Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience challenges with social skill interactions that may affect their quality of life. Given that parents are often the most frequent and constant presence in their child's life, parents serve a vital role in their child's social and behavioral development. For this reason, children may…

Better integration of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools can improve access to effective youth mental health care. However, EBPs typically developed and tested within clinics may not be feasible for school-based implementation. We conducted a small randomized trial comparing Show Me FIRST, a brief intervention designed for efficient uptake…

Children with serious problem behaviors pose a challenge for school staff to maintain safe and productive learning environments. Eloping, often called running, bolting, or absconding, from the classroom disrupts learning environments and requires significant attention and time from staff. Existing interventions to address elopement behavior lack…

In the public school system, administrators and educators have multi-faceted responsibilities, including educating students, providing a safe environment, and ensuring a positive school climate conducive to student learning. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a model many schools have adopted to assist in behavior modification…

Recent research has demonstrated that educators and students succeed when students are present, engaged, socially secure, and academically successful. These practice recommendations draw upon studies of whole-school or whole-class interventions that support prosocial behavior in elementary school students, including students who are identified as…

There is a need for more research on selective or Tier 2 interventions to support students with challenging classroom behaviors. Existing Tier 2 interventions lack effective mechanisms such as autonomy support, which are shown to improve student-teacher relations and build competencies in the form of social or intra and interpersonal skills. The…

The development of a warm and supportive relationship with their teacher is protective for preschool children, and particularly beneficial for children who display early disruptive behaviors. "Banking Time" is a dyadic, short-term intervention to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions between a teacher and a specific child,…

This study evaluated the effects of an acceptability questionnaire on classroom aides' treatment integrity during implementation of behavioral intervention plans, using a multiple-probe-baseline across-participants design. Four classroom aides in a special education preschool classroom rarely used procedures recommended to manage the challenging…

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities have more opportunity to attend postsecondary education than ever before. Peer mentors who support these students sometimes need to manage challenging behavior. This study examined the impact of training and coaching with performance feedback on peer mentors' fidelity in implementing…

Paraeducators play an important role in assisting teachers and other professionals to support students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including delivering positive behavioral supports to those students who engage in persistent challenging behavior. The purpose of this multiple baseline design across participants study was to support…

Mental health clinicians often report significant challenges when delivering evidence-based interventions in community settings, particularly when unexpected client stressors (or emergent life events) interfere with the therapy process. The current study sought to extend the study of emergent life events to children with autism spectrum disorder…

Exclusionary practices, including suspension, expulsions, and office discipline referrals, to student misbehavior, can have a lasting impact on student outcomes. School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a universal behavioral framework designed to support school personnel prevent and respond to challenging student…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

In the 1960s, educational psychologist Marjorie Boxall developed Nurture Groups (NGs) in response to the growing number of children who were deprived of healthy nurturance in early life and who, as a result, were failing to cope with the demands of school. To date, research on this intervention model has consistently shown that students who attend…