Home-school partnerships between teachers and caregivers of students with or at risk of emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) are critical to support positive student outcomes. Yet, effective home-school partnerships may be particularly challenging to foster for students with or at risk of EBD, and little is known about how teachers and caregivers…

Home-school partnerships between teachers and caregivers of students with or at risk of emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) are critical to support positive student outcomes. Yet, effective home-school partnerships may be particularly challenging to foster for students with or at risk of EBD, and little is known about how teachers and caregivers…

In the United States, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specifies that students with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment," yet little is known about how successfully schools have been able to apply appropriate supports, practices and resources so that all students benefit…

The Department of Justice has a responsibility to ensure that all programs serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) abide by laws, as do state governments. This study took a close look at a Department of Justice's investigation of the appropriateness of a behavior intervention program (that is, the Georgia Network for…

Black boys in racially segregated urban schools are vulnerable to the trappings of the school-to-prison-pipeline. In this article, I use narrative inquiry and critical race theory (CRT) to examine the stories of two elementary school principals struggling to create more inclusive schools for Black boys with emotional disabilities (ED) in a…

Early identification of student behavioral needs allows educators the opportunity to apply appropriate interventions before negative behaviors become more intensive and persistent. A variety of screening tools are available to identify which students are at risk for persistent behavior problems in school. This article provides two examples in…

Author Perry Zirkel writes in this article that given the central role of law in special education, exemplified by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it is fitting that the literature is replete with refereed journal articles specific to the legal dimension of various key issues of professional practice. He feels, however,…

Significant issues still confront the field of emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) in providing a free, appropriate, public educational (FAPE) program for these students. This paper reviews recent case law for several critical areas of concern to the field today, including: (a) response to intervention (RTI) and child find procedures, (b)…

In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in psychological disorders diagnosed in children in the United States. As a result, the number of children in school with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) continues to grow in order to meet these children's special needs in the classroom. Despite the rise in psychological disorders, many…

Response to Intervention (RtI) has become an important element of policy, practice, and research since the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In this article, five metrics recommended by Gresham (2005) were used to evaluate the progress of 127 students who were at risk of developing emotional disturbance and…

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act mandates the performance of functional assessment for students with severe behavior problems. A functional analysis can be one part of this process but its use has been minimal. This study evaluates whether a paraprofessional could (a) be trained to correctly perform 3 conditions of a functional…