Effects of environmental distractions on teachers' procedural integrity with three function‐based treatments
Classroom noise and movement eat treatment integrity fastest during DNRA reinforcement and DNRO response steps.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Berdeaux and team asked teachers to run three escape-based plans while kids created noise and movement. The plans were DNRA, DNRO, and NCE. Each teacher worked with one student in a small therapy room.
The researchers used an alternating-treatments design. One session had no distractions. The next session added recorded chatter, dropping pencils, and a confederate student walking around. They scored how many steps each teacher got right.
What they found
When distractions were on, teachers missed more steps. DNRA was hit hardest during the reinforcement step. DNRO was hit hardest when the teacher had to ignore problem behavior and stay quiet.
NCE held up best. The teacher only had to start the timer and remind the student to take breaks. Less to do meant fewer chances to mess up.
How this fits with other research
Singh et al. (1991) also used an alternating-treatments design in a classroom. They found that mixing spelling words did not help. Both studies show that small changes in the room can wipe out hoped-for gains.
Dickson et al. (2017) trained teachers with BST and saw perfect lockdown drills. Berdeaux did not train; they just watched integrity fall. The pair shows that without active training, distractions win.
Prasher et al. (1995) warned that experienced staff often skip functional thinking. Berdeaux proves the cost: when teachers lose focus, the function-based plan breaks down.
Why it matters
You already script your escape plans. Now script the room too. Run a quick noise check before session. If you must use DNRA or DNRO, teach a para to block distractions or to cue you with a silent tap when a step is coming. Keep NCE in your pocket for days the fire alarm, pep rally, or flu season makes the room wild.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Past research has demonstrated the effectiveness of teacher-implemented, function-based treatments for problem behavior, but no studies have evaluated the impact of distractions on teachers' procedural integrity. In this proof-of-concept study, the experimenters employed a laboratory analog to examine the impact of distractions on levels of integrity when 5 teachers implemented 3 different treatments. Although integrity was similar across treatments when the setting was free of distractions, integrity declined for all teachers in the presence of student-driven distractions. In general, distractions had a greater impact on the integrity of differential negative reinforcement of alternative behavior (DNRA) compared to differential negative reinforcement of other behavior (DNRO) and noncontingent escape (NCE), particularly for the delivery of reinforcement. However, teachers tended to have lower levels of integrity when responding to problem behavior during DNRO. These findings support the potential viability of this approach for studying factors that impede procedural integrity in the classroom.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2022 · doi:10.1002/jaba.918