Analyses of performance, behavior, and predictors for severely disturbed children: A comparison of adult vs. computer instruction

A comparison between adult and computer-delivered instruction was conducted with 17 children (ages 4 to 14 years) with severe learning and behavior problems. The rationale for this comparison is based on the conceptualizations that adult attention may be a source of inadvertent reinforcement for maladaptive behavior and adult directions may set the occasion for avoidance responding. Therefore, this investigation provides an analysis of the stimulus functions of the presence of an adult in the task-demand situation. The task employed was a two-choice discrimination that became progressively more difficult, analogous to educational tasks in general. Subjects alternated sessions between conditions, but the criteria for advancement were independent between conditions. Measures of task performance and observational behavior data were collected. The results suggest that there was no overall difference in task performance between conditions, but that the children as a group did exhibit more deviant behavior in the adult condition. In an attempt to identify critical variables for the prediction of individual differences in performance and behavior, the results of correlational analyses on diagnoses, developmental measures, and pretest compliance measures are presented. The results of this investigation are discussed in the context of the task-avoidance conceptualization and the implications for computer-assisted instruction in the education and treatment of severely disturbed children.