Social Stories and Token Economy as a Method of Overcoming

Off-task Behavior in Teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Adinda Istiqomah and Iwan Wahyu Widayat

Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Social Stories, Token Economy, Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract: Behavior that is not incompatible with the purpose of learning activities is called inappropriate behavior and

if it appears in the learning activities can be referred to off-task behavior. Off-task behavior has a negative

impact of performance and learning outcomes in school settings. This study aims to determine the

effectiveness of social stories and token economy as a method of overcoming off-task behavior in teenager

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Subjects in this study were 18-year-old high school students who

broke up from addict gadgets that it shows off-task behavior in schools. The research design that been used

is single case experiment design. The data collection instrument was conducted with a series of assessments:

observation, interview, CARS checklist, and level of serenity DSM V. The results of assessment show that

subjects have experience off-task behavior, i.e. the subject does not pay attention to the teacher, off task in

the class, non-completion task given at home, and sleep in the classroom during the lessons. The results of

the treatment after giving social stories and token economy on the evaluation of observation and interviews

show that: (1) the subject understanding to expected behavior in the class (2) Improving the subject

attention to learning in class. Based on this research, it is suggested that the method of social stories and

token economy can be one of the medias to reduce the off-task behavior in teenager with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD).

1 INTRODUCTION

Adolescent with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is

an autistic child who grew into a teenager,

experiencing puberty, and interested in sexuality.

Individuals with special needs including autism also

experienced the development that is not much

different from individuals who are not experiencing

it. They experience similar emotional, physical and

social changes. Limitations possessed by individuals

with autism cause adolescents with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD) often perform negative actions, such

as more irritability and more sensitive (Schwier and

Hingsburger, 2000).

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

(ASD) frequently demonstrate off-task behavior in

school settings, which limits their opportunities to

participate in general education settings. Sparzo and

Poteet (1997) identified the off-task behavior in

class such as impulsiveness, in-attention, non-

completion of task, out of seat without permission,

unmotivated to learn, unprepared for class and

disruptive. Alternative treatment the off-task

behavior includes using tactile self-monitoring,

individual work system, token economy and social

stories.

The tactile self-monitoring intervention was

successful in decreasing the number of intervals

spent off-task during three independent work tasks

and resulted in positive gains in the area of self-

management and independence for adolescents with

ASD (Root and Saunders, 2014). Research done by

Root and Saunders (2014) could not be applied in

this research because in the implementation of such

research requires a training period (for the

participant, the classroom staff) and a vibrating

timer was used as the tactile cue to self-monitor. The

other researchers examine the effects of a work

system on the independent work and play skills of

students with autism. Research done by Hume &

Odom (2007) indicated that all students showed

increases in on-task behavior, increases in the

number of tasks completed or play materials

utilized, and reduction of teacher prompts. Research

by Hume and Odom (2007) cannot be applied in this

study because the individual work system requires

Istiqomah, A. and Widayat, I.

Social Stories and Token Economy as a Method of Overcoming Off-task Behavior in Teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

DOI: 10.5220/0008584900340040

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings (ICP-HESOS 2018) - Improving Mental Health and Harmony in

Global Community, pages 34-40

ISBN: 978-989-758-435-0

task organization (visually clear information on what

the learning task is about). The setting of this

research is regular education classes typically have a

higher teacher-student ratio which means students

do not receive individual monitoring and encourage

them as often as possible. Smith (2001) added that

social stories provide many benefits as an

intervention in schools that focus on real life

situations. Benefits include the ability to work

individually with a child, ease in the creation and

production of the stories, the focus on immediate

social difficulties, personalization of the teaching of

social skills, their ability to be shared jointly. While

the intervention appeared effective in improving

body and eye contact, staying on the topic, and

disruptive behavior, overall it appeared that the

social stories did not cause the change in the

behavior. That is, the changes in behavior did not

coincide with the presentation and removal of the

story. Cihak et al., (2012) video Social Stories to

specific functions of behaviors increased task-

engagement behaviors in the general education

classroom for all students. In addition, special and

general education teachers, as well as participating

students, reported favorable social acceptability of

the intervention.

