The Use of Correspondence Training in Improving the In‐class Behaviour of Very Troublesome Secondary School Children

Abstract

Seven children were identified by staff consensus as being the most troublesome pupils in a comprehensive secondary school. A study was then conducted to examine the effects of ‘say‐do’ correspondence training in reducing the amount of troublesome behaviour engaged in by these pupils in the classroom. Such behaviour was defined as ‘talking out of turn’ and ‘hindering other children’, behaviours which had already been found to be the most common categories of troublesome behaviour for secondary classroom teachers.

A multiple baseline across subjects design was employed which brought about a reduction in these two behaviours for three girls and three boys. The behaviour of a fourth boy, however, did not improve beyond the first half of the intervention period. This outcome is discussed in terms of a general deterioration in behaviour and competing contingencies in the classroom. There was some evidence of the generalisation of effects across settings and an increase in the amount of homework submitted.

These results build upon existing research which shows that correspondence training is a useful strategy for dealing with some common classroom behaviour problems. This paper reports an extension of the application of the correspondence training procedures to secondary school pupils of both sexes and covers a broad range of academic ability.