Background: Specific treatment and interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour have yet to be widely evaluated. This review aims to consolidate and assess the quality of research exploring non-pharmacological interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful…

Individuals with disabilities may exhibit dangerous behavior such as physical aggression and self-injury. Determining the environmental variables maintaining dangerous behavior using a functional behavior assessment can inform treatment in teaching individuals with disabilities functionally equivalent replacement behavior. However, logistic…

This article is a review of functional behavior assessment studies in general education setting for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The studies were assessed in accordance with published standards for evidence-based practices. Overall, few studies met criteria for inclusion in this review and even fewer studies included all three…

Children and youth with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) present substantial challenges for schools, teachers, parents, and peers. Social skills interventions have been shown to be effective for this population. Meta-analytic reviews of this literature show that about 65% of students with EBD will improve when given social…

This article examines literature published since 1997 on functional behaviour assessment (FBA) and behaviour intervention plans (BIPs), involving school-based personnel, for children identified as having or being at risk of emotional/behavioural disorder (E/BD) in school settings. Of interest was the level of involvement of school-based personnel…

A social dynamics perspective of aggression in school is presented. This framework focuses on the role of natural social processes in the establishment and maintenance of aggressive behavior in the school context. The five articles in this special issue are briefly reviewed and a synthesis of their contributions for understanding the social…

This article provides a review of current literature on the comparative validity of different functional assessment and analysis strategies. It describes functional assessment as an outcome-driven process and explains observational assessment strategies and using assessment information to plan interventions. A proposed process for teachers and…

The application of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures for the purposes of developing interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) has received considerable attention since the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The purpose of this paper is to review the…

This article summarizes articles related to functional assessment and its applications for individuals with problem behaviors. The research indicates functional assessment procedures have been established as a standard assessment tool that identifies environmental variables related to problem behaviors with links to the development of effective…

A review of the use of psychotropic medications for people with developmental disabilities is presented. Results suggest that prescribing drugs based on topographical features of the problem behavior, without considering the function the behavior serves for the individual, contributes to variability in clinical response. Functional analysis of a…

Review of the research literature on functional assessment-based interventions for students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders identified key issues in the design of these studies. Issues included (1) an emphasis on descriptive analysis; (2) interventions employed and procedural integrity; (3) generalization and maintenance;…

This article provides a review of various psychotropic agents employed for children and adolescents with externalizing disorders. With the exception of the stimulants, clinical use of psychotropic medications for children with externalizing disorders far exceeds the available empirical literature. Further, there are insufficient data pertaining to…

The role of functional behavioral assessment is contrasted with a longitudinal risk-factors exposure model for understanding and predicting maladaptive behavioral outcomes in applied settings. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed and the need for integration of the two approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding is…

Discusses requirements specified in the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that pertain to functional behavioral assessment, as well as positive behavioral intervention plans and supports as they relate to the responsibilities of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team and to the IEP itself. (CR)

This article discusses evidence for functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures in terms of the meaning and interpretation of different forms of reliability and validity in FBA. It concludes that additional research needs to be conducted with various target behaviors across different settings to support the continued use of FBA. (Contains…