Utilizing the Token Economy in a Special Education Classroom

By Rebecca Reichbaum

This issue of NASET’s Practical Teacher was written by Rebecca Reichbaum. The study presented was conducted in an Emotional Support classroom in a rural high school setting. Students have 4 class periods per day and are expected to put their phones in the caddy for the duration of class. The purpose of this study was to see if utilizing a token economy with positive praise would increase compliance for immediate phone placement upon entering the classroom. The study used an ABAB method to gain experimental control and to see contrast between phases. The results showed that students were more likely to exhibit the desired behavior with the token economy in place, intervention one and two showed 76% and 92% compliance. While baseline one and two showed 18% and 20% compliance. In conclusion, this study was effective and exhibited the desired results. It will continue to be utilized until students show readiness for it to be phased out.

Abstract

This study was conducted in an Emotional Support classroom in a rural high school setting. Students have 4 class periods per day and are expected to put their phones in the caddy for the duration of class. The purpose of this study was to see if utilizing a token economy with positive praise would increase compliance for immediate phone placement upon entering the classroom. The study used an ABAB method to gain experimental control and to see contrast between phases. The results showed that students were more likely to exhibit the desired behavior with the token economy in place, intervention one and two showed 76% and 92% compliance. While baseline one and two showed 18% and 20% compliance. In conclusion, this study was effective and exhibited the desired results. It will continue to be utilized until students show readiness for it to be phased out.

Introduction

Most people are motivated to go to work because of the promise of a paycheck at the end of the week. In turn, they can use that money to purchase wanted and needed items. As educators, we have taken this form of motivation to motivate our students. More specifically, this approach is used more commonly in special education classrooms. The Token Economy can benefit student’s education along with teachers lowering the instances of behavior concerns in the classroom.

The number of students that exhibit an inability to follow classroom rules and procedures continues to be an issue. More specifically, this is occurring more often in students with Individual Education Plans. In a study completed by Zahid et al, it was found that on average, 67% of non-identified students had no trouble completing an activity, while 83% of identified students did struggle, even when assistance was provided (2023). Following this, 94% of the non-identified students did not exhibit any behaviors on the checklist, while 66% of the identified students did engage in the monitored behaviors (Zahid et al, 2023). This study shows that students who have been identified with a learning difference that requires an IEP need modifications to their education in order to be successful and achieve their goals.

Teachers and researchers alike have questioned and researched what the most effective methods should be utilized to combat these behaviors. If the behaviors can be lessened, there will be more focus and time on education, which is the goal. The token economy has been around and used by educators for many years. An abundance of research has been done on the effectiveness of the token economy, and how to best utilize it across many different types of student bodies. If used correctly, the token economy can help students with IEP’s to be more successful in the classroom, and later in life.

What is a Token Economy?

A token economy is a reward system utilized to motive a specific group or individual to modify their behaviors. There are three main components to the token economy, as stated by Liu et al (2022). There must be a behavior or behaviors that need to be reinforced, tokens given to the individual(s) when that behavior is observed, and the exchange of tokens for the reinforcing reward. This is a type of positive reinforcement, which has been shown to yield better results than any type of punishment.

Positive reinforcement encourages individuals to continue engaging in a desired behavior(s). This type of behavior modification was studied by Watson, and was coined as “behaviorism.” He found that after consistent positive reinforcement, the desired behavior became the natural state of being for the individuals he studied. His study stemmed from the work of Pavlov, who studied altering the environment in order to shape behaviors. From this, BF Skinner began to explore rewarding the behavior instead of modifying the environment. He found that desired behaviors were attained at a higher rate and for a longer period of time when positive reinforcement was used versus when punishment was assigned. When being able to earn something of interest, individuals are more likely to put forth effort.

When deciding what reinforcers should be utilized, there are many factors to consider. The first step is deciding what would be the most effective tool to use as the tokens. Depending on the subjects, one may use tickets, fake coins, check marks on a chart, or a personalized poster. Within my study, tickets were utilized. After this, the desired behavior must be decided upon, this can vary from class to class or be different for each student. The behavior focused on in this study is students putting their phones up immediately upon entering the classroom. When this has been decided, the reward for earning tokens must be determined. When making this determination it is essential to include the individuals in order to ensure the item is something they will want to work towards earning. Within my classroom, we have a student store that is restocked monthly, students create the list for what will be in the store. When you have addressed of these, it is time to implement the token economy.

When a Token Economy is correctly implemented and utilized, it benefits all. The initial implementation may take some time, but with consistency, it will be easy to continue utilization. The first step to implementation is explain the system to the students it will be used with. They must be aware of the expected behaviors for earning tokens, and any specific stipulations for not earning them. Lastly, we must show the students what their rewards are and explain when they can receive them. My students are allowed to cash out at the start of and end of class. When all of this has been covered with the students, you may begin to utilize the token economy. As it is utilized, changes will be made, as stated by Helm et at, “The reinforcers and rules are easily adjusted and should change over time as the individual uses the economy. (2020)” When it has been decided that the token economy has achieved the desired behaviors, it should be gradually removed (Regnier et al, 2022).

