There is limited evidence on the imperative role that caregivers play in social-emotional learning development for effective social-emotional learning program implementation despite their crucial influence on childhood development. This doctoral project explored the effects of parent education for two school-based, social-emotional learning…

Community School 53 has seen a significant increase in suspension rates over the past five years. The suspension rate in 2018-2019 was 5.04%; during the 2019-2020 school year the rate was 8.11%. There is no data from the school year 2020-2021 due to COVID-19. The suspension rate rose drastically in 2021-2022 to 18.10%, and it was at 17.62% for the…

Challenging behavior in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) can lead to decreased quality of life and social and community inclusion. Compared to research with children there is relatively limited research on effective behavior support interventions for adults with disabilities. The Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) program…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a behavioral based intervention program on minority student behavior. The Breakfast Club was an intervention created with the goal of improving the negative behavior of minority adolescent students. The participants in this study were minority, high school students who displayed frequent…

In this dissertation an integrated intervention in high schools is proposed for students with anxiety that combines CBT and yoga methods. The development of this program was derived from a critical review of the literature on CBT and yoga programs in high school that aim to reduce anxiety in students. Thirteen studies that used CBT programs and…

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is a reinforcement schedule that commonly includes the delivery of a reinforcer following an interval during which a target behavior did not occur and extinction (i.e., the reinforcer is withheld following any instances of the target behavior). Although interventions using DRO schedules can…

This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary promise of an online, self-guided DBT skills course for Distress Tolerance, TheraHive. The course included seven weeks of skills lessons, that were delivered entirely online, in a self-guided format. The course material included written content, animated case studies, instructor…

Training frontline staff to respond to and manage challenging behaviors of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) poses a pervasive problem in the delivery of treatment services. Traditional synchronous staff training methods are expensive, time-consuming, and often do not result in high treatment integrity. Video Modeling alternative to…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have challenges with communication, changes in routine, and processing social information and communication that can affect their ability to learn and respond successfully to safety threats. When given behavioral skills training (BST), children with and without ASD have demonstrated gains in safety…

The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of post-service educators' use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills with students experiencing emotional dysregulation in a day treatment school. This study extended previous research by examining the perceptions of teachers using DBT skills with students that are demonstrating…

Due to the impacts of overrepresentation of historically marginalized middle school student suspensions on the prison pipeline, there is urgency in addressing disproportionality in suspensions in school districts nationwide. Although Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) models have shown an…

Behavioral activation (BA) has significant and long-lasting effects on depression in adults, and a growing body of evidence supports its efficacy with adolescents. It remains unclear, however, whether BA reduces systematically-observed depressive behavior in addition to subjective report of depressive symptoms. In this single-case study, three…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that impacts areas of social communication and social interaction. The prevalence of ASD has increased in the last ten years. Symptoms and behaviors include restrictive and repetitive movements, highly restricted and fixated interests, insistence on sameness, and hypo or hyper-reactivity.…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe experiences of dialectical behavior therapy for special education teachers at a large, suburban school district in the Southeast United States. The theory guiding this study was Bandura's social cognitive theory (SCT), as it explains how new behaviors are learned and…

The Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework is a research-based model that yields positive behavioral, social, emotional, and academic outcomes (Horner et al., 2009; Horner, 2014; Mathews et al., 2013). However, schools have reported varied success rates with implementation and achieving desired outcomes. While hundreds of…