Decreasing the Inattentive Behavior of Jordanian Children: A Group Experiment

The present study investigated the efficacy of using response cost paired with Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) to manage the inattentive behavior of 30 students attending third and fourth grade in Jordan. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to evaluate the efficacy of response cost and DRI. Results showed that students who were instructed using response cost and DRI strategies reduced their inattentive behavior significantly compared with students in the control group. In addition, there was a significant difference between experimental group means on the posttest and follow-up, which occurred two weeks following the completion of the intervention. Issues regarding future research and implications for practice are discussed.