Poster #49 - Understanding Negativity in the Classroom: Which Executive Functions are Behind Negative Student Behaviors?

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Developmental Disabilities

Integrative Statement

Background: Children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), often experience behavioral challenges that inhibit their success in mainstream school settings. When a student exhibits aggressive behavior in the classroom, it can have unwanted social and academic consequences. Chalfant, Rapee, and Carroll (2007) found that aggressive behaviors in the classroom have negative effects on teachers’ instructional efforts, resulting in reduced opportunities for learning and educational progress. One approach to preventing aggression in the classroom is to target students’ executive dysfunction. Lawson and colleagues (2015) suggest that increased inflexibility and disinhibition predict greater aggression in children with ASD and ADHD, respectively. Inhibition was also found to be a primary predictor of aggression in youth (Poland, Monks, & Tsermentseli, 2015). As Kenworthy and colleagues (2013) found, executive function (EF) intervention can help to reduce negativity in the classroom for students with ASD. This study aims identify EF domains related to displays of negativity in the classroom by students with teacher- and parent-reported behavioral challenges.

Methods: Participants were 152 children ages 8-11 (M=9.61, SD=.89) who were participants in a broader school-based treatment study for EF deficits. School staff members referred students based on difficulties with flexibility, emotional regulation, organization and/or planning. All participants had diagnoses of ASD, confirmed by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2), or ADHD, confirmed by the, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI Kid). Participants were in mainstream classrooms and did not have intellectual disabilities; average full-scale IQ was 96(14). Students’ negativity in the classroom was evaluated by treatment-blind research assistants who observed during the academic school day for approximately 15 minutes and noted the presence or absence of “Negativity/Overwhelm: Expresses any anger, frustration, sadness, anxiety, or difficulty coping, or behavior demonstrates feeling overloaded, frustrated or anxious (e.g. trouble expressing thoughts, withdrawal, etc.).” EF skills were assessed through parent report on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy & Kenworthy, 2000), resulting in t-scores on two indexes and eight clinical scales. The Behavioral Regulation Index comprises the Inhibit, Shift, and Emotional Control scales. The Metacognition Index includes the Initiate, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Organization of Materials, and Monitor.

Results: Findings indicate that broadly EF deficits, as measured by the parent-rated BRIEF’s Global Executive Composite score, are not significantly associated with negative classroom behaviors, F(1, 138)=0.249, p=.619. However, student age was correlated with the observation of negative classroom behaviors, r=.217 p=.009, a finding consistent with the literature that more complex aggressive behaviors are associated with older age in individuals with ASD (Farmer et al., 2015). When controlling for age, three BRIEF subscales were significantly associated with negative classroom behaviors: Initiate, Shift, and Monitor. Shift was the only BRI scale that was significantly related to negative behaviors in the classroom, F(1,7)=6.871, p=.034. Surprisingly, Inhibit and Emotional Control subscales did not relate. Within the MI, higher scores on Initiate, F(1,7)=8.014, p=.025, and Monitor, F(1,7)=5.593, p=0.50, subscales were also associated with the observation of negative behaviors.

Authors

• Meredith Dentes Powers, Children's National Health System
  Presenting Author

• Laura Anthony, University of Colorado Denver
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jonathan Safer-Lichtenstein, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alyssa Verbalis, Children's National Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sydney Seese, University of California- Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Kenworthy, Children's National Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author