No abstract

Children with or at risk of disabilities, however, often demonstrate delays in play skills, which deleteriously affect their engagement in classroom activities including social interactions with peers (Barton, 2010). The effects can be cumulative because playful interactions with caregivers, peers, and teachers are a primary context for learning new skills (Barton, 2014; Dunst, Hamby, Trivette, Raab, & Bruder, 2000), including social skills that can be used across typical classroom activities, materials, and settings (Schneider & Goldstein, 2008). The relation between social skills acquired through play and school readiness highlights a critical need to address play and social competence as early as possible (Lee & Bierman, 2015; Stormont, Herman, Reinke, King, & Owens, 2015). Social competence in children predicts important outcomes such as academic achievement, job retention, and relationship success (Christakis & Fowler, 2011; Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley, 2015). Effective interventions for addressing child social competence exist (Hemmeter, Snyder, Fox, & Algina, 2016) and primarily involve adult systematic prompting (Joseph, Strain, Olszewski, & Goldstein, 2016). The best outcomes have been associated with interventions in which adults intentionally plan and facilitate social interactions between typically developing children and children with disabilities (Odom & Strain, 1986). In fact, this type of peer-mediated instruction-when intentional and systematic-has been effective for teaching the broad range of discrete skills needed to positively affect the frequency and quality of peer-related social interactions (Odom et al., 1999; Strain & Bovey, 2015).

Contingency management systems have been used to successfully improve behaviors since the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) were first introduced in mid-20th century and have been shown to be effective in school settings with diverse populations (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). These systems create targeted, meaningful stimulusresponse contingencies and might be helpful for children for whom typically available classroom reinforcers are not effective. Individual contingencies can be effective for modifying multiple behavioral subsets (e.g., inappropriate/ appropriate behavior, stuttering, social skills) when used in preschool settings, either informally or within more structured individualized behavior plans (Bryant,

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using text messaging to deliver performance-based feedback (PF) to preservice teachers working in inclusive early childhood classrooms. A multiple baseline across behaviors single-case research design was replicated across four participants to examine the relation between PF delivered via text message and preservice teachers’ use of self-selected target behaviors. Results indicated text messaging was an effective method for delivering PF and subsequently increasing teacher target behaviors when individualized to meet the needs of teachers; however, results were variable across teachers.

A multiple-baseline across behaviors design was utilized to examine the relation between performance-based feedback (PF) and the frequency of teaching teams’ use of target behaviors during observation sessions with six teachers in three inclusive preschool classrooms. Teachers increased their use of target behaviors when feedback was provided and maintained their use over time when feedback was withdrawn; however, there was considerable variability across teachers. Furthermore, teachers did not increase their use of target behaviors during covert observations—when they did not know they were being observed. The current study replicates and extends the research in this area by examining the provision of PF to teaching teams and with complex behaviors (e.g., play expansions, promoting social interactions).