The other research used behavior approach to

decrease off-task behavior. It is like what Klimas

and McLaughlin (2007) done, that shows giving

token economy can reduce inappropriate behavior in

the classroom and raise the level of academic

performance. From the results of his research, found

that token economy can improve the completion of

tasks, which means the time required to complete

task is fewer and can reduce inappropriate behavior

in the classroom on children with special need

(Klimas and McLaughlin, 2007). This study uses

social stories and token economy to overcome off-

task behavior in adolescents with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD). Social stories can provide social

information that is easily understood by individuals

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the school

setting. While a token economy to increase desired

behavior in accordance with character of the

participant who liked the reward.

Behavior modification is part of the huge

influence of intervention in social work practice.

One of the techniques commonly used in changing

human behavior based on behaviorism approach is

token economy. The token Economy is a system of

reinforcement for behavior that is managed and

modified, someone must be awarded/granted

reinforcement to increase or decrease the desired

behavior (Garry,1999). Token economy is a form of

behavior modification designed to improve desired

behavior and reduce unwanted behavior with token

usage. Individuals receive the tokens quickly after

demonstrating the desired behavior (Miltenberger,

2001). From some previous opinions, it can be

concluded that token economy is a way of shaping

behavior that utilizes gift exchange for someone who

is willing to perform behavior targeted by the

teacher, so they can improve the desired behavior

and reduce unwanted behavior.

Token economy is one example of extrinsic

reinforcement that makes someone do something to

achieve, that can increase his attention, both from

the level of tenacities and from the level of vigilitate,

the goal is to change the extrinsic motivation into

intrinsic motivation, in this way it is expected that

the desired behavior acquisition can be rewarded for

maintaining new behaviors (Tarbox, Ghezzi,

Wilson, 2006).

Developmental delay, especially intellectual

disability and autism have a history of application

behavior. In fact, children and adults with an

intellectual disability and/or autism was the first

population study gets extensive use of token

economy (Ayllon & Azrin, 1965; O’Leary &

Drabman, 1971 dalam Matson & Boisjoli, 2009).

According to APA (2000), Autistic diagnosis can be

enforced if the child has obstacles in three areas:

social interaction, communication and behavior.

Delays or functional abnormalities in one of these

areas must occur before the age of 3 years (Sattler,

2002). But in 2013, APA reviewed on the area of

barriers experienced by ASD, from three areas

(triadic) into two areas (dyadic), i.e. barriers to

social communication, repetitive behavior and

limited interest.

The social story was designed by Carol Gray for

students with ASD. Social story describes a

situation, abilities, and concepts related to social

cues, perspectives, and general responses (Gray,

1994 cited in Karkhaneh, et al., 2010). The success

of the social story itself is to provide accurate social

information to the child and ensure an easy way that

understood by the child. When children understand a

social situation better, they can learn socially

acceptable ways to interact with others (Herriot &

Wong, 2015). Social story is one of the methods of

intervention that are more focused on improving the

quality of life rather than a decrease in negative

behavior. Social story is one of the methods of

intervention that put more emphasis on the

perspective of students, where in the story provided

instruction to conduct positive and appropriate social

behavior (Crozier and Sileo, 2005). As Iskander and

Social Stories and Token Economy as a Method of Overcoming Off-task Behavior in Teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Rosales (2013) examines the effectiveness of social

stories and pair it with procedural differential

reinforcement of disruptive behaviors (e.g. arguing

with teachers and friends, non-tasking behaviors,

unwilling to sit in the chair, unwilling to take turns

to speak) of two children at the second grade. The

two children were diagnosed with pervasive

developmental disorder-not otherwise specified and

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The

results of these studies are effective for reducing

behavioral problems compared to baseline.

In addition to the methods of social stories there

are also methods of behavior modification in the

form of a token economy to improve the appearance

of expected positive behavior and the token

economy that can be given to adolescents who are

undergoing treatment for change expected behavior

(Miltenberger, 2004). Based on this phenomenon

researcher wishes to do research on social stories

and token economy as a method of overcoming off-

task behavior in teenager with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD), that aims to determine the

effectiveness of social stories and token economy as

a method of overcoming off-task behavior in adults

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

2 METHOD

2.1 Research Subject

Subjects in this study were 18-year-old adolescents

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who behaved

off-task with behavioral characteristics: 1) did not

pay attention to the teacher, 2) exit from the bench,

3) did not do the task, 4) sleep during class hours, 5)

not doing homework. Subjects have academic ability

equivalent to other regular students.

