The Effects of Positive Verbal Reinforcement on the Time Spent outside the Classroom for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in a Residential Setting

To more effectively instruct the entire class, teachers of students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) often choose to send students who display inappropriate behavior out of the room. A multiple baseline across settings was used to evaluate the effects of increasing teacher positive verbal reinforcement on the amount of time 2 students with EBD in a residential setting were spending outside of the classroom for separations or in-school suspension referrals. Results suggest that increasing positive verbal reinforcement decreased the amount of time students spent outside the classroom. Implications and future directions are provided.