Case Study - Short Attention Span

Introduction

The case study approach of this module has been designed to create an awareness of the general classroom behavioral problems that may be encountered on a day to day basis. The examples here are generalised and may be applied to situations other than the ones given here.

Description of the problem

Nikos is a first grade student who cannot sit still. During class discussions, small group lessons,seatwork, and even during films, he is constantly on the move. He plays with hair and looks around the room. He drums his fingers on the desk and taps his feet. Nikos fidgets constantly.

Causes

The distractible student has never been trained to keep his or her attention focused. In most cases, the student is not trying to get the teacher's attention. In fact, the student is generally not aware of what he or she is doing.

A common assumption to make is that a student like Nikos is hyperactive. Sometimes there is a neurological problem. However in most cases the student's problem is behavioral rather than neurological.

Goal

The student will keep his or her attention focused on a task for a period of time appropriate to her of her age and the task to be completed.

The Plan:

Step 1:
Evaluate your presentational skills and the interest level of the assignments you've been giving the student. Your presentation and the student's assignments should be as interesting as possible, so as to minimize any problems with the student's attention span.

Step 2:
Evaluate the level of difficulty of the student's independent work. Make sure that the student's work is at his or her appropriate instructional level. If the work is too easy, the student may be bored. If the work is too difficult, the student may be giving up out of frustration, Students often will not try if material cannot be mastered even with their total concentration.

Step 3:
Choose a specific time and setting in which to teach the child how to focus his or her attention on schoolwork. Teaching a child to attend to his or her work will be hard for both you and the child. Work together on this problem during a specific period each day. Then stay within that planned period. The best time to choose is during small-group instruction. During large-group instruction, it will be difficult to provide the student with the amount of individual attention that is required.

Step 4:
Define specifically what is acceptable behavior. Defining acceptable behavior. tells the student what you expect of him or her during the session. It might be defined as 'looking at me or at your book, keeping your feet on the floor, and answering when I ask you a question.' Your definitions need to be very specific as they will communicate to the student what he or she should do.

Step 5:
Establish some consequences for bothering other students.

Step 6:
Decide how frequently the student is going to need feedback regarding his or her behavior. The more severe the problem, the more frequently the student will need feedback. If the student fails to focus attention on instruction for more than thirty seconds at a time, you may need to give the student feedback every minute. If the student can focus attention for two minutes, you will need to give feedback every three minutes.

Step 7:
Decide on a reinforcer to motivate the student. To this type of student, free time might be a strong possibility. It's better not to include a punisher as part of this plan. Instead, if the student is not attending to the presentation, he or she should simply not receive the reinforcement.

Step 8:
Decide on the ratio of desired behavior. to reinforcement. One you have decided on the frequency of feedback needed by your student and the type or reinforcement you will use, you can establish the amount of reinforcement the student will receive for a given amount of attending to the lesson. For example, you might decide that every minute of attending will equal one point, with every three points equaling a minute of free time. Whatever ratio you decide upon, it must be one that makes behaving appropriately seem like a worthwhile venture to the student.

Step 9:
Develop a simple monitoring process. One possibility is to set a timer for monitoring the time interval that you have established. When the timer goes off and the student has been successful, tell the student that he or she has done a good job. Mark a point on the chalkboard or on a piece of paper. If the child fails to meet your expectations, simply say, 'I'm sorry but you didn't earn your point. You forgot to keep your feet on the floor. Let's see if you can earn a point next time.' Reset the timer and begin the process again, continuing to do so throughout the lesson.

Step 10:
Present the plan to the student. It is very important for the student to know what you expect. Spend ten to fifteen minutes privately with the student telling him or her about the plan. (This can be done during recess, or during an independent work period.) Have materials ready that are similar to the materials you will be using during small-group instruction. Tell the student about the problem and explain why it needs to be changed. Tell the student exactly how you are expecting his or her behavior. to change:

• 'I will know that you are paying attention when your are looking at me or at your book, have your feet on the floor, and are answering questions and following directions.'

Tell the student that he or she will be able to earn points for paying attention. Then explain how the student will be able to trade those points for the reinforcer you have chosen. Run through a sample lesson. Go over your rules or expectations one more time. Then set the timer. If the student successfully attends to you and your presentation, praise the student and give him or her one point. If the student was unsuccessful, explain why. Then repeat the procedure. Continue repeating the procedure until the student demonstrates by his or her behavior. that he or she clearly understands what is expected.

Step 11:
When the student is consistently earning the reinforcement (attending to a lesson 80 to 90 percent of the time), increase the amount of time you expect the student to attend between reinforcement. If you were working with two-minute intervals, increase to three-minute intervals. If you were working with three-minute intervals, go to five or six. You must also adjust the value of the points so that the student still can earn roughly the same amount of reinforcements when the program began. Repeat this procedure of increasing time intervals until the student can consistently attend throughout an entire twenty or thirty minute group lesson. At this point, begin the same process for another small-group period. Continue expending your program in this manner until the student is attending to all presentation.