Subject in school settings cannot be used using

gadgets that have an impact on the off-task behavior

in schools. Before that happens, subject still

completion of the task and able to achieve learning

targets.

2.2 Research Design

The study uses single case experiment design. This

research is an experimental research with sample

one single case. This design is used to evaluate the

effect of a treatment or intervention with a single

case. The method of determining subject is use

through a series of observation and interviewing

process. As well as the CARS (childhood autism

rating scale) score checklist 30-35 and level of

serenity DSM V at the level need support.

2.3 Research Procedure

The procedures in this study consist of a) conducting

interviews and observations related to off-duty

behavior in the class, b) conducting the CARS

assessment to determine the severity of ASD

symptoms, c) performing ASD level of serenity

assessments on DSM V to determine the required

support level, d) make a diagnosis of subject matter,

e) provide psycho-education to counselor teachers, f)

provide treatment in the form of social stories and

token economy method, g) monitoring behavior

change through observation technique filled with

teacher, h) conduct final evaluation by comparing

the condition drawn on the behavior who want to

remove and who wants to appear.

2.4 Analysis Techniques

Data analysis technique in this study uses

comparative descriptive analysis method that is

comparing the behavior of subject in the class,

before and after treatment. Data analysis in this

study will compare the off-task behavior become on-

task behavior that would explain in descriptive.

3 RESULT

Treatment that is given on the subject aims to

address the issue of off-task behavior in class.

Before giving the treatment, author determines the

baseline of behavior that belongs to the off task.

Some of these behaviors are not paying attention to

the teacher, out of the seat and borrow a friend's

mobile phone, not doing the task, sleeping during

school hours, and not doing homework.

Based on the assessments results, the subjects

off-task behavior not only appeared in school, but

also appeared at home, subject never did the

homework assignment provided by the teacher. This

is evident from the results of observation and

interviews. In addition, on the results of the

interview and observation, level of Serenity ASD on

DSM V note that off-task behavior occurs due to

lack of support people around in supporting the

subject to complete the task. As it is known that the

subject only lives with his mother, both parents have

divorced a year ago. Subjects are often left in self-

employed rooms while mothers are at work and only

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

do activities with gadgets (such as tabs and laptop)

as well as television.

Therefore, when subject is required to face a new

situation in which he can no longer use the gadget

experiences problems in facing the situation and

raises off-task behavior at school. Off-task behavior

arises because social skill is not well developed,

which is causes problem. The author makes the draft

method of social stories to provide information

about the new social situation, which is provided

instruction to do positive and appropriate social

behavior

Next, the author combines the method of social

stories using behavior modification techniques in the

form of token economy. As for treatment that given

to the subject aims to change the behavior of off-task

into the on-task.

On applying of behavioral modification with this

token economy technique, subjects are expected to

collect tokens (such as stickers, smiley face images)

in accordance with the behavioral targets to be

achieved. The token that subject has collected can be

exchanged for a reward of backing up reinforce

which is something the subject wants.

Table 1: Story Given

Script Title Schedule of

Implementation

Classroom rules 5 Januar

2018

Classroom rules 8 Januar

2018

Table 2: Off-Task and On-Task Behavior

Off-Task Behavior On-Task Behavior

Establishe

Not paying attention

to the teacher, getting out

of the bench, not doing

the task, sleeping during

school hours, and not

doin

homewor

Pay attention to the

teacher (pay attention to

the words and information

provided by the teacher)

Out of the bench to

see and borrow a friend's

mobile

hone

Following the

teachers instructions

Not doing the task Doing the task

(

inde

endentl

Sleep during school

hours

Want to follow

teacher direction

Not doing the work

done at home

Record home duty

notes

As for the process implementation after giving

the social stories for two days in a row, then

execution of token economy was carried out for two

weeks with monitoring by each teacher subjects

toward the changes behavior of the subject in the

class.

Based on evaluation results through observation

and interviews after giving treatment in the form of

social stories method and token economy. The

behavior change of subject can be seen in the target

behavior that appears.

