The Effectiveness of the Good Behavior Game on Behavioral Problems of Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Single-Subject Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the good behavior game on behavioral problems of students with intellectual disabilities. The study participants were four male students with intellectual disability aged 9-13 selected from Shamim Exceptional Center in Gachsaran, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, Iran, in the academic year 2020- 2021. A changing-criterion design within the single-subject research design was used as the study design. The participants were observed for 16 sessions at the baseline. Then, each of them was subjected to the intervention of the good behavior game in 16 sessions. At this stage, according to the changing criterion design, the 16 intervention sessions were divided into four criteria, each of which included four intervention sessions. The criteria showed the extent of changes in the behavioral problems of each participant. Finally, each participant was followed up for one week. It should be noted that all sessions were video recorded. Statistical and visual analysis showed that participants’ behavioral problems were reduced by playing the good behavior game. Furthermore, the effect-size analysis showed that the percentage of effectiveness in all four participants was 100%. As a result, it can be stated that the good behavior game is an effective strategy to reduce the behavioral problems of students with intellectual disabilities.