Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Seeks Attention Appropriately
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Todd's Classroom Story
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VOISS Connection

During VOISS lessons, Todd learned to raise his hand and say, “Excuse me, [Mr./Ms. Teacher’s Name], can I talk to you for a minute?” Before these lessons, Todd had often made rude comments during class that disrupted the learning environment. During VOISS training, Mr. Zamarrón worked with a behavior specialist and they determined that Todd made rude comments in class to get attention from the teacher. 

Mr. Zamarrón created a lesson to help Todd generalize the skill of seeking attention appropriately (Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skill 10).

VOISS Advisor Lesson Plan Outline

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skill 10: Seeks Attention Appropriately

Define the social skill to be demonstrated in observable and measurable terms. This should be the skill you want the student to use when the situation / opportunity naturally occurs.

Todd will raise his hand and say, “Excuse me, [Mr./Ms. Teacher’s Name], can I talk to you for a minute?” without making rude comments (10 instances across 8 class periods).

Generalization Emphasis

Setting Generalization

Instructional Setting

1-1

Instructional Method

Direct Instruction

Generalization Tactic

Train others to prompt and reinforce

Support Strategy

Prompting (visual)

Generalizing the Skills

Mr. Zamarrón wanted Todd to demonstrate appropriate attention-seeking during his math, social studies, and science classes because he most often engaged in inappropriate attention-seeking behavior during these classes. Mr. Zamarrón also collected frequency data on Todd’s rude comments and determined that Todd made 1-2 such comments per class period. In other words, Mr. Zamarrón was focusing on setting generalization. He operationally defined an objective to determine generalization lessons had been effective:

  • Todd will raise his hand and say, “Excuse me, [Mr./Ms. Teacher’s Name], can I talk to you for a minute?” without making rude comments (10 instances across 8 class periods).

Choosing an Instructional Setting and Method

Having operationally defined his target objective, Mr. Zamarrón was ready to determine an instructional setting and method. He considered using role play, but thought it would be unnatural to use peers for instruction about gaining an adult’s attention. Instead, he would use direct instruction in a 1-1 setting to teach and reinforce the skill of seeking attention appropriately.

Choosing a Generalization Tactic and Support Strategy

Although the other targeted social skills did not have naturally-reinforcing contingencies, gaining attention did. That is, Todd would gain teacher attention (i.e., reinforcement) when engaging in the target behavior. Thus, instruction wouldn’t require the use of external reinforcement (e.g., token reinforcement). However, Mr. Zamarrón was concerned that Todd’s teachers wouldn’t reinforce the target behavior (by providing attention) without training. So, he decided to train staff to prompt and reinforce the target behavior. Additionally, he would teach Todd to reference a visual prompt when asking for attention. 

Lesson Implementation

Mr. Zamarrón’s Lesson on “Seeking Attention Appropriately”

 

Training Staff to Prompt and Reinforce Targeted Skills

Mr. Zamarrón wanted to make sure all members of Todd’s IEP team were familiar with the target behavior and knew to respond appropriately to Todd’s requests for attention before teaching Todd this target skill. Specifically, he wanted to make sure staff members consistently reinforced the target behavior and ignored the rude comments. So, Mr. Zamarrón met with Todd’s science, math, and social studies teachers to train them to prompt and reinforce the targeted skills. He explained the purpose of instruction and told them that if Todd raised his hand and asked to speak with them, they should come over and briefly talk to Todd. If Todd made a rude comment, they should ignore it. He told teachers that this instruction might seem counterintuitive, but these strategies would make Todd less disruptive in class and would ultimately make instruction easier for them. 

Implementing the Visual Prompt

Prior to the lesson, Mr. Zamarrón prepared a small visual prompt with an image of a child raising his hand and the words, “Excuse me, [Mr./Ms. Teacher’s Name], can I talk to you for a minute?” printed below the child. He would use this card for instruction. He told Todd that when he was in class, he could raise his hand and say, “Excuse me […]” and the teacher would come talk to him. Mr. Zamarrón pointed to the visual as a prompt. He also glued the visual to the outside of each of his notebooks. He rehearsed this several times with Todd in a 1-1 direct instruction setting. He then accompanied Todd to one of his core classes to make sure the skill generalized to the targeted setting. He prompted Todd by pointing to the picture, and Todd raised his hand and asked to speak to the teacher. 

 

National and State Standards Benchmarks and Indicators

CTPS.10 SEEKS ATTENTION APPROPRIATELY
COLLABORATIVE FOR ACADEMIC, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING (CASEL) STANDARDS
  • Self-Management
KANSAS SOCIAL EMOTIONAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (KSECD) STANDARDS

Personal Development

  • Self-Management
    • A. Understand and practice strategies for managing and regulating thoughts and behaviors.
      • 6-8 (11-13) 7. Practice effective communication (for example, listening, reflecting and responding).