A Review of Related Literature on a Time on Task Rewards System - Research Paper Example

? A review of related literature on a “time on task” rewards system and a summary of the methodology used in experimentation Introduction According to cdc.gov, as much as 8% of children between the ages of 3-17 are suffering from Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. This makes this disorder a very real occurrence in our communities, and specially our schools. This makes almost one out of every 12 children affected by this issue. Although this is normally not life threatening, it does have serious effects on a child’s life. Some people also think that this disorder does not exist and that it is just some simple thing such as the child's will to do a task, but according to nytimes.com, as well as the individual they interviewed, Dr. Barkley, the disorder is quite real. According to nih.gov, symptoms of this disorder include irritability, forgetfulness, easily distracted from a task, difficulty with focusing on a certain tasks, hyperactivity, restlessness and others. These are the kinds of symptoms that are often mistaken for other issues such as the child's lack of discipline, lack of will to concentrate, dislike of the task at hand and others. These symptoms also have a huge effect on a child's education. Due to these symptoms, at least 1 out of every 12 children have a problem concentrating while in school, or while doing their home works or seat works. Due to these issues, these children will have a hard time keeping up with lessons and have a hard time learning new topics. Because of these effects on the child's learning, we can now consider this disorder as a learning disability. Our subject, who we will name “Angelina” is affected by this disorder and is historically known to have difficulty in concentrating, and focusing on certain tasks, especially when it comes to reading comprehension. This paper's goal is to look at related literature regarding her disorder, define certain aspects of the disorder, and attempt a simple experiment with a discipline style known as the rewards system, to try and see if this style of discipline will have any effect or will show any improvement in Angelina's lack of focus and concentration. This paper will attempt to discuss these topics in sections, namely: Review of related literature Definition of “learning disorder” Learning characteristics associated with learning disorder Reading challenges of learning disorder, & its effects Strategies to use when dealing with children with learning disabilities Conclusion Methodology Intro paragraph Participant Setting Design Inter-rater reliability Description of the procedure – chronological summary of the major events in your study Baseline Intervention Return to baseline Data collection procedures Social validation Concluding paragraph Results Discussion Definition of “learning disorder” As previously mentioned, ADHD can have a considerable effect on a child’s learning because it affects the persons ability to learn and review things, but can we consider ADHD as a learning disorder? We must define exactly what a learning disorder is. According to brighthub.com, ADHD and a learning disorder are 2 different kinds of disorders. It goes on to explain that “ADHD effects learning in almost thirty per cent of the cases.” The different of the 2 disorders is explained in a very simple yet effective way in the article. It describes that although ADHD is able to have an effect on learning, it is a medical condition. It affects “all cognitive functions.” While a learning disability only affects the child or person while learning or trying to understand new information. A simple analogy that was also used in the article is that while a learning disorder will prevent the proper functioning of a few brain functions related to learning, ADHD softens functionality of all brain functions. Also, learning disorders only take effect while trying to do certain cognitive functions. According to Sheila L. Videbeck in her book “Psychiatric mental health nursing, Third edition”, A learning disorder is diagnosed when “a child’s achievement in reading, mathematics, or written expression is below that expected for age, formal education, and intelligence”. This gives us a clear, workable definition of what a learning disorder is and when a case can be considered to be affected by a learning disorder. Further reading and scrutiny into the topic of learning disorders will give us further insight into how it affects different cases. Next we will try to list or define some learning characteristics that are evident in children with learning disabilities. This will further help us in reviewing the characteristics and traits that are evident in most cases related to learning disorders. Learning characteristics associated with learning disorders Learning disabilities are different in every individual. Each case has its own unique characteristic or effect but there are certain traits that most cases share. These are the traits that are fairly common for children affected with learning disorders. About.com provides us a list of “conceptual deficits often noted in students with a learning disability”. The paper will enumerate them and attempt to summarize them afterward. Difficulty in making connections in similar learning concepts. Has difficulty comparing or classifying and sorting items by criteria Difficulty with time concepts Often does not get jokes or humorous situations Often observed with limited creativity Often slow to respond Difficulty in comprehension Presents difficulty predicting what may happen next Comments are often off track Difficulty