Corrections_Today_May_June_2020_Vol.82_No.3

nEWS & vIEWS

As a related program, we de- signed the “appropriate reactions” intervention (Brogan et al., 2019) to increase students’ appropriate reactions to staffs’ directions and corrective statements. Although the quiet compliance program teaches students to engage in appropriate completion of directives, some students emitted inappropriate and disrespectful verbal statements im- mediately following directions or corrective feedback from staff that required more immediate treatment. As such, the ABA team employed Behavioral Skills Training during which an ABA therapist (a) describes when and how to use a skill, (b) demonstrates how to perform the skill, (c) provided opportunities for the student to practice the skill, and (d) provides constructive feedback to enhance the student’s display of the skill. As a simplistic overview, we taught students how to engage in an appropriate verbal response (e.g., “Yes/No, ma’am/sir”) when staff members deliver directions or corrective statements. The student’s response signals to the staff mem- ber that the student (a) received the instruction and (b) intends to comply with the directive. To date, over 15 students have participated in the ap- propriate reactions intervention and all have successfully acquired the skill. The quiet compliance and the appropriate reactions programs effectively address students’ dis- respectful behavior towards staffs’ directives and corrective statements; however, some students still have difficulty tolerating denied requests, the presentation of non-preferred events, or both. Thus, we developed

istock/KatarzynaBialasiewicz

therapy groups to increase social skills, healthy masculinity, and coping skills, among others. Unsur- prisingly, disruptive behavior is a regular issue in structured therapy groups, as well as classrooms, within the facility. To address these behav- ioral concerns at the group level, the ABA team developed several group intervention modules that contained relatively few components. In part, we designed group procedures to facilitate mutually beneficial behav- ior changes. The ABA team provided the first application of group behavioral interventions during two therapy groups (see Brogan, Falligant, & Rapp, 2017 for the published study). As a part of the group contingency, an ABA therapist delivered five rules and explained the “reward requirement” to the students in the group. During the intervention, students earned a small reward (i.e., their choice of snack and 10 min of free time) at the end of each group session wherein disruptive behavior decreased relative to the

a “tolerance training” module (O’Rourke, Richling, Brogan, Mc- Dougale, & Rapp, 2019). Notably, we based this module on studies of children with ASD who display problem behavior when caregivers discontinued their preferred activi- ties (e.g., Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014). Briefly, the in- tervention involves both honoring and denying requests in a system- atic fashion. Following treatment, students are able to tolerate (i.e., sit or stand quietly without displaying problem behavior) multiple non- preferred situations for extended durations. To date, just a handful of students have participated in this module. In general, the individual treatment services have proven beneficial for ABSOP students. Nonetheless, some problems can be treated more efficiently using group- based procedures. Behavioral interventions for groups of students As a component of the ABSOP program, students participate in

24 — May/June 2020 Corrections Today