Hyperactive Behavior (continued)

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Teach Appropriate Social Skills

Students who are hyperactive will respond best in settings where the rules for behavior have been clearly established. In addition, the rules must be consistently enforced, and students should be reinforced for following the rules. Students with hyperactivity are most successful in structured classroom settings where the rules are obvious and consistently enforced (Gordon, 1991; Schaub, 1990).

Students with hyperactivity also respond well in educational programs that include positive reinforcement. Students who are positively reinforced using praise and tokens for appropriate behavior (e.g., staying in seat, asking permission, following rules) are more likely to engage in behaviors incompatible with hyperactivity (DuPaul & Eckert, 1997; Melloy, 1990). Paniagua, Morrison, and Black (1990) report on the effective use of positive reinforcement to reduce the hyperactive behavior of a 7-year-old boy. They found that offering a toy as positive reinforcement for promising to inhibit behavior and actual inhibition of the behavior was effective in reducing hyperactive behavior.

Students labeled hyperactive often receive low social status ratings from their peers and deviant scores on teacher ratings of behavior (McConnell & Odom, 1986). These students benefit from training in social skills using a structured learning approach (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1997). Social skills that are incompatible with hyperactive behavior include staying in seat, task completion, joining in a group, and offering help to others. Modeling, role playing, receiving feedback, and generalization training in these skills can reduce hyperactive behavior in students.

Mathes and Bender (1997) report that self-monitoring of behavior and psychostimulant medication were helpful to three boys, ages 8 through 11 years, in improving their on-task behavior. Other studies have also reported on the effectiveness of self-regulation or self-management interventions in helping students increase attention and academic productivity and reduce hyperactivity (e.g., Barry & Haraway, 2005; Reid, Trout, and Schartz, 2005).