Psycholugy
in
fhe
Schools
Vulumc
30,
Junuery
1993
SELF-MANAGEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT
OF
STUDENTS
WITH BEHAVIOR DISORDERS
BELINDA
D.
LAZARUS
University
of
Michigan-Dearborn
The effect
of
general self-management skills on the achievement
of
behavior disordered
(BD)
students on independent math tasks is described. Eighteen students with behavior
disorders were trained to apply general self-management strategies
to
affect improve-
ment in performance on independent math calculation practice sheets.
A
single-subject
multiple baseline design across three subjects with five direct, concurrent replications
was used to analyze the data. Student performance under two separate conditions,
baseline and self-management, was compared. Based on the weekly mean percentage
of correct responses to daily mathematics worksheets, students’ achievement improved
significantly under the treatment condition. Implications for the use of self-management
strategies by special needs students are suggested.
Independence, self-discipline, and self-reliance rank among the expected and valued
outcomes of education. Children are expected to increasingly regulate and manage their
own behaviors in academic and social settings as an indication of growth and maturity.
Several studies show that a variety of self-management strategies enables students to
accomplish independently a multitude of academic and social tasks each day and posi-
tively affects achievement, peer acceptance, and self-concept (Brigham, Hopper, Hill,
DeArmas,
&
Newsom,
1985;
Hallahan, Lloyd, Kneedler,
&
Marshall,
1982;
Hughes,
Ruhl,
&
Peterson,
1988;
Kanfer,
1977;
Lloyd,
1980).
Intervention programs that address
the application of self-management include the singular and conjunctive use
of
self-
monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement, specific strategy training to handle
academically related problems, and application of general self-management strategies
(Shapiro,
1989).
Self-management involves the ability to apply behavior-change strategies in the
regulation of one’s own behaviors and contains three components: self-monitoring, self-
evaluation, and self-reinforcement (Kanfer,
1971).
Each component contains specific
skills, such as goal setting and problem identification. In contrast to behavior-manage-
ment strategies developed and maintained by an external change-agent (e.g., teacher,
parent), self-management strategies are developed, evaluated, and reinforced solely
by
the individual. The use of self-management rests on the assumption that individuals
can apply any behavioral principle (e.g., reinforcement, punishment, shaping) to change
their own behavior. In practice, self-management involves at least two responses: (a)
the response to be controlled,
or
the target response: and (b) the response to be emitted
in order to control the target response. Both responses, the controlling response and
the target response, must be arranged and emitted by the individual in order to qualify
as self-management.
For
example, the student who uses the viewing of
a
favorite televi-
sion program (controlling response) as a reward that affects the completion of
a
home-
work assignment (target response) is using self-management skills.
Requests for reprints should be sent
to
Belinda D. Lazarus, School
of
Education, University
of
Michigan-
Dearborn, Dearborn,
MI
48128-1491.
67