Evaluation of a token economy's effectiveness in a self-contained classroom in a psychiatric rehabilitation facility with secondary students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities

The proposed study is a systematic replication of research conducted in 2004. According to Johnston and Pennypacker (1993) systematic replication is "when the repetition is conducted under conditions that are nearly identical to the original conditions. This requires exposing subjects to conditions that are somewhat different from those that produced the original effects" (p. 247). According to Higgins, Williams, and McLaughlin (2001), "the token economy strategy is the most effective way to improve classroom behavior" (p. 100). Token economies are used with individual students or a group of students. "Token economies have been used with an astonishing wide range of populations and age groups and in numerous educational treatment settings" (Kerr & Nelson, 1998, p. 113). The behaviors (i.e., being out of seat, inappropriate talking, being off-task, and any other behavior requiring teacher redirection) displayed by student with E/BD, interfere with the learning process. These behaviors do not lead to success in or out of school (Higgins et al., 2001; Jolivette, Stichter, Nelson, Scott, & Liaupsin, 2000). Unfortunately, limited recent research is available that evaluated the effects of token economies combined with responses cost procedures on high school students exhibiting emotional and behavioral disabilities that currently reside and are receiving therapeutic treatment in a state run psychiatric hospital. Ward (2004) conducted a similar research study and determined that a token economy with embedded response cost is an effective intervention procedure with high school students identified as emotional and behaviorally disordered in a large public high school located in the Midwest. Therefore, a void currently exists related to the effects of token economy systems on high school students exhibiting emotional and behavioral disabilities who are currently residing in and receiving therapeutic treatment as well as special education services in a state run psychiatric hospital setting.;The purpose of this study was to find out if a token economy is a useful behavior management tool to use in a self-contained classroom with high school students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities during their admission to a state psychiatric hospital. Replication of the effects of a combined intervention of a token economy and response cost management systems are needed to assure the onging efficacy of these intervention procedures with high school students currently residing in a state psychiatric hospital due to serious emotional and behavioral disabilities. The intervention, i.e., token economy, was expected to decrease classroom disruptions (off-task behavior) while increasing on-task behavior and work completion. The experimental design used was an ABAB reversal design with follow-up probes to evaluate the effectiveness of the token economy with participants. The token economy appeared successful at both dramatically improving the on-task behavior of the participant, as well as improving their subsequent work completion. The participants, teachers, and other service providers also believed that the introduction of the token economy was both effective at improving performance in the research setting as well as in other classes not included as part of this systematic replication. The implications of the intervention are also discussed and indicated that the intervention was successful in increasing time on-task and work completion.