Effects of individual behavioral intervention on students' off-task behavior: Classroom management in the first grade of elementary school

The present study investigated effects of individual behavioral intervention on students' off-task behavior. Participants were a class of first-graders (18 boys and 8 girls, including 1 boy with AD/HD) and their homeroom teachers. After the school year started in April, 3 class days (April 10-14) were baseline sessions in which the homeroom teacher held classes as usual. During 19 intervention days (April 15 to May 21), the classes included individual behavioral interventions. Observers recorded the number of disruptive episodes (leaving one's seat selfishly, quarreling, making noise, and interfering with others), the number of children involved in such episodes, and the number of prompts from the teacher. All these measures decreased significantly from the baseline sessions to the intervention sessions. Disruptive episodes by the boy with AD/HD also decreased, but later than the other children's. The teacher intervened moderately to maintain the good environment, and at 2-month, 4-month, and 6-month follow-ups, it was found to have been maintained.