| Summary of Research on Academic Interventions |
A literature review is currently being conducted to identify studies evaluating academic interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This review will evaluate the studies in the following areas: (a) age/grade, (b) diagnoses, in addition to EBD, (c) racial/cultural background, (d) setting, (e) targeted behavior, (f) type of intervention, (g) intervention effects, (h) duration of evaluation, (i) procedural integrity, (j) consumer satisfaction, (k) link to assessment information, and (l) generalization. Preliminary analyses of applicable studies have yielded the results described below. Thirty-three academic intervention studies have been identified, with a total of 181 students. The students ranged in age from 5 to 18, and in the majority of the studies (79%), the students ranged in age from 8-16 years old. The majority (31) of the studies did not report the racial/cultural background of the participants. Of the two studies that did, approximately 73% of the students were Caucasian, 18% were African American, and Hispanic and Asian students each made up 4% of the population. Thirty-two (97%) of the studies were conducted in special education or self contained classrooms for students with EBD. The remaining study was conducted in a general education classroom. |
Targeted behaviors included math performance (11 studies), reading performance and sight word acquisition (10 studies), spelling performance (five studies), writing performance (three studies), social studies and history (two studies), and on-task behavior and task engagement (five studies). Other target behaviors included disruptive or problem behavior (four studies), and improving social interactions (three studies). Most studies targeted more than one behavior. Peer tutoring was used as the intervention strategy in 7 of the 33 studies (21%). The remaining studies employed a diverse range of interventions such as mnemonic techniques, constant time delay, curricular modifications, written feedback, previewing, taped-words procedures, alteration of task difficulty, and cover-copy-compare. Thus far, in-depth analyses of 10 of these studies have taken place. In addition to the above characteristics, results of these analyses indicate effect sizes ranging from -1.04 to 53.87, with the majority of effect sizes greater than 1.0. The percentage of non-overlapping data points ranged from 0-100%, with a mean percentage of 61%. Studies reported a percentage change in level of no change to large changes, with the majority of studies reporting large changes. The duration of time across which intervention effects were assessed in these 10 studies ranged from 5-49 sessions, with sessions typically occurring once per day. Consumer satisfaction with the intervention was assessed in 3 of the 10 studies. Of these three studies, teachers and students rated the interventions positively. Assessment information was linked to intervention in one study, in which direct observation, preference assessment, and error analysis informed hypothesis formation and intervention development. Generalization of the behavioral effects of the interventions was assessed in 3 of the 10 studies, indicating that positive behavioral effects generalized to other settings or staff members. |
