Students sometimes engage in challenging behaviors that require teachers to select and design appropriate behavior management interventions. Teachers may choose from various evidence-based intervention strategies when addressing students' challenging behaviors. Reinforcement-based strategies are preferred due to their desirable long-term outcomes.…

Through innovation in research and self-correction, it is inevitable that some practices will be replaced or be discredited for one reason or another. De-implementation of discredited and low-value practices is a necessary step for school psychologists' maintenance of evidence-based practices and to reduce unnecessary costs and risk. However,…

Seclusion, used broadly to include time-out (Bon & Zirkel, 2014), and other aversives, such as restraint, continues to be an active area of legal activity, particularly for students with disabilities. The September 2016 issue of "Communiqué" provided an update of the case law specific to school district use of seclusion (Zirkel,…

Global implementation of School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) has grown considerably over the last forty years. SWPBS seeks to provide a multi-tiered approach to strategically frame integrated actions responding to matters of wellbeing, discipline and punishment in schools using Evidence-Based Interventions (EBIs). In this respect, EBIs…

In the present unjust context of US schools, many educators face uncertainty about the legitimacy of their issuing punishments, especially when their identity meaningfully differs from that of their students. In this article, we address these doubts by acknowledging distinctive elements of schools to provide helpful distinctions and analyses of…

Given that behavioral challenges contribute to learner exclusion in schools, there is a demand for behavior support strategies and practices that (a) extend beyond punitive measures, (b) aid the development of school customs and mores, (c) are based on nonviolence, and (d) promote positive self-discipline. This column explores behavior management…

This brief describes a school's transformation from using ineffective and punitive disciplinary practices to implementing effective and proactive responses to behavior by installing the PBIS framework in a unique setting. Specifically, this demonstration highlights the work of the PBIS school leadership team at the American School for the Deaf…

Although the good behavior game (GBG) has a long empirical record for effectively decreasing inappropriate student behavior, there are fewer studies that have targeted improving appropriate behavior. This article describes why and how the GBG can be used by teachers across grade levels and situations to increase student appropriate behavior and…

The only consistency with children, with and without disabilities, is that they are inconsistent. Much of a child's behavior is adult controlled by their reaction, methods used, and consistency in support and discipline. When adults change the way they respond to the child's behaviors, the child gradually will learn to modify their behavior.…

Traditionally schools have been spaces that are punitive and have strict behavior guidelines that include zero-tolerance policies. Thus, conventional behavior management practices blame students and position them as rule-breakers. Consequently, all students, but particularly those who come from complex backgrounds, minority groups, and vulnerable…

Applied behavior analysis (ABA), or the application of behavioral principles to important social issues, has long served a crucial role in programming for special education students. Its procedures have been well established in the research literature and many deemed as evidence-based practices for students with and without disabilities.…

Although behavioral management is one of the most challenging aspects of working in an afterschool setting, staff do not typically receive formal training in evidence-based approaches to handling children's behavior problems. Common approaches to behavioral management such as punishment or time-out are temporary solutions because they do not…

The use of seclusion and restraints on students with disabilities has been a major legal issue in recent years. Congress has repeatedly considered bills to limit and prohibit such use in K-12 schools, but the movement against such aversive procedures appears to have shifted to the state legislative level, with several states adding or…

The 2022 Legislature directed the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to create an advisory workgroup with specific participants to report back on topics related to student isolation and seclusion. This legislative report provides a background on the workgroup, history of isolation and restraint, current practices in the state of…

The behavioral treatments for persons diagnosed with autism have evolved from those that included punitive components to those that are now based upon principles of positive behavior supports. The proceeding document provides an historical overview of relevant behavioral approaches, including the type of approach and the quality of involvement and…