The Effect of a Self-Management Training Package on the Transfer of Aggression Control Procedures in the Absence of Supervision

Abstract

An aggression replacement and self-management training package reduced the frequency of aggressive behavior among four junior high adolescents identified as seriously emotionally disturbed (SED). During baseline sessions, the students were covertly filmed as they stood unsupervised in front of the school cafeteria. The four subjects engaged in aggressive behavior during 50% of the filmed intervals. These episodes involved provocation by other students, self-initiated provocation, or continuing interaction between students once an aggressive episode had begun. Treatment procedures included instruction, modeling, and role playing of aggression replacement skills. Self-management training included self-assessment, self-recording, and self-reinforcement. Following an 8-week period, subjects demonstrated substantial improvement in prosocial skills without supervision. During reversal-to-baseline conditions, aggressive behavior increased; however, reinstating treatment conditions brought a return to prosocial behavior. Outcomes suggest that aggressive replacement skills may transfer and sustain more adequately using self-management.

Functional Assessment of Self-Initiated Maladaptive Behaviors: A Case Study

“…For example, observers may record "self-initiated" by default when the actual circumstances maintaining a student's problem behavior is academic escape. However, academic escape is often difficult to isolate as a precipitating variable when the target student has not been given a conspicuous request to engage in a particular school-related task (Ninness et al, 1995). This might represent a technical/observation problem requiring better methods of differentiating variables.…”

“…It is simply to point out that there are occasions in which problem behaviors emerge in the absence of salient environmental correlates. Since maladaptive behaviors that fall in this category may be, at least, partially a function of a student's selfgenerated rules (Ninness, Ellis, Miller, Baker, & Rutherford, 1995) and/or various forms of private events (Skinner, 1974), strategies that emphasize teaching social skills in conjunction with self-control/self-management procedures may be useful in developing treatment for students who exhibit elusive FBA outcomes (cf. Neef, Bicard, & Endo, 2001).…”

Behavioral Strategies for Constructing Nonviolent Cultures With Youth

“…Self-management systems typically provide reinforcement for both accurate monitoring and appropriate behavior. There is considerable evidence that self-monitoring projects can be quite effective in reducing antisocial and increasing prosocial behavior (Ninness, Ellis, Miller, Baker, & Rutherford, 1995;Ninness, Fuerst, Rutherford, & Glenn, 1991;Young, West, Smith, & Morgan, 1991). Another alternative is Intensive PEACE POWER (Mattaini, 2001b), which explicitly focuses on increasing dose levels of universal interventions in an individualized manner for those who are not benefiting adequately from the universal program, and incorporates self-monitoring and self-management strategies in that process.…”

The Science of Sharing Power: Native American Thought and Behavior Analysis

“…For example, teaching a parent with a developmental disability how to shop independently for nutritious meals for her child (Lutzker, 1997) is a meaningful step toward increasing her power in life. Further along a continuum of shared power, Ninness, Ellis, Miller, Baker, & Rutherford (1995), taught aggressive youth to monitor their own behavior, resulting in increased selfcontrola rule-governed developmental cusp (Rosales-Ruiz & Baer,1997) that may help the participants discover and create power in many other areas. If participants are actively involved in planning for projects like these as well, if their voices are valued and respected in the process, the advantages increase.…”