Implementation of Presession Pairing with Group Contingency for Children of Deaf Adults to Improve Classroom Behavior

This study extended the literature on multicomponent interventions for the children of deaf adults (CODA) population. We evaluated two evidence-based behavior intervention strategies: pre-session pairing (PSP) and independent group contingency (GC). These strategies have successfully decreased off-task behavior in school-age children with various populations. However, the CODA population was not included in previous efforts. Using a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants, a single-case design, we examined whether teacher-implemented PSP with independent GC would reduce off-task behavior in three CODAs in an inclusive classroom at a public elementary school. The results showed that the PSP alone successfully decreased off-task behavior for all participating CODAs; however, the PSP combined with GC led to a greater and consistent reduction of the behavior. Future studies should replicate these findings with similar CODA populations to generalize these findings.