Thirty-one U.S. states have laws that may result in students being arrested for misbehavior in school that is often considered a low-level rule violation. The problems with these laws include the vagueness and subjectivity of the language of the law. As a result, the enforcement of such laws has been criticized as being discriminatory, especially…

In contrast with professional norms and best practices, the legal requirements for functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) are meager in scope and specificity (Collins & Zirkel, 2017). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act makes no mention of FBAs or BIPs, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education…

Two non-U.S. quasi-experimental studies reported Active Support training was associated with increased engagement in individuals with IDD, but no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) exist. We evaluated effects of Active Support training on staff assistance, and social and nonsocial engagement in 75 individuals with intellectual and developmental…

This article summarizes Allen and Roberts's (2024) study on school psychologists' practices and perceptions regarding manifestation determination reviews (MDRs). It emphasizes the critical role of MDRs in protecting the rights of students with disabilities and highlights the challenges faced by school psychologists in this high-stakes process.

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…

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities (DD) often struggle with behavior management and emotion-regulation (ER). In this manuscript, we describe the results of a chart review examining a group treatment program designed to address ER deficits in youth with ASD and/or DD. The intensive…

Behavior threat assessment and management (BTAM) is a process for identifying students who pose a threat of violence. When BTAM results in a removal from school (e.g., suspension, expulsion, hospitalization), teams need to plan for the student's potential return. This article describes best practices for reintegrating a student into school…

This paper integrates the findings from the four studies in this special issue and discusses the implications for school psychology practice. Our research indicates that adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are typically aware of their difficulties and believe that their problem behaviors are pervasive, uncontrollable,…

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…

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.

The intended purpose of physical restraint, seclusion, and time-out rooms in schools is to intervene in a crisis when the behaviour of a student poses an immediate or imminent, and significant threat to physical safety. While the use of physical restraint, seclusion, and time-out rooms is intended to provide protection from immediate physical…

In working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), it is direct care staff who are often required to collect data on individuals' behavior which is used as the basis for implementation of empirically based approaches for intervention and treatment. Due to limited resources, indirect and descriptive measures of…

People with severe disabilities have a higher prevalence of many health conditions when compared with the general population. Examples include gastrointestinal conditions, chronic allergies, epilepsy, and sleep dysregulation, among many other health concerns. Of particular interest in the treatment of challenging behavior is the comorbidity of…

This chapter reviews recent research regarding behavior interventions for young children. We first consider the implications of allowing maladaptive behavior to remain untreated in young children. The reasons that people may select for inaction are illustrated through a case example of an individual who manifested behavior problems that were…

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,…