For students with severe or complex challenging behavior, incorporating hypothesis testing as a component of functional behavior assessment (FBA) is often warranted. Several hypothesis testing strategies (i.e., functional analysis, antecedent analysis, concurrent operant analysis) can confirm whether and how features of a student's environment…

Guided practice within explicit instruction has been shown to be an effective method for teaching academic and behavioral skills to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The support provided through guided practice allows students to acquire new skills confidently and successfully. This article provides practitioners of students…

Students with or at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders pose an immense challenge for educators, and typical practices to address them are punitive and exclusionary, leading to poor academic and social outcomes for students. To address the complex needs of students with intensive emotional and behavioral needs, evidence-based practices and…

Multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessment is a research-based method for identifying appropriate rewards for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This article presents a brief history of how this technology evolved and describes a step-by-step approach for conducting the procedure. A discussion of necessary materials…

Dr. Mary Margaret Wood is best known for developing psychoeducational programs that integrate mental health and special education interventions for children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Developmental Therapy (DT) includes comprehensive assessment of student behavior, communication, social, and cognitive development,…

While the Common Core State Standards and state learning standards guide teachers in what mathematical content knowledge should be addressed as well as the processes and proficiencies necessary for developing mathematical competence, several student- and teacher-related factors may hinder student access to the general education curriculum for…

Educators' lack of knowledge of the cultural and immigration overlays on behaviors presents a quandary. It makes it difficult, given the present state of assessment in this area, to determine whether an emotional or behavioral disorder exists, or whether the behavior is acceptable to the newcomer's culture and therefore reflects a cultural marker.…

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) have had difficulties in achieving educational, vocational, and community outcomes that would lead to personal success and satisfaction. Some of these outcomes relate to how special education transition programs integrate effective approaches to support success with these students. In this…

Anxiety! Stress! Fear! Everyone lives in a time of escalating accountability in terms of state, district, and city-wide examinations that measure student growth in the acquisition of skills and content area knowledge. All students feel increased pressure to constantly demonstrate improved levels of academic performance. For students with cognitive…

This article discusses the process of assessing social skills with students who have emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It describes a three-stage problem-solving model of problem identification, problem analysis, and treatment evaluation. Specific social skills assessment strategies are described and linked to a classification system of…

This article offers a rationale for using portfolios in assessing students with learning disabilities or behavioral disorders; discusses possible portfolio contents, including measures of behavior and adaptive functioning, academic and literacy growth, strategic learning and self-regulation, and language and culture; lists reflective questions for…

Alberta Education provides programming support and funding to school authorities to develop and implement special education programming for ECS children and students in grades 1 to 12. "Special Education Coding Criteria 2009/2010" outlines criteria within specific categories to help school authorities identify those children and students…

The Early Intervention Program of the Department of Behavioral Psychology at the Kennedy Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is a demonstration, research, and training program focused on the primary and secondary prevention of serious childhood behavior problems. Four assessment and intervention protocols are described…

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…

The manual introduces the framework of STARS (Striving Together and Reaching Success), a program for serving behaviorally disordered students in grades 1-8. The underlying philosophy is to provide a consistently structured instructional program to promote successful reintegration into a less restrictive educational setting. An overview section…