Help students with special needs become more independent and gain necessary skills to stay focused with an On-Task Awareness behavior strategy.
What is Rating for On-Task Awareness?
A Dual Rating for On-Task Awareness is a simple rating scale for both the teacher and the student to complete independently for a specific student behavior.
The goal is for the rating scores to match, which demonstrates that a student is becoming more aware and realistic about their in-class behavior.
The rating is scored, and when a match is perfect, the student gets a reward. There is also the option for the student to still receive a reward if a certain criterion is met, rather than for a perfect match. This is recommended, and as the student gains skills, the criteria can be tightened.
Example:
A teacher’s aide has been a one-on-one aide for a student with high-functioning autism for 3 years. The student is now in 6th grade. The aide is trying to decrease support because the student may not have an aide in middle school.
The student still needs a lot of reminders from the aide to stay focused or get back on-task. Is there anything the teacher’s aide can do to help the student become more aware of how off-task they can be, other than constant prompts from the aide or the teacher?
Using Rating of On-Task Behavior
Decreasing support from the aide can be a good strategy. While some kids do require one-on-one support from an aide, it can potentially lead to prompt dependency. Also, as kids enter middle school, they may feel somewhat left out as peers may not want to hang around a student who has an adult at their hip all day!
One thing the aide may want to try, along with the teacher, is a simple rating of on-task behavior that is tied to a small reward.
After a class or other period of time, both the student and teacher rate how they think the student did staying on task. The scores are then compared, and if they match, the student gets their reward.
Comparing the scores can help increase self-awareness and give the student a realistic picture of how they are doing.
While an aide can also do the scoring, the classroom teacher should be the first choice, as the goal is to also decrease reliance on the aide support and shift more attention to the classroom teacher. This is more typical of a middle school situation.
Quick Facts
- Child’s Age: 11-17
- Planning Effort: Moderate
- Difficulty Level: Easy
Pre-requisites
- A student who is at the point at which self-monitoring could be effective.
- A teacher who is willing to participate in the strategy.
- A teacher who is willing to provide a reinforcer (reward) based upon self-awareness ratings.
Steps for Rating On-Task Behavior
- Develop a simple rating sheet that allows both teacher and student ratings of behavior. Some commercially available tools include sample ratings that can be reproduced, for example, in Practical Ideas that Really Work for Students with ADHD (McConnell, Ryser, Higgins), Pro-Ed, Inc., 2000.
- Explain the use of the strategy to the student.
- Talk with the student about possible rewards he can earn for meeting the goal (e.g., within 2 points of teacher rating, perfect score match).
- Choose a period of time to try the rating. Start small, possibly after a 30-minute period or just one class. Eventually, the comparison of scores may not have to occur until midday, but to start, keep rating periods fairly short and increase over time.
- Choose a convenient time for the teacher and student to rate the on-task behavior, compare scores, and deliver the reward if the goal is met. If the student does not meet the goal, encourage them to keep trying!
Adapted from: Practical Ideas that Really Work for Students with ADHD (McConnell, Ryser, Higgins) Pro-Ed, Inc. 2000
On-Task Rating Resources
Practical Ideas That Really Work for Students with ADHD link to sample retail site for purchase
Self-Monitoring (Watson Institute Classroom Tools)
This resource was authored by Watson Institute Special Education Consultant, Rachel Schwartz, PhD, BCBA-D.
If you have questions or concerns about the Watson Institute’s use of this information, please contact us.