Implementation

Defining Measures

In this study, I tracked the number of times each student put their phone in the classroom caddy immediately upon entering the classroom. This was recorded with a simple check mark indicating yes or no.

Data Collection Procedures

The chart below was marked each day upon students entering the classroom. The teacher handing out the tickets was the one filling out the chart. As the students entered the classroom, it was marked if they earned the ticket/put their phones away. For student overlap between class periods, it was be noted by assigning them the same letter.

Period 1     Date:	Yes	No
Student A
Student B
Student C
Student D
Student E
Student F
Student G
Student H
Student I
Student J

Experimental Design

For this study, an ABAB design was utilized in order to show contrast between baseline and intervention. It was also chosen because the reward was able to be removed for return to baseline without unnecessary hardship on the staff or students involved. This design was also the most effective for showing if the intervention was successful and if it will continue to be successful. This is determined by the contrast from phase to phase along with showing that outside environmental factors did not alter the results.

Experimental Control

The ABAB design establishes experimental control by starting with at least 5 consistent baseline points prior to intervention being implemented. It was then reinforced by returning to baseline, with a removal of tickets being received. While continuing to track if students were putting their phones away upon entering the classroom. This return to baseline was followed by reimplementation of the intervention, which assures that there were no outside factors altering the results of the study. Along with this, Inter-Observer Agreement and Procedural Integrity were utilized.

Inter-Observer Agreement

In order to ensure accurate findings, my classroom aide was also documenting if students place their phone immediately in the classroom caddy upon entering the room on specified days. Of the total 20 days in the study, inter-observer agreement was conducted on 10 days, or 50% of days. After completion of the study, Interobserver agreement was found to be 96%.

Procedural Integrity

Following consistent steps for the study was essential to ensure its accuracy. The following checklist was created and shared with anyone who may be tracking data, including the teacher, classroom aide, and any possible substitute teachers.

1. Did the student put their phone away immediately upon entering the classroom?
2. Did the staff immediately give the student 2 tickets?
3. Did the staff pair giving the tickets with a positive statement to the student?

The above steps ensured that everyone was doing the exact same thing throughout the study in order to limit any question of the integrity and validity.

Steps

At the baseline phase, students entered the classroom and were told to immediately put their phones in the classroom caddy. No tokens or positive praise were given for compliance. Baseline was tracked for 5 school days. At the end of the 5^th school day, the students were informed of the 2-ticket reward for phones being immediately placed in the caddy upon entering the classroom. There was already a token system in place, so they were aware of how it worked. The following school day, the intervention was implemented and students who immediately placed their phones in the caddy were given 2 tickets paired with a positive statement about their behavior. This intervention phase was carried out for 5 school days. We then returned to baseline for 5 days, removing the ticket and positive praise reward for students putting their phones in the caddy. While back at baseline, we continued to track which students exhibited the desired behaviors and which did not. Lastly, we again implemented the intervention with the 2-ticket reward and positive praise while tracking student behavior. The intervention remained in place due to the results provided below.

Maintenance

The intervention was again tracked at 30 days for a follow-up and showed consistent results as noted below. As the goal of the token economy is to alter behavior to become the natural state, the intervention will be phased out over time. This will be done by slowly adding increments of time between students putting their phones away and them receiving tickets. Following this, it will be lowered to 1 ticket for exhibiting the desired behavior. Then tickets will be given randomly for compliance. The token economy will continue to be utilized within the classroom, and may be re implemented for phones if needed.

Results

After completion of the study, the results were as follows. At the baseline phase, with no tickets or positive praise, 18% of students put their phones in the caddy immediately upon entering the classroom over the 5-day period. When the intervention was explained and implemented, 76% of students exhibited the desired behavior upon entering the classroom over the 5-day period. Following this, with the return to baseline, 20% of students were compliant with the desired behavior over the 5-day period. Lastly, with the return to intervention, 92% of students exhibited the desired behavior of immediately putting their phones in the caddy upon entering the classroom. Maintenance was conducted at 30 days, resulting in 90% compliance.

The chart below shows the contrast from A-B or baseline 1 to intervention 1, B-A or intervention 1 to baseline 2, and A-B, or baseline 2 to intervention 2.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the token economy paired with positive praise has been found to be effective, and will continue to be utilized it in my classroom. When student’s natural state is immediately putting their phone in the caddy upon entering the classroom, it will be phased out for this specific behavior and utilized towards others.

References

Helm, S. (2020). Expert Columns: Use Token Economies to Provide Positive Reinforcement and Modify Behavior. Mayinstitute.org. www.mayinstitute.org/news/acl/asd-and-dd-child-focused/use-token-economies-to-provide-positive-reinforcement-and-modify-behavior/

Liu, M. (2022). What is a token economy system? | PACE. Www.pacificautism.org. www.pacificautism.org/what-is-a-token-economy-system/

Regnier, S. D., Traxler, H. K., Devoto, A., & DeFulio, A. (2022). A systematic review of treatment maintenance strategies in token economies: Implications for contingency management. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 45(45). doi.org/10.1007/s40614-022-00358-7

Zahid, N., Jamil, A., & Nawaz, I. (2023). Behavioral problems and academics of children in inclusive education – A cross-sectional survey. Heliyon, 9(2), e13496. doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13496