Wiki: A Tool for Collaboration
Diana Hammond
Walden University

Dr. Peggy Locke
EDUC 6725: Advanced Behavioral Interventions in Special Education
April 12, 2015

Wiki: A Tool for Collaboration
Educators are powerful beings. They have the opportunity to impact the course of a child’s life, sending students’ prospective life courses to maximum potential or filled with struggles and stumblings. Our society has established an educational climate that does not expect a singular to teacher to have the capacity to do it all. In fact, teachers are expected to establish or join in a school culture of collaboration (Friend & Cook, 2013). Collaboration is a style of working together, of communication between equal educators, which results in working toward the same objective. In developing a Wiki, education professionals can collaborate effectively regardless of distance, job assignment, or time.
Wiki Link http://ebbehaviorinterventions.wikispaces.com/ Evidence-Based Interventions
Social Skills
Students who exhibit challenging behaviors typically have difficulties with various aspects of social behavior. The great news is that social skills are learned and can be taught. Social skills problems usually reflect skills deficits, performance deficits, or fluency deficits (Gresham, 1981, 1995). Acquisitions deficits are those skills that the student has never learned to use, use correctly, or use in the appropriate contexts. A performance deficit are skills that the student knows how to perform but chooses not to because of motivational factors. Fluency deficits occur in situations where the student knows how to perform a needed skill and is sufficiently motivated to perform the skill, but the actual performance of the skill is awkward and ineffective. Interventions to improve students’ social skills include strategies that are designed to address deficits in acquisition, performance, and fluency. One commonly recommended intervention for acquisition and possibly fluency deficits is social skills training or direct instruction in specific social skills. Using this model, social skills are taught using techniques that are similar to those used in teaching academic skills. Dr. Brenda Scheuermann gives some advice on selecting a social skills program. Choose a curriculum that is easy to use and easy to implement. Choose a curriculum that incorporates a coaching-modeling-behavioral rehearsal approach. Choose a curriculum that teaches observable, task-analyzed skills rather than abstract concepts. Choose a curriculum that has been field tested in school settings with student populations similar to your students. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, choose a curriculum that is research-based.
Group Reinforcement Systems Group reinforcement systems, also known as group contingencies, can serve two purposes. First, they can increase one or more targeted behaviors across all students in a group. Second, they can encourage group cohesiveness and teamwork. Group contingencies can be arranged for an entire class, for small groups, or even for pairs of students. There are three types of group contingencies: independent, interdependent, and dependent (Litow & Pumroy, 1975). An independent group contingency mean that although the same reinforce is available for all student in the group, the attainment of the reinforcer depends on each student’s individual performance. In an interdependent group contingency, all students work together for a common reinforcer. In a dependent group contingency, reinforcement for all students is contingent on the performance of one or more individual students. Some common group reinforcers are allotting extra recess time, giving less homework, allowing talk-time with peers, class games, or even the use of different manipulatives or writing tools. Group reinforcers can increase desired class behavior as everyone in the class turning in their homework. These types of reinforcers