This is Mrs. Riley. She has just been asked to take over a class of third graders who are very
energetic and have tried the patience of many teachers. In fact, Mrs. Riley is the third teacher
to take over the class this year and it is only November! These students are not only unruly but
most of them did not earn passing marks on their most recent state administered exam of
basic skills. Mrs. Riley thinks these poor scores were due to class time lost to constant disruption.
The major behavior challenges in the class are, fighting, yelling out answers/questions, not
staying seated during work time, and failure to complete in class assignments. Mrs. Riley
contacted an ABA professional to design some effective behavior modification methods that
would help the children settle down and be able to better focus on learning. The behaviorist
recommended a token economy system in which Mrs. Riley would contract with the students
on desired behaviors. Each student that makes it through the day without any behavior
incidents will get a penny. Friday afternoons will be “store” time. The students will be able to
trade their pennies in for different prizes. Some will be tangible items such as pieces of candy.
Others will be privileges such as a week without homework. Students can “spend” their
pennies each week or save up to buy bigger items like a day with early dismissal from school. respond to the above case.