with logic Difficulty with number concepts More often than not, requires a great deal of clarification and one to one support. These are the characteristics that most cases exhibit. Based on these items listed above, we can observe a certain pattern. These particular characteristics and traits have a huge effect on a child’s learning. Next, this paper will be discussing some reading challenges associated with learning disorders. Reading challenges associated with learning disorders. As mentioned above, children that are affected by a learning disorder show traits and characteristics related to difficulty in retaining new information, and other such cognitive functions related to comprehension. One such skill that they have difficulty with is reading. According to learn-to-read-prince-george.com, “Reading is fundamental to function in today’s society. “ This makes the ability to read, comprehend and analyze an important function for someone to succeed and survive in life. This portion of the paper aims to discuss some reading challenges that children with learning disabilities experience. According to about.com, in their article “Learning disability in reading comprehension”, children with learning disabilities related to reading comprehension may suffer from multiple issues. Some are minor while others can affect the child’s entire learning process if not attended to early on. Here are some of the issues that they maybe faced with: Difficulty with understanding the meaning of words Has struggles in basic reading skills such as word recognition They are able to read aloud but often do not understand what they have read Has difficulty understanding the meanings and important passages in text Often times, they display weak phrasing and pronunciation due to lack of comprehension of the pronounced words Often they are frustrated with reading activities and avoid them in school. The key takeaway of this information is that while these symptoms may look like normal behavior for children, or at times, may seem like issues related to the child’s will or preference in the subject matter, we must realize that these issues can and will influence how and what our children learn, but they are able to be attended to if treated early. Next this paper will be discussing some strategies used when dealing with children with learning disorders Strategies to use when dealing with children with learning disabilities There are many ways of implementing discipline with children, and there are many ways of dealing with, as well as communicating with these children in terms of different issues. The main aim of this portion of the paper is to point out and describe some strategies that have worked for other individuals in terms of dealing with children with learning disorders. On an article by helpguide.org called, Parenting Children with Learning Disabilities, they noted great tips and advice for parents with children that suffer from learning disabilities. They have taken the view of teaching the child from a parental view and some of the tips that they presented are, you must look for ways to “help them help themselves”. This paper feels that this type of approach empowers the child and that it is a very helpful strategy. As explained by the paper, a child with the disability will eventually turn into an adult with the same disability. The paper goes on to explain that we should be working toward giving the child the tools he or she needs instead of working to “cure” the issue. Other strategies that article points out are emphasizing a healthy lifestyle, being in charge of the child’s education, cooperating and working with his/her school, and finding out how best that the child learns. This last strategy will be used later in the paper’s methodology. As we all know, people learn best in different ways; others learn by doing, others, learn by being fed instruction first, others feed off of pressure, some work to avoid punishment while others still, work because they are aiming for a reward. This last statement is what this paper will expound on next. Also known as a “reward system”, providing prizes or rewards for certain accomplishments have been known to aid in motivating children with learning disorders and ADHD. Another article in helpguide.org called “ADD / ADHD and School, Helping Children with ADHD Succeed at School” discusses certain tips for helping your child in school. One of these tips is to create a behavior plan, the method of which is by presenting rewards, small ones for small victories and significantly larger rewards for larger victories. This is supported by an article on about.com regarding positive reinforcement. It indicates that positive reinforcement along with physical rewards are key factors in helping with behavioral problems associated with learning disabilities. Conclusion After looking at all the related literature for learning disorders, as well as ADHD, we can come to a conclusion that although these types of disorders have a huge effect on the development of a child, and that they are definitely evident in our society today, we can also conclude that there are definitely many ways to manage, assist, support and teach children with learning disorders and ADHD. It is definitely a topic that we want to focus on. We must realize that the ways to support them do exist and we are able to work toward equipping them with the tools they need in order to deal with every day life, problem solving and growth because as we already know, school prepares us for life, and by helping our children prepare for school, we are equipping them for life as well. Methodology Introduction After reviewing the