Increasing opportunities for requesting in classrooms serving children with developmental disabilities

Area of Science:

• Special Education
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Communication Disorders

Background:

• Children with moderate to severe disabilities often have limited opportunities for functional communication.
• Requesting is a crucial communicative behavior for expressing needs and wants.
• Existing classroom practices may not adequately support the development of requesting skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an intervention package aimed at increasing requesting opportunities in special education settings.
• To assess the impact of specific strategies on teacher-implemented opportunities for student requesting.
• To determine if the intervention leads to increased student correct responses.

Main Methods:

• A multiple-baseline across classrooms design was employed.
• Five special education teachers participated, serving 26 students with moderate to severe disabilities.
• Teachers received training, consultation, and feedback on three requesting strategies: missing item, interrupted chain, and delayed assistance.

Main Results:

• Baseline observations revealed minimal requesting opportunities.
• The intervention led to a significant increase in opportunities for requesting.
• Student correct responses and opportunities provided during generalization and follow-up sessions also increased.

Conclusions:

• The intervention package is an effective strategy for increasing requesting opportunities.
• Teachers can successfully incorporate functional communication opportunities into natural classroom environments.
• This approach supports the development of essential communication skills for students with disabilities.