Effects of Spoken and Written Rules in a Multiple-Schedule Arrangement in Special Education Classes

Studies employing multiple-schedule arrangements to bring social approaches (e.g., requesting attention, raising hand) under stimulus control have commonly used correlated contrived, continuous stimuli with at least one condition (e.g., displaying a green stimulus when attention is available and a red stimulus when it is not). Although imposing these correlates may have advantages for teaching, it may be impractical or stigmatizing to use them indefinitely in a learner's natural environment. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous research by using rules as naturalistic schedule correlates in a multiple-schedule arrangement. We evaluated the effects of multiple schedules with spoken rules (naturalistic, noncontinuous correlates) and a written rule (contrived, continuous correlate) on social approaches in three classrooms with adolescents with a variety of special education classifications. Social approaches decreased quickly during independent work periods and remained below criterion for all participants, with a novel teacher, when the written rule was removed, and during maintenance probes. Social validity assessments with the participants and special education teachers indicated high acceptability.