information and literature related to learning disorders and ADHD, as well as reviewing the methods that can be used and have worked in dealing with children with learning disorders and ADHD, have set up a controlled experiment to see if our chosen mode of support, the rewards system, will work as an effective strategy in assisting our participant and supporting her or equipping her with the means of focusing on tasks at hand. Participant Our participant for this controlled experiment is a young lady in the 4th grade, we can call her “Angelina”. The researcher has worked with her in the past and she has historically been known to have trouble staying on task and having trouble concentrating or focusing on tasks given to her, especially when it comes to reading comprehension. Whenever the researcher helped teach her, they have repeatedly come across barriers when it came to focus. She was also diagnosed to have ADHD. A few months back, the researcher discovered that she had a bog affinity for candy, specifically starbursts. The researcher has selected her for this experiment in order to help her and her family by equipping her with new tools for learning. Setting The setting for the experiment is The Preston Center of Compassion. This is a community center that runs an after-school program dedicated specially for children with learning disabilities. The subject, Angelina, is one of the center’s students who attend on a regular basis. The researcher has volunteered at the center and Angelina was specifically designated to him. They have already worked with each other for a running month before the experiment stared,. Design The design of the experiment was based on the ABA style of experimentation. ABA is a type of experimentation where in the participant is observer in baseline conditions then is introduced to a variable and then again returned to the baseline condition, and in some cases such as this one, returned to the variable condition. As stated above, Angelina was observer for a running month in terms of keeping on assigned tasks and focus, and the time it normally took for her before losing focus was measured and averaged within the span of 1 school week or 5 school days, 1 hour each day after class. Afterwards, a variable was introduced which is the candy she was found to have affinity or interest for which was the star burst. She was offered one starburst for every 10 minutes that she stayed on task and the number of times she lost focus was counted and recorder for a period of one school week or 5 days, 1 hour each day after school while she was at the after school program. The variable was then taken away for the same amount of time, which is one school week, 5 school days, 1 hour each day after school, and the time it took for her before losing focus was measured again. The final phase of this experiment was to reintroduce the variable for the same period of 5 school days, 1 hour each day and check if the variable would bring about the same result as the initial variable introduction. The goal of the experiment is to check the consistency of the effect of the variable. This means that the baseline conditions should be very similar, and the variable conditions should also have very similar results in order to conclude that the variable has definite effects on the participant. Inter-rater reliability Based on other results of similar studies such as the one on helpfulhallies.blogspot.com entitled “Reward Vs. Punishment” and others of similar nature, the researcher has come to the observation that they have gotten positive feedback from the use of the rewards method for motivating and persuading children with ADHD and other learning disorders to focus, stay on task or generally do well in the tasks at hand. This gives us an idea about how the participant will react in the experiment. It is generally accepted that the rewards method will garner positive results and this experiment aims to verify this. Description of the procedure Baseline test The participant was observer for a period of 5 school days, one hour each day, divided into 6, 10 minute intervals and for every interval, a measurement of time was taken on how long it would take for the participant to lose focus and be reminded of what needs to be done. The subject of the task stayed the same through the duration of the experiment, which is reading comprehension. She was observed to lose interest at an average of about 3.5 minutes after starting or restarting the task provided. Variable test During the variable test, she was given the same task of reading comprehension and observed for the same period of time as the baseline test. This time, with the variable introduced, still divided into 6 10 minute intervals, a measurement was recorded on how many times the participant would lose focus and averaged it . Amazingly, the participant averaged not losing focus 6 out of 6 intervals on every day. This givers her average of 10 minutes if focus time for every interval. Return to baseline test A second baseline test run was done for comparison with the same time frame, same task at hand, and the same intervals. The participant averaged at around 3 minutes before being reminded to concentrate on her task and being motivated to continue. This is a per interval measurement. Variable test 2nd run A second Variable test was done in order to validate the consistency of the results of the first variable test as well as to confirm weather the variable actually had an effect on the participant. The participant was again observed for the same span of time which is 5 school days with 1 hour every school day after class. She was also given the same 10 