Using a Nonconcurrent Multiple-Baseline Across-Participants Design to Examine the Effects of Individualized ACT at School

Wilson et al. (2022) tested short, one-on-one ACT lessons right in the classroom. Three students with chronic off-task and aggressive behaviors got quick mindfulness and values drills before class.

The team used a multiple-baseline across-participants design. They watched each student’s work time and disruption across baseline, ACT, and mixed control days.

ACT drills lifted on-task behavior and dropped disruptions for all three students. Gains showed up fast and held while the study ran.

No extra rewards or point systems were needed—just five minutes of ACT practice.

The result lines up with Prigge et al. (2013), who also used a multiple-baseline across students to raise compliance. Both studies show you can run tight single-case designs in busy classrooms and still get big gains.

It also echoes Gomes et al. (2025). They cut disruption with a group contingency that paid the whole class for being on-task together. Wilson flips the lens: instead of group rewards, ACT works on the student’s own thoughts and still hits the same target.

Sappok et al. (2024) extends the idea. They boosted on-task behavior in an adult college class with a picture card plus teacher proximity. Wilson’s ACT drills and T’s picture prompt look different, yet both prove brief antecedent tweaks can travel across ages.

You can slip ACT exercises into the five minutes before a lesson starts. No tokens, no group chart—just the student, you, and a quick values or mindfulness task. If you have kids who stay off-task even after clear rules and points, try adding a brief ACT warm-up and track their next work period. It may give you a low-prep tool that works where stickers have failed.