Effects of an enhanced choice model of skill‐based treatment for students with emotional/behavioral disorders
ECM-SBT safely brings clinic-level ABA into special-ed classrooms while kids keep choosing what happens next.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Staubitz et al. (2022) moved a clinic treatment into a public school classroom.
They used the enhanced choice model of skill-based treatment, or ECM-SBT.
Three students with emotional and behavioral disorders took part.
The team taught communication, tolerance, and cooperation skills while giving kids lots of choices.
What they found
Problem behavior stayed very low during the whole study.
Kids learned to ask for breaks, wait calmly, and follow adult directions.
All three students said they liked the new program better than regular class.
How this fits with other research
Mandy et al. (2016) showed that a short ABA transition package cut emotional problems in half for autistic teens moving to mainstream middle school. ECM-SBT does the same trick for kids with EBD already in special-ed rooms.
van Timmeren et al. (2016) and Dall et al. (1997) both found that letting kids choose tasks drops disruptive behavior. Staubitz adds bigger choices—like picking the order of lessons or the type of break—and still keeps severe behavior rare.
Thomas et al. (2004) warned that school mental-health programs need solid behavioral data. This study answers that call by giving clear single-case graphs teachers can read fast.
Why it matters
You can run ECM-SBT right in a resource room with one para and a BCBA consult.
Start with five-minute choice menus, teach a break request, and watch precursors fall.
If it works for kids with EBD, try it with any learner who hates demands.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The enhanced choice model of skill-based treatment (ECM-SBT; Rajaraman et al., 2021) is a package of behavioral treatment procedures with modifications designed to reduce risks associated with extinction of problem behavior. The skill-based treatment component of this package (Hanley et al., 2014) has been investigated thoroughly in clinical settings, though fewer studies have been conducted in public schools. In this investigation, we systematically replicated Rajaraman et al.'s (2021) demonstration of the ECM-SBT with 3 children enrolled in a public special day school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Intervention procedures were associated with increases in targeted alternative responses (i.e., communicative response, tolerance response, and cooperation with instructions) and decreased precursor behavior relative to baseline. Severe problem behavior was rare in both assessment and treatment. Participants chose to spend most appointment time participating in ECM-SBT, indicating preference for treatment procedures over alternative contexts (i.e., free access to a break area with preferred activities; regular classroom instruction). These outcomes suggest ECM-SBT has promise for safely teaching alternatives to problem behavior to children with emotional and behavioral disorders in school settings.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2022 · doi:10.1002/jaba.952