Data Analysis

Social Skills Weekly Check-In

Starting conversations is a strength for Nina. During the collection period, she identified this target skill as a 4 or 5 over the course of three weeks. Interestingly, these higher self-ratings were toward the end of the research period, indicating mastery of this target skill. Nina's mother shared, "Nina always manages to introduce herself to someone new whenever we go out into the community. At home she had a couple difficult days with lots of perseverance," (Social Skills Weekly Check-In, April 7th). I observed similar success with starting conversations at school via anecdotal notes. It is likely that the parallel of "Greeting Others" introduced at the beginning of the research period supported her success with starting conversations.

Ending conversations is more difficult for Nina. Her application of this target skill was inconsistent during the research period both at home and school, as she was unsure of how to take social cues that the conversation was ending. Her typical response was "Have a great day!" Because it was explicitly taught during the latter part of the research period, Nina had less exposure and practice. I continued to reinforce ways to end a conversation through immediate intervention and redirection.

Staying on topic during conversations was explicitly taught during weeks three and four of the research period. Nina quickly learned how to attend to others and respond appropriately to questions. As she mastered this skill, she started to make attempts at relating topics in the conversation; however, the pattern of question and response was the norm throughout the research period. Based on this evidence and anecdotal notes, I continued to provide guidance for staying on topic when conversing with others. For example, I modeled how to transition in a conversation about someone's weekend to asking a probing question. If someone said, "I went to the movies," I asked, "Which movie did you see?"

Anecdotal Notes

As data were collected, I recognized the need to capture additional classroom observational data related to the target skills to ensure the precursors to the target skill were in place. For example, was Nina able to respond to a question during a lesson using an entire sentence or did she default to responding with a "Yes," "No," or "Ok?" I gathered data using informal anecdotal notes. These notes were analyzed for themes and measured how often Nina engaged in non-target and target behaviors.

Nina's non-target and target behaviors were captured by myself or my CADRE Associate during the research period. Additionally, I asked paraeducators who work alongside Nina how often she demonstrated target behaviors and their overall rating of how she did during a class period. These notes were analyzed to inform instruction, provide feedback, and communicate with Nina's mother on a daily basis. I wrote a summary of Nina's day in a home-to-school notebook that increased communication and consistency for Nina, an important aspect of working with students who have autism.

Themes:

• Consistency: Data indicates a lack of structure influences Nina's application of desired behavior. Due to an inconsistent schedule over the course of three weeks, Nina was not able to demonstrate target behaviors consistently. She earned a reward 60% of the time during the three weeks that the high school schedule was adjusted. Because of the nature of her disability, consistency is very important and this variable made it difficult for her to retain and practice skills.
• Distributed Practice: It was key for Nina to revisit target skills through (a) her social story on a daily basis and (b) independent practice. For example, I sought opportunities for Nina to interact with others during lunch or other social situations throughout her school day. Each Monday, we practiced target skills through one-on-one conversations about our weekend.