USING CONTINGENT DECREASED FREEDOM-OF-MOVEMENT TO ELIMINATE CLASSROOM RUNNING AWAY: A CASE STUDY

The present research investigated the effects of a levels program, which made a child's increased freedom-of-movement contingent on his remaining in the classroom or assigned area, on the child's behavior of running away from a special education classroom. During a baseline period of five weeks, the child ran away an average of 6.5 times per week. Implementation of the levels program resulted in a decrease in runaway incidents to only .67 per week. The introduction of a modified levels program decreased runaway incidents still further to a mean of .45 per week. Reimplementation of both the levels program and modified levels program then resulted in a five-week period in which no runaways occurred. Followup in an eight-week Summer school program showed a continued low frequency of runaway incidents, .37 per week. The levels approach was considered a particularly advantageous procedure, as its application was correlated with drastically reduced running away incidents, while providing contact wiht potential classroom reinforcers. Maintenance of classroom attendance was possible with a single component of the treatment package.