Differential Reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is useful for decreasing frequent behaviors in students who are labeled mentally retarded. I decided to use this technique for a boy named Alex. He is labeled mentally retarded and has been diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). His IEP requires he have a one to one crisis paraprofessional. I thought DRO would be even more successful with this student since he actually has an adult to observe and give him one on one attention.

 With the help of Alex, his mother and paraprofessional, we decided to observe and record Alex inappropriate touching behaviors for one week. It was decided to be the most important behavior to change because it was causing many physical and verbal fights with the male students and on several occasions he was caught touching the female students in inappropriate areas such as the upper thighs and stomach area. The behavior, inappropriate touching, was defined as Alex using his hands or feet to touch another student without permission and on a place other than the other person’s hands. The only appropriate touching was defined as Alex holding out his hand and waiting for the other person to shake his hand or giving high fives. The one to one paraprofessional was given a data sheet designed for Alex. Whenever we saw the defined behavior, one of us placed a tally mark in the box, which contained thirty-minute intervals.

 After a week of observing, it was determined Alex was touching inappropriately about seven times per class period or forty-five minutes. We made the first time interval seven minutes. Alex was reinforced with verbal praise such as “Good job keeping your hands to yourself.” He was also given positive notes to give his mother. Because Alex enjoys physical contact, we also reinforced Alex with high fives.

When Alex displayed the inappropriate behaviors, he was told to keep his hands to himself and the time interval was started again. After we talked to Alex, we marked his tally sheet. This seemed like a punishment to Alex. Sometimes when he saw someone mark his tally sheet, he became visibly upset and would beg us to not mark it down. On several occasions, I spoke to Alex about the reason for the tally sheet. He was told it would help show his touching behaviors were decreasing. I thought it was also helpful for him to see a physical representation of how much he was touching. He acted surprised to see he was touching so often. Over the days, some time periods showed decreasing behaviors. He smiled whenever we showed him the tally marks were decreasing.

 Over two weeks time, we were able to increase the time period to fifteen minutes before reinforcing Alex. On average, he was displaying the behaviors three to four times per period but there were time periods, when he was able to refrain from touching. Although it seems this technique is helping Alex’s behavior decrease, the decrease may be due to the fact Alex is getting very good with hiding the touching. Several other children have told me Alex touches them when the teachers are not looking. I have also caught Alex touching people underneath the desks or table. I think we will continue this technique but add other behavior management techniques.
 
Thanks Jennifer D.