Case Study #2: Nathan
Nathan is a 4th grader who has been diagnosed by his pediatrician as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); however, he has not been identified as needing special education because he is currently passing all of his academic subjects. His parents have recently decided to discontinue administering medication because the pediatrician has determined it is stunting his growth and has encouraged them to try to keep him off medication for a full school year.
Nathan is very insecure and wants constant reinforcement from the teacher. The teacher has used frequency count data collection (see Step 2: Measure the Behavior under Teaching Appropriate Behavior) and has noted that in 1 hour, Nathan has been to her desk or standing beside her to ask a question for a total of 20 times. He is unable to finish his work because of this and the teacher is becoming very irritated due to his constant need for attention and reinforcement that he is doing his work correctly. It is nearly impossible for the teacher to actually teach, let alone work with other individual students in the class.
Directions: Answer the following questions after you have read Nathan’s case study.
1. Identify the antecedent, the inappropriate or targeted behavior.
2. What is the consequence of Nathan’s behavior?
3. Determine the function of Nathan’s behavior.
4. Come up with a plan of how you would teach Nathan a replacement behavior and decrease the number of times he comes to the teacher for help. Write out the steps you would use and the statements, reinforcers, etc. that you would use in your plan. Describe it in a way that anyone could review your plan and know what it would look like if they walked into your classroom and observed you working with this student.

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