Teaching elementary students with developmental disabilities to recruit teacher attention in a general education classroom: effects on teacher praise and academic productivity.

Four late-elementary students with developmental disabilities learned to ask their teacher, 'How am I doing?' during spelling lessons in a general-ed classroom.

The trainer used role-play, practice, and feedback until each student asked the question at least twice per session. The team then tracked recruiting, teacher praise, worksheet completion, and spelling accuracy across baseline and training phases.

As soon as students started asking the question, teacher praise jumped and stayed high. Worksheet completion and spelling scores rose for every child.

The gains held without extra prompts, showing a quick, cheap way to lift both teacher attention and academic work.

Alba et al. (1972) first showed that teacher praise alone can fix digit reversals in a neurotypical child. Farrant et al. (1998) flips the script: teach the student to evoke that same praise.

Agiovlasitis et al. (2025) extends the idea to high-schoolers with ASD, using PRT to teach question-asking instead of a simple 'How am I doing?' Both studies find large gains, proving the strategy spans age and diagnosis.

Robinson et al. (2019) used token accumulation to boost math work for kids with ADHD. Farrant et al. (1998) hits the same outcome—more academic output—but uses student-initiated teacher praise instead of tokens, giving teachers another low-prep option.

You can raise teacher praise and student work in one short lesson. Pick a student who finishes little work, teach them to ask 'How am I doing?' at natural break points, and watch both praise and output climb. No extra staff, no tokens, no data sheets needed.