Identifying instructional tasks that occasion problem behaviors and assessing the effects of student versus teacher choice among these tasks

Levels of problem behavior were assessed when 4 students with severe disabilities received instruction on preferred versus nonpreferred tasks and when tasks of each type were chosen by the teacher rather than by the student. In Phase 1, interview and direct ob-servation assessments were conducted to identify relative preferences for academic tasks. In Phase 2, the effects of these lower preference and higher preference tasks on the rate of problem behavior were evaluated using a multielement design. The results showed that lower preference tasks were associated with higher rates of problem behaviors and that students, when given a choice, consistently selected the tasks that had been identified through interview and direct observation as higher preference. In Phase 3, we assessed whether allowing the students to choose between pairs of lower preference tasks or be-tween pairs of higher preference tasks reduced problem behavior relative to a condition in which the teacher selected the same tasks. For 2 of 4 students, the rates of problem behavior were lower when students (rather than the teacher) selected the lower preference activity. Higher preference tasks for 3 students were associated with relatively low rates of problem behavior regardless of whether the student or the teacher selected the task. DESCRIPTORS: problem behavior, choice, functional assessment Problem behaviors pose a serious chal-lenge for families, teachers, and school ad-ministrators. Behaviors such as aggression, property destruction, self-injury, and non-compliance place students at risk for exclu-sion from typical school contexts (Dunlap &amp