An ecobehavioral assessment of a special education classroom

The present study combined a multiple category observational data system with a correlational analysis in order to test the value of such a combination as an ecobehavioral assessment instrument and determine whether this package would reveal relationships both between and within the behavioral repetoires of several children. Four severely and profoundly mentally retarded children between the ages of 9 and 12 years were observed in their self-contained special education classroom, and the teacher collected the data over a 20-day period using an interval recording system. Bivariate correlational analysis of the 38 observed categories with the school-day as the unit of analysis revealed significant relationships both between and within children. Two children showed a pattern of relationships in which social interaction in either child was associated with maladaptive behavior in the other, and another child's destructive and self-injurious behaviors were positively associated with his noncompliance. Patterns of related child behaviors suggested ways in which they may have been affected by the behavior of adults in the classroom. The value of such an instrument for ecological assessment is discussed.