An Investigation of the Technical Adequacy of a Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) for Monitoring Progress of Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Special Education Placements

Abstract

Many children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are eligible for special education services because of problems with academic and/or social functioning. Thus, a considerable proportion of children with ADHD have individualized education plans (IEPs) that list operationalized goals and objectives for each student. Conceptually, the majority of these children fall within Tiers 2 and 3 of a tiered intervention system because of a need for more intensive behavioral supports. Given the potentially variable behavior of these students in classroom settings and a concurrent need to demonstrate the effectiveness of intervention outcomes, frequent and sustained monitoring of goals and objectives is necessary. For this purpose, direct behavior rating scales such as a Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) may serve as an efficient and effective mechanism for progress monitoring. In a sample of 63 students with ADHD receiving special education services, initial psychometric information for the temporal stability, interrater reliability, and content validity of an idiographic, multi-item DBRC is presented. Procedures for integrating a DBRC into standard progress monitoring procedures likely to be useful in intervention monitoring at Tiers 2 and 3 are discussed.

Treatment Sequencing for Childhood ADHD: A Multiple-Randomization Study of Adaptive Medication and Behavioral Interventions

“…The ITBE is sensitive to treatment effects, can be implemented by general education classroom teachers, and is individualized to children’s areas of impairment (Fabiano, Vujnovic, Naylor, Pariseau, & Robins, 2009; Fabiano et al, 2010). During the first few weeks of school, a study case manager met with each child’s teacher to establish target behaviors (e.g., work completion, complying with teacher directions, behavior toward peers) and criteria for what the teacher considered success on that target behavior.…”

Foundation for the Development and Use of Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) to Assess and Evaluate Student Behavior

“…The following summarizes foundational research on DBR instrumentation and procedures to emphasize how the defining features (i.e., direct, behavior, and rating) and guiding principles (i.e., defensible, flexible, repeatable, and efficient) provide direction for development and evaluation. Although future research is likely to yield support for alternate versions of DBR, this review emphasizes the development and evaluation of a singleitem scale DBR (SIS-DBR) approach rather than a multiitem scale DBR (MIS-DBR) approach (see Fabiano, Vujnovic, Naylor, Pariseau, & Robins, 2009). The SIS-DBR approach emphasizes the potential interpretation of ratings for individual items, which is distinct from multiitem scales that depend on summated ratings across multiple items.…”

Progress Monitoring Using Direct Behavior Rating Single Item Scales in a Multiple-Baseline Design Study of the Daily Report Card Intervention

“…The DRC is also potentially a DBR for monitoring outcomes in the child's important areas of psychosocial functioning (Cheney, Flower, & Templeton, 2008;Fabiano, Vujnovic, Naylor, Pariseau, & Robins, 2009;Pelham, Fabiano, & Massetti, 2005). Thus, in addition to producing acute behavioral effects, the DRC may be used as a datadriven monitoring device for schools to use to evaluate the child's behavioral progress on a daily basis.…”