An Analysis of the Use of Secondary Reinforcers by Pre-School Teachers for the Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Classes

Reinforcement is one of the widely used practices in today's educational environments. Teachers often use reinforcement as a form of discipline in the classroom, and these reinforcements allow students to learn new ideas, skills, and rules. Reinforcers can be used effectively in teaching of the social and academic skills as well as in reducing or eliminating problem behaviors. Therefore, this study aims at identifying how pre-school teachers in inclusive classes employ secondary reinforcers for the students with special needs. The study is designed as a descriptive research. The participants of the study are four pre-school teachers working in Ankara who teach students with special needs. In this study, the data were collected through the Teacher and Student Information Form and Learned Reinforcement Checklist which was developed by the author. The findings of the study indicate that the participants mostly use social reinforcers. In other words, they all prefer to use social reinforcers such as praise words and applauding for the students with special needs. The findings of the study indicate that the participants employ limited number of activity reinforcers and all teachers participated in the study employed token reinforcers for the students with special needs.