Current behaviour policies, which focus around reward and deterrent, have only limited long-term effectiveness. They assume that students can exercise self-control and follow rules, when motivated to do so. Students with special educational needs and disabilities typically have many intrinsic challenges to self-regulation, due to executive…

Special education teachers have one of the most challenging and stressful jobs in public education, which often leads to increased burnout. High levels of burnout have, in turn, been related to lower levels of fidelity of implementation in delivery of evidence-based behavior interventions. The purpose of this position paper is to (a) propose…

This conceptual paper considers the role of culture in shaping family, professional, and community understanding of developmental disabilities and their treatments. The meanings of health, illness, and disability vary greatly across cultures and across time. We use Bronfenbrenner's ecological model to provide a theoretical framework for examining…

In this article the author provides legal explanations to the following concerns: (1) Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs); (2) Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs); (3) Manifestation Determinations under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA);…

In this article, the author recognizes and responds to the three major themes of the four articles focusing on the use of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) with students having the most serious problem behavior: needed research, including students with severe disabilities at all support levels through adaptations, and avoiding further…

This article compares approaches to teaching children with special learning needs, especially those with severe multiple disabilities. It suggests that behavioral methods result in undesirable instructor control of learning and compares these methods with approaches of effective teachers which encourage student initiative and pupil control.…

As people see a powerful technology and philosophical value system originally developed to promote the self-determination and inclusion of individuals students with severe disabilities applied to and having impact on the broader school population, they wonder what the outcomes will be. In this article, the authors reflect on two issues: (1) the…

Over the past 15 years, positive behavior support (PBS) gained rapid momentum as it moved from research on the function of challenging behaviors in individuals situated in restrictive settings, to understanding the function of challenging behavior of individuals in natural settings, to initial legislation of positive behavior interventions and…

The author considers the role of teacher attention, attention span, reading, and hyperactivity in the creation and remediation of learning disabilities (LD). He suggests that LD classes which focus on deficits and errors may be maintaining or increasing these behaviors; and that hyperactivity can be be remediated through operant techniques. (CL)

The author reviews three topics featured in his first Behavior Modification column: pupil management, social validation, and nondiscriminatory testing. Two new topics are also discussed: data and decisions, and program evaluation. (Author)

This paper offers modifications to the position of Horner and others (EC 232 976), including tying the level of approval required for an intervention to the seriousness of the behavior problem. The paper proposes that the debate over the use of "aversives" is finished, and attention should now be turned to how best to use positive…

Describes the use of computer-generated procedures designed to reduce inappropriate behavior and facilitate learning in the juvenile correctional educational setting. A step-by-step methodology and an extensive list of print, software, and thermographic resources are included to facilitate classroom implementation. (Author)

In response to Horner and others (EC 232 976), this paper notes earlier recommendation of procedural safeguards to protect client rights and encouragement of positive procedures to increase adaptive skills but questions whether a positive but slow intervention is more ethically valid than more quickly effective "aversive" interventions…

This paper expresses support for the resolution of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps to prohibit aversion-based procedures. In response to Horner and others (EC 232 976), the paper agrees on the values expressed but disagrees on the science reported. (DB)

This response to a paper by Guess and Carr (EC 602 212) on stereotypy and self-injurious behavior in the disabled focuses on (1) potentially misleading statements that may discourage practitioners from operant approaches to stereotypy and self-injury, and (2) strengths and weaknesses of the model compared to existing operant models. (DB)