Many years ago, a wise principal once told me that good instruction is the best classroom management tool teachers have at their disposal. In Session 293, Dr. Todd Haydon joins me to discuss the practice of increasing the rate of students' opportunities to respond (OTR), which is an instructional practice that has been shown to improve classroom behavior.
In doing so, Todd and I did a deep dive on his dissertation work, which culminated in the study, Haydon, Mancil, and Van Loan (2009). This study began with a referral to help students who engaged in disruptive and off-task behaviors. Rather than conduct several individual FBAs, Todd and his colleagues coached the teacher to increase the rate of posing academic questions to the class.
The results spoke for themselves, and the rest is history. So tune in to learn how this practice works, and maybe it can be something that will help you in your practice!
Oh, and by the way, he concludes the podcast with a very memorable story, so be sure to tune into the entire episode!
Resourced discussed in this podcast:
- Today's ABA (Hanley, Session 160, CEU Available).
- How to Improve Classroom Management with the Good Behavior Game (Donaldson, Session 171, CEU Available).
- Pat Friman, No such thing as a bad boy (Inside JABA 7, CEU Available).
- Deconstructing Compassionate ABA (Hanley, Session 183, CEU Available).
- How to Use Group Responding (Heward, Session 260, CEU Available).
- Clinical Interviewing book (How to get "permission" to give advice).
- Classroom improvement courses from The Behavioral Toolbox.
- Using Opportunities to Respond in a General Education Classroom: A Case Study (Haydon, Mancil and Van Loan, 2009).
- Managing Negative Countertransference when Working with Children Exhibiting Externalized Behaviors: A Single-Case Design (Guest et al., 2025).
- Key and Peele substitute teacher skit.
- Remedial and Special Education.
- Tootling: current research and future considerations for school practitioners (Whitefield and Harry, 2024).
- PAX: The Good Behavior Game.
- Todd's Research Gate page.
- Numbered Heads Together.
- Todd's UC Faculty Page.
This podcast is brought to you with the support of:
- Frontera. Consider taking a demo of Frontera's Assessment Builder and see how the ethical application of AI technologies can help you serve clients and save you time! Your first assessment report is free. And if you use code BOP25 you'll get an additional five assessments for just $100. So head to fronterahealth.com to check it out!
- The Profound Autism Summit. The Profound Autism Summit is a two-day conference taking place on April 10th and 11th in Boston, MA. Following on the massive success of the 2024 Summit, the 2025 event brings together leaders from the areas of research, medicine, treatment, advocacy, and education to discuss the needs and support of those with Profound Autism across disciplines and throughout the lifespan.
- HRIC Recruting. Cut out the middleman and speak directly with Barbara Voss, who's been placing BCBAs in great jobs all across the US for 15 years.
- CEUs from Behavioral Observations. Learn from your favorite podcast guests while you're commuting, walking the dog, or whatever else you do while listening to podcasts. New events are being added all the time, so check them out here.
- The Behavioral Toolbox. Check out our courses for school-based and other behavioral professionals, including our newest one, Motivational Interviewing: Getting Educator Buy-In.
- The Verbal Behavior Conference. Whether you attend in-person in Austin, TX, or online via BehaviorLive, you're going to love this year's Verbal Behavior Conference! Click here to get all the details!