This study examined the effects of classroom-level and individual-level positive behavior support on regular children’s prosocial and peer-acceptance behaviors and developmentally delayed children’s problem behaviors in a fully inclusive public pr...
This study examined the effects of classroom-level and individual-level positive behavior support on regular children’s prosocial and peer-acceptance behaviors and developmentally delayed children’s problem behaviors in a fully inclusive public preschool classroom. The participants in the study were 16 regular children and one child with developmental delay in a fully inclusive 4-year-old class in a single-story public kindergarten in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Classroom-level positive behavior supports included selecting classroom promises, teaching and posting classroom promises, encouraging and pre-correcting for following through on promises, implementing group reinforcement, teaching prosocial behavior skills, and restructuring the environment. At the individual level of positive behavior support, problem behaviors (not putting things away, walking around without being seated, lying on the floor in the lunchroom) were selected through functional assessment and their functions were identified, and antecedent event interventions, alternative behavior interventions, and consequence interventions were implemented. The study design used a one-group pretest-posttest design to examine the effects on prosocial behavior and peer acceptance in regular children, and a multiple baseline design across settings to examine the effects on problem behavior in child with developmental delay, with baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. Results showed that, first, classroom-level positive behavior support significantly affected prosocial behavior and peer acceptance of children with developmental delays in a fully inclusive classrooms and reduced problem behaviors. Second, individual-level positive behavior support reduced problem behavior in a child with developmental delay, and the effects were maintained after the intervention ended. The results of this study suggest that classroom and individual positive behavior support in a fully inclusive public kindergarten classroom positively benefited both regular children and children with developmental delays.