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Case #3: Cheyenne
Cheyenne is a 16 year old girl who needs to learn better study habits. She frequently
misses class and neglects assignments which results in low grades and even lower self-esteem.
With the help of a behavioural skills training program, Cheyenne can improve her performance
in school as well as improve her overall opinion of herself.
There are a few skills or behaviours that can be taught to Cheyenne to help her succeed in
school. She will learn attendance compliance, stress management and time management skills.
In terms of attendance compliance, Cheyenne will learn to attend 4 of her classes every
day that school is in session. She must remain in each class for the duration of the scheduled
period. An instance of ‘attendance compliance’ will also include the following behaviours:
 Attending: Cheyenne will be seated in the scheduled classroom at the scheduled class
time.
 Listening: In an occurrence of ‘listening’, Cheyenne will use full body listening when
the instructor or other presenters are speaking
 Reading: An instance of ‘reading’ will occur when Cheyenne is prompted by the
professor. She will be seated, eyes towards the book page. Her hands will turn pages
as she reads.
 Class participation: In an instance of class participation, Cheyenne will participate in
class discussions by raising her hand when prompted and sharing her opinion when
selected to speak. She will complete any in class assignments handed out by her
teacher.

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The second skill Cheyenne would benefit from learning is stress management. It is when
Cheyenne begins to feel overwhelmed that she begins to engage in avoidant behaviours; it is at
this time that the stress management will come into use. Instances of ‘stress management’ will
include the following behaviours:
 Positive self-talk: an instance of positive self-talk will take place when Cheyenne says
negative things about herself (i.e. –too stupid to do the work). After a prompt she will
say three positive things about herself. Over time this can help correct her negative
thoughts and improve self-confidence.
 Deep breathing: in an instance of deep breathing, Cheyenne will sit or stand with eyes
closed. She will inhale through her nose for 3 seconds, and then exhale through her
nose for three seconds. She will repeat this exercise 10 times.
 Exercise: in an instance of ‘exercise’, Cheyenne will walk around her neighbourhood
continuously for the duration of one hour. She will be back at the group home
precisely 1 hour from her departure.
The final skill Cheyenne would benefit from learning is time management. This will be
the most beneficial for her to learn, and therefore will be the focus of the rest of the case study.
Cheyenne will use this skill to keep track of assignment due dates, tests, homework and
appointments. Time management will include the following behaviours:
 Homework completion: Cheyenne will complete homework as soon as she gets
home from school.

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 Studying: an instance of studying will take place each night at a scheduled time
for 1 hour. Cheyenne will be seated at her desk in her room, reading notes and
textbooks. She will not have access to electronic devices or social media for the
duration of the study period.
 Filling out agenda: This will occur in each class, every day school is scheduled.
Cheyenne will write down (or type electronically) when assignments and
homework are due, and when tests are scheduled
 Completing white board calendar: Cheyenne will transcribe due dates and test
dates onto a white board calendar in her room
 Assignment rating: Cheyenne will rate her assignments low, medium and high (in
terms of difficulty) High rated assignments warrant more work periods than low.
 Working period: a working period will be a daily designated time frame for
Cheyenne to work on assignments. It will be 30 minutes to 1 hour in duration.
Cheyenne will use this skill in a few different situations. First of all, she will be using this
skill at school, in class, during class time. As students are informed of assignments, tests and
other important dates, Cheyenne will have the opportunity to fill out her agenda. Once she comes
home for the day, Cheyenne will use this skill much more. She will have to organize her chores,
meal prep as well as set aside sufficient time for homework and studying.
During her set homework and study period, she will delve further into time management
and organization by deciding which assignments to work on and how much time should be
reserved for them. This particular chunk of time will be the most crucial in her success.

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Finally, Cheyenne may also have the opportunity to use her time management skills when
making plans with her friends, or making various appointments (doctors, dentist, counsellor,
etc…)
Since Cheyenne is performing at or above grade level, she will not benefit as much from
a clinical teaching setting. Cheyenne will be taught using Natural Environment Teaching, since it
is most practical for her, and may also help her generalize the skill faster.
In order to teach Cheyenne time management, a few different techniques will be
implemented. First off, a reinforcer checklist will be completed, in order to find out what
reinforces Cheyenne. Since Cheyenne lacks confidence, the first and most frequently used
reinforcer will be verbal praise. However, to avoid satiation, back up reinforcers will be selected.
The next step will be modelling the skill to Cheyenne. To do this, a fully-functioning
electronic or paper planner will be shown to her. This can be done by the behaviour consultant as
well as other people working in the group home. Cheyenne will have an opportunity to flip
through the planner, to get an idea of how it is used. A few appointments, phone calls or simple
errands will be scheduled for that time, and Cheyenne will watch as they are completed in a
timely manner.
The next two teaching tools will be prompting and positive reinforcement. However, in
order for this section to be successful, Cheyenne’s group home staff as well as her teachers must
be on board. The two techniques will be used at the same time, in order to achieve the desired
results.
The first prompt will be Cheyenne’s calendar. It will be a within stimulus prompt; the
calendar will start out as a very large, single month white board calendar. It will be big enough

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that it draws attention and stands out among the other things in Cheyenne’s room. As Cheyenne
progresses, the prompt can be faded by giving Cheyenne a regular sized small wall calendar, and
then eventually a small desk calendar or she may just use her day planner.
In order to prompt Cheyenne to begin her time management, gestural prompts will be
used. It will start with pointing to the task she is to begin; for example, pointing to Cheyenne’s
homework on the table. The prompts will fade to eye movement gesturing until she can manage
her time completely, without being prompted.
In terms of reinforcement, Cheyenne will be put on a differential reinforcement schedule
of low occurring behaviours. For the first week, Cheyenne will be reinforced each time she does
one of the behaviours included under “time management”; this means every time she writes in
her planner, completes homework, studies or works on assignments, she will be given
reinforcement. This will also be the time to take baseline data, and find out how often these
behaviours occur on their own. This is important in order to set up the completion requirements
for the following weeks.
Once Cheyenne begins to show compliance, she will only be reinforced when she does
these activities two times in a given week. In most cases, verbal praise will be given when
Cheyenne completes the tasks. She will also be given access to her secondary reinforcers. Over
time, the completion requirements will increase by one a week, until full compliance is achieved.
By this time, Cheyenne’s grades will show improvement. Over time, Cheyenne’s improved
grades will become the automatic reinforcer, leading to more self-confidence, and lowered risk
of dropping out.

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Cheyenne will be given a few opportunities to practise her time management skills. In her
group home, the group home workers can help by setting up tasks or chores to be completed by a
certain time. She can also role-play different scenarios, such as adjusting her schedule to fit in
time with her friends, or allocating more time to an assignment that is more difficult than
expected.
Cheyenne will be able to rehearse this skill every day, whether it is at school, the library,
at home or out with friends. Cheyenne’s performance will be evaluated each time and she will be
given feedback on how she did. It is important that she is given positive feedback first, as well as
receiving reinforcement for everything she did correctly. If her performance was not 100%
correct, she will receive one of her secondary reinforcers, and then hear what she could improve
on.
Since Cheyenne will be learning through NET, she should generalize time management
much faster. Teachers and group home staff will be aware of and partake in this schedule of
feedback and reinforcement, which will aid in generalization across people as well as
environments. Once Cheyenne learns to manage her time, her grades will improve. This will
boost confidence, increase attendance and eliminate the risk of Cheyenne dropping out.
Cheyenne’s grades become the automatic reinforcer as well as being what maintains her
behaviour.