges and barriers of creating an inclusive school environment. The benefit of this program was that fifth grade students got to know their peers, and it will be helpful as they transition into high grades (most often these students filter into the same middle and high schools).

BEAMS Scholars: Haidan Chen & Crystal Taitague

Introduction: Research has found progress can be made in regard to social behavior and cognition when individuals are taught specific, systematic social skills instruction. The need for instruction is relevant at every age level; however, the PEERS curriculum is designed to be implemented in the middle school and high school settings, an essential time to begin social awareness and development. The PEERS Intervention program is a distinguished, well-researched intervention for adolescents with ASD. The PEERS treatment curriculum is an upward extension of Children’s Friendship Training. According to the developers, core features of PEERS were adapted from CFT for treatment with high-functioning adolescents with ASD and included: (a) relevant portions of the social skills curriculum; (b) the use of parent assistance in the treatment; and (c) structural elements of the lesson format (Laugeson 2012). Laugeson et al. (2014) found that the intervention improved social functioning such as social motivation, social awareness, and social communication for middle school students. 

Participants: JK, a 12 year old Korean 6th grade student, with a primary disability of Autism and difficulties with verbal communication. RH, a 12 year old Chinese/White 7th grade student with a primary disability of Autism and difficulties with verbal communication. 

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: The SP and SE dyad worked together to modify the PEERS curriculum to meet the abilities and needs of the students in the moderate/severe classroom, many who are primarily non-verbal. The SE teacheer facilitated the intervention on a weekly basis, and trained paraprofessionals on the implementation of the intervention. The SP trainee took on the role of data collection as well as an active participant in delivering the intervention. The SP trainee sat down with the participants and supported the PEERS lesson each week. The dyad debriefed after the lesson to analyze the data, talk about what went well with the session, and what changes were needed. Working as a multi-disciplinary team served to bridge the knowledge and skill of all parties involved which ultimately culminated in a solid implementation of the PEERS curriculum, positively impacting the targeted students.

Methods/Materials: The dyad utilized the PEERS curriculum to create, adapt, and modify didactic materials and lesson plans. Supplemental materials were used in every lesson for games or activities including BoomCards, YouTube, and WordWall. The dyad conducted the PEERS intervention over a 15-week span based on the unique schedule of the middle school bell schedule, the intervention was presented four days of the week including Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The PEERS curriculum was taught for 30 minutes during the Social Skills class on Monday and Friday, while taught for 30-45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday. For the collection of data, the SP trainee worked individually with the two target students every other week on Thursday. The students were asked the same way each week if they remember how to start a normal conversation and phone conversation which led to the demonstration of those skills, once without a visual and another time with the adapted visual. There were five distinct steps that the students had to follow. For starting conversations, the five criteria that were measured included: 1. Make Eye Contact 2. Ask a Question 3. Listen 4. Make a comment 5. Follow-up Question. For starting phone calls, the five criteria that were measured included: 1. Ask for the person you are calling 2. Say who you are 3. Ask how they are 4. Ask if they can talk 5. Tell them why you are calling. The number of successful attempts that the student demonstrated independently was taken and divided by the number of total steps in order to get a percentage of mastery of the skill.

Results: Before the PEERS curriculum intervention, JK was estimated to be able to correctly and independently perform 2/5 steps when starting a conversation (40%). When the PEERS curriculum was implemented, JK’s average percentage of mastery in starting conversations without visuals was 64%. When the visuals that highlight the steps of starting a conversation were introduced, JK saw an increase in mastery over time. Overall, JK attained an average of 85% mastery over the course of the intervention. Before starting the PEERS curriculum, JK was estimated to be able to correctly and independently perform 0/5 steps when starting phone calls (0%). Post-intervention, JK demonstrated an average of 64% mastery when starting a phone conversation without visuals. When presented with a visual, JK demonstrated an average of 100% mastery when starting a phone conversation.

