THE EFFECTS OF SELF-RECORDING AND CONTINGENT COMPUTER-TIME ON THE OFF-TASK BEHAVIOR OF AN ADOLESCENT WITH EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the use of self-recor ding with an adolescent male in a psychiatric hospital school setting. The participant was prompted by the first author to self-record while the criterion for performance was set at five or less instances of of f-task behavior per session. The participant received minutes of compu ter time when his frequency of off-task behavior was at or below the s pecified criterion. Later, prompting was withdrawn, the participant in dependently self-recorded his off-task behavior and the criterion for contingent computer time was lowered to two or less instances of off-t ask behavior per session. The outcome indicates that, when self-record ing was introduced along with access to computer time, the frequency o f off-task behaviors decreased as compared to baseline measures. The b enefits of employing self-recording and utilizing contingent access to the computer are discussed.