The “least intrusive intervention” strategy for behavior change procedures: The use of public and private feedback in school classrooms

Many classroom behavior modification procedures have failed to be adopted by practicing classroom teachers because the procedures are overly intrusive into the regular classroom routine. A strategy for teachers and consultants which moves from less to more intrusive interventions is described and demonstrated with a case example. Private feedback was ineffective in reducing a child's inappropriate behavior, but the introduction of public feedback resulted in a decrease in inappropriate behavior to below the class average. Attitudinal measures of the teacher's evaluation of the child and his selfevaluation were related to the child's behavior during the public feedback procedure.