Challenging behaviors are linked to negative long-term developmental outcomes for young children with disabilities and remain a primary focus of service delivery for many early intervention practitioners and families. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a tiered prevention framework that recommends evidence-based positive…

Many teachers and parents of young children with disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are familiar with young children who engage in repetitive and restrictive behaviors such as flapping, spinning, and rocking. This type of restrictive and repetitive behavior, or stereotypy, can be common, over time it can become problematic…

Early Discovery is a program that supports mildly delayed young children who did not qualify for Part B/C services. Our goals were to: (1) provide high-quality services; (2) educate and empower parents/caregivers; (3) link families to community resources; and (4) reduce the need for special education. Services included speech-language,…

The number of parents undertaking an intensive home training programme of children with disabilities (e.g. Applied Behavioural Analysis) has increased. It reveals a paradox in current disability research and policies. On the one hand, policies in general are aimed at inclusion through movement of social barriers for participation, grounded in the…

The prevention of elopement is clearly a high priority for teachers, parents, and administrators. The dangers of elopement are well documented, and according to one study, more than half of the children with autism were reported to engage in elopement, with a substantial risk for bodily harm (Anderson et al., 2012). Moreover, children who elope or…

Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (PBIS) is an evidence-based approach that has been proven to be effective in remediating problem behaviours in children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the family-centred PBIS approach when involving Taiwanese families in the treatment of off-task and non-compliant…

What do we know about young children with delays and disabilities, and how can we help them succeed in prekindergarten through third grade? To begin with, Kathleen Hebbeler and Donna Spiker write, identifying children with delays and disabilities to receive specialized services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act poses several…

In recent years, there have been major concerns expressed regarding the use of restraint and seclusion to control the behavior of children with disabilities and/or challenging behavior. In May of 2009, for example, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released findings regarding a number of cases in which seclusion and restraint were…

We treated a child with intestinal failure who consumed solids on a spoon but not liquids from a cup. We used spoon-to-cup fading, which consisted of taping a spoon to a cup and then gradually moving the bowl of the spoon closer to the edge of the cup. Spoon-to-cup fading was effective for increasing consumption of liquids from a cup. (Contains 2…

This article addresses the effects of 3-tiered comprehensive reading and behavior interventions on K-3 student outcomes in 7 urban elementary schools with a high prevalence of students considered difficult to teach. Specific features of each level of the implementation are described including screening and tier placement procedures, scheduling and…

Social and play skills are important developmental tasks for young children. Typically developing children learn appropriate social skills quite naturally and without specific intervention while interacting with other children in playful environments. Young children with disabilities, however, usually need social skills interventions, and these…

Preparing teachers to meet the needs of children with disabilities remains a complex challenge. General education teachers feel unprepared, and attrition and teacher shortages in special education remain high. Despite a trend toward inclusive education, many children continue to be educated in segregated settings. This study explores the potential…

Early education teachers are familiar with using music and rhythm as tools for learning language and building memory. However, the potential of music to help across all special education settings is largely unexplored. Work with music has been widely judged helpful in cases of psychological trauma, yet people do not know why it is helpful. The…

Intended for parents of handicapped preschool children, the booklet suggests ways parents can stimulate the development of their children through activities that occur naturally in the home setting. An initial section provides behavior management guidelines such as using success, encouragement, and praise to develop the child's enjoyment of…

This study sought to assess the social validity of teacher and parent implemented assessment-based intervention for challenging behaviour in young children. The Behavior Intervention Rating Scale was completed by adults at the end of intervention for each participant. Overall ratings were high for both intervention acceptability and intervention…