A. Introduction- briefly state the problem, define the ecology, etc. Mary is consistently negative in her speech and opinions. This has caused her to have a sullen attitude, and it has caused people to become quickly irritated with her. Her comments are typically centered around people that she does not like. For example, she will say “Stupid Danielle never gets her butt to class.” This is a negative comment about someone else. Also, if she says something negative about herself (i.e. “I’m fat.”), this counts as the problem behavior. Other things that qualify as negative are sarcastic comments.
B. Assessment Procedure- define your assessment procedures, identify baseline procedures and baseline data, recording procedures, observer reliability, …show more content…
Each time they hear her make a negative comment, they will put a tally mark under the hour in which it occurred (i.e. ten negative comments in the 1-2pm hour, sixteen negative comments in the 2-3pm hour, etc.). She will do the same for herself, and I will also tally each time she makes a negative remark. These tallies will only apply to the amount of comments, not how long they occur for. To account for reactivity, I will be observing her for a prolonged period of time (two weeks), and I will attempt to be less obtrusive; instead of closely following her around, I will stay back, perhaps out of eyesight but still in earshot, so that she is not necessarily aware of my presence. Later on, I will use this reactivity to my advantage, showing her that she is, in fact, being overly-negative but that she can keep it under control when she wants to. After two weeks, I will have a baseline for how often Mary makes these negative comments per hour and where they seem to occur most …show more content…
Once she has achieved her reward consistently for four months, I will go back to her friends and family will a follow-up questionnaire. This questionnaire will ask for Mary’s negativity and positivity on a scale of 1-10. If her positivity is higher than her negativity, the inverse of what it previously was, I will believe that the program was a success. It might be successful because Mary’s friends and family will want her to change because they love and care for her, so they will hopefully want to keep on track with the program. However, it might not be successful because her friends and family could become agitated with the amount of work they need to do in order to help Mary. Their sharp focus in the beginning may become more lax as the program continues, resulting in Mary achieving rewards she did not earn. Also, if Mary is not motivated to change, the program has almost no hope of working. She will need to, at times, actively try to see things in a positive light when her go-to response is