The Effectiveness of token reinforcement on increasing the appropriate in-class behaviors of educable mentally retarded children

in ABSTRACT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TOKEN REINFORCEMENT ON INCREASING THE APPROPRIATE IN-CLASS BEHAVIORS OF EDUCABLE MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN The overall aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of token reinforcement system on increasing the appropriate in-class behaviors (i.e. hand raising, responding when a question is directed and sitting still) of mentally retarded children. The subjects of this study were four of the eleven students who are attending the class 8/C at Avukat Lütfü Ergökmen Vocational School and Vocational Training Center. As one of the single- subject research methods, multiple-probe across behaviors design was used in this study. Target behaviors were recorded by using event recording and momentary time sample recording through the study. During the experimental process the first baseline data of the target behaviors were obtained and then token reinforcement system was implemented in the intervention phase. The research data were analyzed through graphical analysis. The findings revealed that the token reinforcement system increased hand raising, responding when a question is directed and sitting still behaviors in all subjects when compared with the baseline data. These results set forth that the token reinforcement system is effective in increasing the apprapricte in-class behaviors. Moreover, results demonstrated that the effectiveness was also maintained at the follow-up phase.