Background: There is a growing emphasis of evidence-based program requirements being integrated into social welfare policies for youth care services in the U.S. This trend highlights the need for increased practitioner understanding and involvement in the research process to develop and implement evidence-based programs for youth with emotional…

The National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), a consortium funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), prepares special education leaders to become experts in research on intensive intervention for students with disabilities who have persistent and severe academic (e.g., reading and math) and behavioral…

Positive and constructive feedback is a form of positive reinforcement essential to effective instruction and classroom management. This article provides practitioners with a range of realistic positive and constructive feedback strategies and descriptions of how such feedback can be implemented in schools and classrooms, with a special focus on…

Functional behavior assessment (FBA), although mandated by federal law in situations involving students with emotional and behavioral disorders, is not well defined in the literature in terms of how it should best be undertaken in widespread practice in schools. Functional behavior assessment can be defined as a process for determining the reason…

Teenage depression and suicide are a growing problem across the nation. A New Jersey high school has developed a crisis management team to deal with such problems. Twelve steps to take in developing such a team are provided, along with guidelines on the referral process, student representation, and community support. (TE)

Red Light-Green Light is a levels system providing immediate behavior modification feedback and varying privilege levels throughout the school day for primary students with behavior disorders. This article presents guidelines for implementation, covering development of classroom rules, classroom expectations, and system maintenance. Tips for…

This conference proceedings reports on a 1989 meeting addressing respite care for families of children with mental, emotional or behavioral disorders. The conference addressed: (1) respite care concepts, programs, and issues; and (2) planning for designing, financing, and implementing state and local respite programs. The report contains the…

This book chapter describes a program of the Two Hills Regional Resource Centre (THRRC), which provides support services to 39 towns in northeastern Alberta. The program supports individuals with severely challenging behaviors (such as self-abuse, aggression, destructiveness, and noncompliance) so that they will be able to live and work in their…

This article describes a points-and-levels system to improve behavior of students with learning and behavioral disabilities in an upper-elementary special education setting. The four levels each involved specified responsibilities and privileges and students earned specified numbers of points to qualify for a "successful day" and eventual…

In order for schools and community agencies to develop the capacity to support persons with severe patterns of problem behaviors in typical community settings, they need to be knowledgeable about recent behavioral advances and have processes in place for implementation of these advances. This need creates a new challenge for inservice training of…

This article defines, provides a rationale for, and describes the implementation of a classroom management level system in a middle school program for students with severe behavior disorders. The system is a motivational plan for behavioral improvement based upon a graduated series of levels with increasing student responsibility and privileges.…

This manual provides guidelines and forms for implementing a planning team approach to support students with emotional and behavioral difficulties in regular education settings, developed as part of a 3-year federally funded project to enhance the capability of 30 Vermont public schools. Following an introduction, a student profile is reviewed…

This set of materials for training elementary school children in social skills includes a book which explains the Skillstreaming program, a student manual, a collection of program forms, and a box of skill cards for use with students. After an introductory chapter, chapter 2 examines Skillstreaming's history and development. chapter 3 presents…

This paper describes a rural Hispanic community's efforts to identify and develop a program for gifted students in grades 2-6 who are also mildly to moderately handicapped (learning disabled, behavior disordered, or communication disordered). The "Twice Exceptional" (2E) program, in Los Lunas, New Mexico, is a modified full-time separate…

Surveys listing 20 issues relating to school choice and special education were sent to the 102 Directors of Special Education in Minnesota. Directors were asked to rate issues as important or not important. The 54 responding directors identified the following issues as most important: (1) excess program costs; (2) effects of enrollment options on…