minute intervals and provided the same variable of a starburst for every 10 munities she stayed focused on her given task. In an astonishing result, she again was able to stay focused on her task 6 out of 6 intervals every day, again giving her an average of 10 minutes per interval. Data collection procedures In terms of informing the participant, in order to make sure that the results would not be biased, She was not informed that a test was done. For time keeping, a mobile phone with a stop watch with lap time capability was used, and a small notebook was used to record times. In terms of making sure that the participant stayed on task, she was observed closely and when she exhibited signs such as looking at other materials or items, playing with the pencil or paper, or no longer paying attention to the task at hand, the time was marked and she was considered to have lost focus. When checking if she was in focus on the task, the researched looked for the same signs to see if she would exhibit them or if she would stay on the provided task. Social validation Amazingly in both variable tests, she responded very well to the reward system and she did extremely well in terms of focus and staying on task. Socially speaking, this particular experiment validates the knowledge that the reward system is a great way to teach or motivate children with either ADHD or learning disorders. This provides us with a guide as to how best to deal with these individuals and how best to provide them feed back and motivation in order to push them in the right direction and better understand their preferred method of learning. Upon understanding this information and seeing it first hand, the researcher can then agree with the literature presented above regarding proper motivation getting great results and the reward system being effective for children with learning disorders or ADHD. Conclusion Based on the results of the experiment, we can see that the idea behind the rewards method is both valid and confirmable. This experiment should validate the results of other studies done using the same method of rewards. We can also conclude that due to more than one study providing us with similar results regarding the rewards method of motivation for children affected by ADHD or learning disorders, we can conclude that the method is an effective option for motivation and training for children with these conditions. Results Based pm the previous experiment, the findings are as follows; when looking at both baseline and baseline 2nd run weeks, we can see a very similar trend. Without the variable added into the equation, the participant showed similar focus patterns and very similar times before becoming out of focus. The participant averaged 3 – 3.5 minutes before tuning out of focus on the given task. Another thing to notice is that when looking at both variable related tests, we can see similar patterns. We can see that once the variable was added to the equation, the time it took for the participant to lose focus greatly increased and the variable actually drove the participant not to lose focus throughout the week. We can see that the variable definitely had a large effect on the participant as the results were the same for both runs independently. The participant had an average tome of 10 minutes before losing focus or getting the reward. Here are graphs of the 4 experiment weeks: Discussion This portion of the paper will provide final information on the topic, comparisons to other such studies as well as list limitations related to the study done. Its main purpose is for clarification and final discussion. Comparison to other studies As previously mentioned above, this paper’s experiment has very similar results to other studies done for either similar purposes or similar methods. One such study was already mentioned above which was done by helpfulhallies.blogspot.com called reward vs punishment. This study had a similar method of giving rewards for good jobs on tasks given but instead, it had a shorter timeframe and more participants. It also had the added ability to compare on another method which was punishment for not doing well on tasks provided. It gained similar results on the terms of rewards for good jobs. Another study that is similar to this one is described in netplaces.com. This time, this particular study was aimed at a younger participant rage, toddlers to be exact, but had the same concept of rewards for obedience or good performance. Some thing different with this study is that it increases requirements for the participant to earn a prize. Although the age range is different, the results for this type of test are similar to the researcher’s own results. Limitations of the study We must remember that the study was limited to 1 participant and 1 variable. It was also limited to 1 activity. Further study is recommended with the addition of increased factors such as more variables, participants, or activities in order to get a more accurate and defendable result. References Block, J. & Smith, M. (January 2010). ADD / ADHD and School. HELPING CHILDREN WITH ADHD SUCCEED AT SCHOOL. http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_teaching_strategies.htm Centers for disease control and prevention, (2011). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/adhd.htm Cherry, K. (2010). What is an ABA design?. http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/aba-design.htm Child Behavior: What Parents Can Do to Change Their Child's Behavior, (2010) http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/behavior/201.html Davis, G. & D. (2011). 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