Wales is often compared favourably to other countries because of its commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and lower levels of school exclusions. Systematic analysis of policy documents reveals the dominance of a rights-based discourse in approaching the challenge of school exclusions, which are explained in terms of…

While disability is recognised by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as an evolving concept, the language of positive behaviour support has not kept pace with the current human rights-based approach. The widely-used terms 'challenging behaviour' and 'behaviours that challenge' imply that the behaviour…

Removing students from the classroom and placing them in remote instruction for their behavior is an emerging form of discipline (Jones, 2020). The purpose of this brief is to describe this form of discipline, examine its implications and potential negative impacts, and provide guiding principles for improving behavior through evidence-based…

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…

Although behavioral interventions have been known to effectively reduce stereotypy in children with ASD, these types of interventions are not accessible to all families. In response to this issue, we evaluated the effects of the iSTIM, an iOS application designed to support parents in the reduction of stereotypy in their child with ASD. We used a…

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a widely studied and often used approach to working with human behavior. However, there are numerous myths surrounding what ABA is, who is it for, and how it is implemented. The purpose of this article is to identify, explain origins of, and dispel seven common myths about ABA.

A recently launched professional development initiative in Arkansas, called Array, is designed to proactively identify early care and education (ECE) programs that could benefit from social-emotional-focused (SE-focused) professional development and support, and to offer assistance tailored to a program's particular needs. Because Array is…

Active supervision--defined as circulating, scanning, interacting with students, and reinforcing demonstrations of expected academic and social behaviors by a teacher or other staff member--is often considered a component of safe and secure schools. Yet, the evidence base supporting the effectiveness of active supervision has not been synthesized…

Teachers are responsible for providing an education to students of all ability levels. Recent data suggest that roughly 95% of students with a disability are receiving some form of education in their general education setting. Individuals with disabilities tend to engage in higher levels of disruptive behaviors (e.g., talking out in class,…

A meaningful curriculum is one that is individualized, inclusive of the individual's unique needs and interests, and focused on building independence in current and future environments. A meaningful curriculum addresses an individual's needs and prioritizes instructional programs based on what is, potentially, most important to their lives and not…

Play is a universal activity that is an integral part of childhood experiences and aids in the development of important skills. While most children naturally engage in play, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not follow the typical pattern of play development and often exhibit delays in play skills. One of the defining characteristics…

Discourses of children as deficient and deviant are common within the education system and shape the ways in which educators interact with and respond to children. To illustrate this, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of a provincial policy document that directs schools in the development of Codes of Conduct. Drawing on poststructural…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an effective intervention package for decreasing disruptive behavior in various populations and environments. There is, however, limited research evaluating the GBG with preschoolers. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated the effects of components of the GBG, and of those that have, most have done so only after…

This essay provides a broad overview of adverse childhood experiences and their impact on the middle level learner. The author finds points of intersection between current research on traumatized students and tenets of the middle level philosophy to make the argument for trauma informed practices that holistically serve young adolescents.

Objective: This narrative review aimed to draw on the literature regarding school interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder and exposed to trauma. Method: However, because of the paucity of literature in this area, the intention of this review was also to explore possible intersections between trauma-informed school practices and…