Cognitive modification: principles and applications

Cognitive Modification

The needs of special education students are vast and profound, quite often crossing the boundaries of various disciplines. One of the areas that has been explored over the last several decades is Cognitive Modification and Behavioral therapy. While showing excellent results in the general populations its efficacy ahs been debated in the field of special education. Currently there have been several studies showing promise in this area and may prove to be quite beneficial to special needs children on many levels. This paper will examine those needs and the potential use of cognitive modification on many different levels, including play therapy, art, etc., as it relates to cognitive behavioral therapy. While these children may be difficult to reach on the outer level and their communication skills and processing may be impaired, it is hope that cognitive modification may result in the acquisition of new or adapted skills with which to progress in their education and their lives.

In theory, cognitive modification has been successful with the general population with average intelligence having no need for special assistance in educational objective. This area of therapy has been quite successful in maintaining long-term result by changing the way one thinks about him or herself, and their beliefs about the world at large. It has helped to improve self- efficacy and self-esteem in individuals with emotional of psychological impairments as well as those undergoing treatment for substance abuse and addictions. It accomplishes this through several methods that help to change Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATS) so that there is developed a more positive attitude and outcome for an individual. (Neenan & Dryden, 2004) Much of it is used in imagery exercises that take the client through the worst scenarios, but then leads to a greater realization:

The client's imaginal journey through the worst and beyond demonstrates to him that he will not be stuck in that "awful" moment for ever. The client practiced this imagery exercise as a homework assignment and later declared: "I don't think it would be a big deal any longer if it did happen to me. To be honest Im getting bored with it. So what if I spill water over myself?" The general thrust of imagery modification in CT is to help clients change the negative direction of their imagery towards positive and more successful coping scenes (Neenan & Dryden, 2004, p. 134)

Now at first glance this may seem like a cognitively daunting task for a special education student who may have cognitive or other impairments which may prevent the necessary communication at this level of therapy. But upon closer inspection this type of therapy may easily be modified to fit a play therapy format and be much more conducive to child's ability to not only understand but be affected by in a positive manner. Researchers have begun to demonstrate that behavioral approaches are effective in the special needs populations, however, more recent approaches, such as cognitive modification, have not yet been adequately studied in special education students with cognitive impairment. (Bouck, 2004)

Furthermore, it must be noted that play in a special education setting is often quite different that in the typical classroom. In Bray & Cooper's study, "The Play of Children with Special Needs in Mainstream and Special Education Settings," they found that the overall play-age scores of special education students implied that this population was performing at a developmental level that was well below their peer's in the same chronological age. Play is a significant factor in any child's educational as well as psychosocial development and should never be overlooked, especially when attempting to appropriately apply an any behavior modification:

Pretend play is important as it aids in the development of social awareness and allows children to experiment with new roles and learn norms and rules of behaviour (Stagnitti & Unsworth, 2000). Furthermore, promoting pretend play for children with special needs is integral to the full inclusion process, as social learning is encouraged. (Bray & Cooper, 2007)

Outside of the area of play, there has also been excellent use of cognitive modification in the special education classroom in other areas as evidenced in the research study by Stough & Palmer entitled, "Special Thinking in Special Settings: A Qualitative Study of Expert Special Educators."

Somewhat unsurprisingly, an instructional strategy that these teachers frequently used was modification. Our analysis identified the following modifications: reteaching the material, using instructional materials, prompting/cueing, modeling, changing the task, and giving students more practice on the task.... If the teacher believed that the modification was not sufficient in aiding student learning, she typically reevaluated the student's learning difficulty and state of mind and then selected a new modification to apply. (Stough & Palmer, 2003)

These are the types of decisions and criteria for the student with special needs that must be evaluated when attempting any type of no only cognitive modification, but any type of intervention.

Since the late nineties strategy interventions such as cognitive modification have been increasing in use in the area of special education. The has been an array of cognitive interventions put into practice such as, specific problem-solving skills, advanced organizational skills, approaching reading with specific plans or rules to follow, teaching students to remember specific facts. Other cognitive behavioral interventions have alos included self-monitoring behavior during reading time, self-questioning about text being read and so on. (Gersten, Schiller, & Vaughn, 2000). These interventions have all been proving quite beneficial but it must be remembered that in this area one size does not fit all. Students must be constantly monitored, evaluated and reevaluated for progress as will as behavioral changes, both positive and negative.