Before the PEERS curriculum intervention, RH was estimated to be able to correctly and independently perform 1/5 steps when starting a conversation (20%). When the PEERS curriculum was implemented, RH’s average percentage of mastery in starting conversations without visuals was 72%. When the visuals that highlight the steps of starting a conversation are introduced, RH saw an increase in the percentage of mastery to 100%. Overall, RH attained an average of 95% mastery for starting conversations over the course of the intervention. Before starting the PEERS curriculum, RH was estimated to be able to correctly and independently perform 0/5 steps when starting a conversation (0%). Post-intervention, RH demonstrated an average of 44% mastery when starting a phone conversation without visuals. When presented with a visual, RH demonstrated an average of 90% mastery when starting a phone conversation.

Conclusions: The SE and SP dyad was able to evaluate how a teacher could utilize and modify an evidence-based intervention to implement in a moderate/severe middle school classroom. By utilizing the knowledge of their respective disciplinary competence, the dyad was able to effectively increase the social independence of two middle school students with Autism. In addition, based on the collaboration of the SE teacher and SP trainee, the strategies used to modify the PEERS intervention provided equitable social skills instruction for an entire moderate/severe classroom including students with a spectrum of abilities.

BEAMS Scholars: Alex Ng & Ujunwa Ukaegbu

Introduction: This case study focuses on the comparative impact of a punishment-based procedure (PBP) and two positive reinforcement (PR) interventions targeting a student participant with ASD who experiences difficulty transitioning (e.g. running away) from a preferred (e.g., school playground) to non-preferred activity (e.g., IEP goal tasks). In this intervention, a punishment-based procedure is defined as the addition or removal of a stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior from occurring in the future. A positive reinforcement procedure is defined as the addition of a stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior of occurring in the future. The goal of the intervention was to increase the number of successful transitions the participant made from preferred activities (e.g., playground) to non-preferred activities (e.g., work in the classroom).

Participants: An 11-year-old Filipino-American male student diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He communicates both vocally and by utilizing an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) device.

Roles of BEAMS Scholars: The SP trainee and SP teacher discussed the different aspects of the interventions and evaluated the effectiveness after implementation of both intervention. Collaboration occurred during and after school hours in which the Special educator provided qualitative data on the student’s behavior and the SP trainee offered quantitative data based on the frequency of appropriate transitions. primarily reviewed and organized data to conduct a visual analysis and consulted with SPED educators about chosen interventions. The SP teacher was responsible for the implementation of the interventions in the classroom. 

Methods/Materials: Three different interventions were implemented over the course of 3 months. On days 1-11, a response cost procedure was implemented where if the participant did not transition appropriately, he could only access reinforcers at his desk for one session (i.e., earning 10 tokens). The following session, all of his reinforcers would be available to earn again. On days 12-42, an additional token economy was implemented which increased the “cost” to access location-based reinforcers (delayed access). On days 42-81, contingent on satisfying appropriate behavior criteria (e.g., safe hands, quiet voice, and stay with teacher), the participant could earn “extra minutes” toward his turn. The teacher and paraprofessionals would check in intermittently about the appropriate behavior criteria, and if he satisfied all criteria, he could earn 1-2 extra minutes per opportunity. The number of transitions and additional behavioral data was routinely collected by two teachers and five paraprofessional teachers as a part of the student’s educational programming. 

Results: Using a response cost procedure, the student demonstrated an increase in tantrum behaviors and data indicated lower rates of success for transitions with a decreasing trend. Using a positive reinforcement procedure with delayed access, the student showed high rates of successful transitions with lower variability than baseline, with a slight decrease in trend. Using a positive reinforcement procedure where the student can earn extra minutes, data showed the most significant findings of high rates of successful transitions and the only intervention with an increasing trend for successful transitions. 

Conclusions: A positive reinforcement procedure of earning extra minutes may contribute to the increase of successful transitions from preferred unstructured activities to instructional teacher-directed activities for students with ASD. The punishment-based procedure was least effective in supporting transitions for a student with ASD. The outcomes of the project are supported by the findings from the student’s Functional Behavior Assessment. Understanding the function behind the behavior, lead to the development of the successful intervention of earning extra minutes, by understanding that the student wanted access of their preferred activity for a longer duration of time. This project included a highly collaborative relationship within the cross-disciplinary team of a school psychology student, special education teacher, and BCBA supervisor.