Classroom observations are frequently conducted with the purpose of comparing the behavior of a target student to that of other peers within the same classroom. A variety of procedures may be utilized by researchers and practitioners to collect such data; however, little is known of the accuracy of estimates of behavior produced by such procedures…

Behavior-focused alternative schools serve students who are identified by school personnel as exhibiting behavior difficulties, often coupled with low academic achievement. Students can be referred to behavior-focused alternative schools as an alternative to expulsion. In this study, we examined the demographic characteristics of students who…

Racial disparities in rates of exclusionary school discipline are well documented and seemingly intractable. However, emerging theories on implicit bias show promise in identifying effective interventions. In this study, we used school discipline data from 1,666 elementary schools and 483,686 office discipline referrals to identify specific…

Students with elevated levels of risk require targeted Tier 2 behavioral interventions that are efficient and effective to prevent the need for more intensive, special education supports. Although Tier 2 is a critical component of multi-tiered systems of support, a paucity of research exists regarding how best to provide evidence-based Tier 2…

Despite schools increasingly adopting multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for prevention and intervention of mental health concerns, many are slow to adopt universal mental health screening (UMHS), a core MTSS feature, due to concerns about their limited capacity to meet the needs of all identified. In this study, we examined differences in the…

This survey study assessed the acceptability of a variety of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures (i.e., functional assessment interviews, rating scales/questionnaires, systematic direct observations, functional analysis manipulations) to a national sample of 123 special educators and a state sample of 140 school psychologists.…

A single subject alternating treatment design across three student-teacher dyads was used to investigate the comparative impact on student academic engaged time of three opportunity-to-respond (OTR) strategies: guided notes, class-wide peer tutoring, and response cards. Participants were three high school students with disabilities with noted…

Self-monitoring is a popular, efficient, and effective intervention that is associated with improved academic and social behavior for students across age and ability levels. To date, this is the first study to directly compare the outcomes of self-monitoring functionally relevant and non-relevant replacement behaviors. Specifically, we used an…

Although preventive interventions that include both parent and child components produce stronger effects on disruptive behavior than child-only interventions, engaging parents in behavioral parent training is a significant challenge. This study examined the effects of specific risk factors for child disruptive behavior on parent attendance in…

One current area of dispute in the psychological literature is the inclusion of and proper meta-analytic data analysis procedures for single-subject designs. The current single-subject meta-analysis (N = 25) investigated the effect of time-out for the reduction of disruptive classroom behaviors in nondevelopmentally delayed children. Two separate…

This article provides a methodological illustration of how to conduct scientifically rigorous secondary interventions within the context of three-tiered models of support. Specifically, the authors demonstrate one approach for using schoolwide data to identify middle school students (N = 65) with both academic and behavioral concerns. Then, they…

This study of 10 aggressive and 9 nonaggressive preschool boys found that both groups attempted the same repertoire of social goals and used the same social strategies, but with varying relative frequencies. Aggressive children sought to stop or prevent action more often and used intrusive strategies more often than nonaggressive children.…

Social comparison (i.e., an applied behavior analysis procedure) was used to evaluate a reading program with behaviorally disordered elementary school students. Behaviorally disordered students in a self contained special classroom were compared to average readers in a regular classroom on oral reading performance. (SEW)

We compared threats of violence made by K-12 students in special education (120 cases) or general education (136 cases) in schools that were implementing threat assessment guidelines for managing student threats of violence (Cornell, Sheras, Kaplan, McConville, Posey, Levy-Elkon, et al., 2004; Cornell & Sheras, in press). Students in special…

Effects of 2 home-based treatments to reduce school problems among 10 disruptive intermediate school students were probed. Although the treatment using only positive reinforcement yielded no significant change, a mixed reinforcement treatment brought both a decrease in rates of referrals to the office and decrease in depression rates. (Author/PB)