New York City Public Schools studied the impact of CalmConnect™ in reducing off task behavior in the classroom during the summer session of 2017. CalmConnect™ was used in two schools and two classrooms. The classrooms consisted of children in grades 4 and 5; and grades 6, 7, and 8. The two classrooms were special needs students with autism and intellectually disturbed.
Observations were completed the week before CalmConnect™ was introduced to the classroom and after it was introduced over a period of 3 weeks. After implementation observations were documented by individual students 30 minutes prior to the use of CalmConnect™ and 30 minutes after use. The two classrooms reported using the program consistently over the period of time.
The results were statistically significant. Using CalmConnect™ reduced off-task behavior by an average of 48% in the two classrooms. This includes statistically significant results for the following specific behaviors: Not following instructions < 0.0001, talking out of turn/outbursts <0.0001, and reduction of distracting behavior 0.0013.
The impact of CalmConnect™ is immediate and sustained, there is not any sign of diminishing effect over time. CalmConnect™ has the same impact regardless of the day of the week.