Table 3: Details evaluation of subject behavior changes

Target

Behavior

Before

Treatment

Week I

Treatment

Week II

T W Th F T W Th F T W Th F

Pay

attention

to the

teache

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

instruction

by the

teache

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Doing the

tas

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

the

teacher

direction

√ √ √ √ V √ √ √

record

home duty

notes

√ - - - - - - -

(T: Tuesday, W: Wednesday, Th: Thursday, F: Friday)

Social Stories and Token Economy as a Method of Overcoming Off-task Behavior in Teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

There are changes in the subjects that not pay

attention to teachers. Subjects start giving attention

to the words and information provided by teachers

who originally only in 10 minutes to 45 minutes

learning hours. Similar with the subject who out of

the seat to see and borrow a friend's mobile phone,

there are change that initial intensity around ten

times become only two times. Subjects are willing to

follow the instruction of teacher, at the beginning

subject refused when teacher asked to write notes of

subject matter and read the reading material of a

chapter section. But, after the treatment, subject

responded to all teacher instructions. As well as

subjects who never answered teachers’ questions

directly, became responsive to all teacher direct

questions. In addition, there are changes in subject

who does not doing the task. Subjects start do all the

tasks independently without any verbal prompting to

completely. Besides that, there are also change in

subject who sleeps during the lesson. Subjects, who

initially slept 2-4 hours of lessons for one day,

became sleepless for 8 hours until the lesson end.

Subject are willing to follow the direction from the

teacher to complete the tasks that are considered

difficult, even they want to follow the teacher

direction to do the questions directly that never be

done before. There are also changes with a subject

who does not do the work done at home. Subject

records the homework assignment and directly does

the homework on the same day.

Token economy can be placed in schools or

elsewhere. Furthermore, this program can be used as

a basic program, with other interventions tailored for

communication, independent living skills, and other

important are added to token economy (Matson and

Boisjoli, 2009). Token economy can improve task

completion with less time to complete and can

reduce inappropriate behavior in class on children

with special needs (Klimas and McLaughlin, 2007).

Thus, token economy has been proven from

experimental results to be flexible and effective

interventions for children with developmental

disabilities and deserves attention by current

practitioners and researchers for evaluation and

further focus.

4 DISCUSSION

Characteristic deficits in social and communication

skills of these students often negatively affect their

academic success. Academic interventions that

better prepare students with ASD to participate in

general education settings are needed to mitigate this

deficit (Knight et al., 2013).

The problem of off-task behavior of subject is

due to the underlying social skills of the subject that

have not developed well so that it is difficult to

adapt to the new social situation. Social skills are

behavior that supports someone to interact positively

with others and the environment. Social skills are

defined as interpersonal response with the definition

of specific operations i.e. makes the child to adapt to

the environment through verbal and non-verbal

communication (Matson, 2007). Merrel and Gimpel

(1998, cited in Matson, 2009) social skills have to do

with academic achievement, psychological

adjustment, coping skills and work. Key academic

and social success for individuals with autism is an

integration and collaboration among all team

members. A strong assessment is needed, IEP

(Individualized Educational Program), and

implementation of an intervention strategy (Crasea,

Vakil and Welton, 2004).

As for the social stories method are given to

provide information about the new social situation

(Gray, 1994 cited in Karkhaneh et al., 2010), when a

child is able to build social relations with the

teachers, then to overcome the emergence of off-task

behavior as the impact of social problems and can

replace it with the expected behavior. In this study

the expected behavior in which the story is provided

instruction to conduct a positive and appropriate

social behavior.

In this study the subject did not pay attention to

the teacher being paying attention to words and

information given teachers, when subjects want to

borrow mobile phones start to obey the instruction

of teachers, start to complete the assignment, sleep

during the lesson to follow the direction of the

teacher, and start doing homework as soon as they

are given by the teacher. In addition, after giving

social stories, the formation of behaviors rose in

behavioral targets followed by token economy to

increase the appearance of expected positive

behavior and token economy that can be given to

adolescence is undergoing treatment to change the

behavior expectations (Miltenberger, 2004).

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of comparative descriptive

analysis that has been done, it can be concluded that

social stories and token economy are effective as a

method to overcome off-task behavior in teenager

with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The existence

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

of different behavioral targets before and after

intervention indicates that there is off-task behavior

being an on-task adolescent with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD).

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ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings