In a fourth grade classroom, there is one male student, named Scott (pseudonym) who is continually off task and the teacher has tried many forms of reinforcement and punishments to try and change the students behavior, unsuccessfully. The teacher decided to implement a Disruptive Incident Barometer for Scott and three other students who were also frequently off task. “The individual disruptive incident barometer program enables the teacher to monitor the occurrence of a child’s target disruptive behaviors bu plotting each occurrence on the individual child’s disruptive incident barometer” (Cipani, 2008). The teacher will look at the how to measure the target behavior, what behaviors are included, baseline data for the student, how to select the behavior standard and what the student must achieve daily to receive the reinforcement. First, the target behavior much be determined. Scott, the target child, is frequently distracting other students from the lesson or seatwork. When the teacher is talking, he is whispering or poking another child. When the students are supposed to be working silently doing seatwork, his behavior is the same. The target behavior will be measured by using baseline data throughout the day, to determine how often the behavior occurs each day. The teacher will use the DIB without notifying the student of what she was doing in order to achieve an accurate baseline. The teacher will monitor the student for six days gathering the data and to determine at what point the student will no longer receive the reinforcer. A disruptive behavior for Scott would include: talking while the teacher is talking, distracting another student from learning and not doing the assigned seatwork. Generally speaking Scott is off task more frequently than he is on task. The goal of the DIB is to increase Scott’s on task behavior. The teacher has tried time outs, loss of privileges, being removed from the classroom, calls home to parents, all of which have been extremely unsuccessful. The most common disruptive for Scott is the off task behavior, so that is the only behavior at this time that will be focused on.
Session/Day Target behavior
1 5
2 7
3 8
4 5
5 15
6 8

The behavior standard, defined as “the level of disruptive behavior that is considered acceptable. The standard indentifies the target level for the barometer and the rate at or above which the child earns the reinforce” (Cipani, 2008). The behavior average is 8 and since the behavior ranges between 1-20, the students barometer will range from 1-20. The student will need to reach the behavior standard between 8 and 9. Scott will need to lose no more than 12 points a day to be able to receive the reinforcer for that day. Every time Scott talks out of turn or distracts another student during lesson, he will lose one point. If Scott meets the behavior standard between 8-9, then he will receive 5 minutes of extra free time. If he exceeds the behavior standard and is above 10 and below 15, he will receive ten minutes of extra free time. If he is above 15 on the DIB, he will receive 15 minutes of extra free time. If Scott is off task more than 12 or more times per day, he will not receive the reinforcer for that day. The teacher is using the DIB agreement with the student that specifically outlines for the student exactly what behavior will remove a point and suggests ways of how to stay on task better each day. The student is told that if he meets or exceeds the behavior standard for the day , that he would receive the reward the next day after lunch. Overall the DIB presents to be an excellent way to present a reinforcer to the students and target the disruptive behavior. As an educator, you can only fix one problem at a time; you cannot fix multiple disruptive behaviors at once. The teacher must be able to determine what the most serious disruptive behavior is and then collect the baseline data to see how often the behavior is occurring. Once the baseline data has been determined, then the teacher can successfully implement the program for the student.

References
Cipani, E. (2008). Classroom Management for All Teachers: Plans for Evidence-based Practice.
(3rd edition). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall