The Effects of Positive Verbal Reinforcement on the Time Spent outside the Classroom for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in a Residential Setting

Abstract

To more effectively instruct the entire class, teachers of students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) often choose to send students who display inappropriate behavior out of the room. A multiple baseline across settings was used to evaluate the effects of increasing teacher positive verbal reinforcement on the amount of time 2 students with EBD in a residential setting were spending outside of the classroom for separations or in-school suspension referrals. Results suggest that increasing positive verbal reinforcement decreased the amount of time students spent outside the classroom. Implications and future directions are provided.