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…

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…

This study examines whether Positive Behavior Interventions can support student performance in schools in three Southern districts. Schools today seek opportunities for interventions to support student behaviors and increase engagement. Three school districts in the southeast of the United States have been trained to implement a schoolwide…

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…

Students with social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (SEBD) often struggle in traditional classroom settings. Outdoor adventure education programs have been proposed as an alternative approach to support these students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of developing and implementing an outdoor adventure education…

This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of a professional development program aimed at enhancing early childhood education (ECE) teachers' abilities to identify and address developmentally appropriate versus maladaptive behaviors in young children. Utilizing an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, the study involves pre- and…

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…

Students with disabilities are 200% more likely to be restrained by school personnel compared to nondisabled peers (Katsiyannis et al., 2020). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (NVCI) in de-escalating the risk behavior of children with disabilities from exceptional children (EC) teacher…

The purpose of this study was to explore and evaluate the necessary adaptations to the Family Behavior Support application (FBSApp) paired with collaborative coaching for Spanish-speaking families of young children with disabilities and co-occurring challenging behaviors (CB) in home contexts. We utilized a multi-phase mixed methods research…

The purpose of this study was to examine how to restore a child's social-emotional well being. As an administrator in a middle school, I have the opportunity to see the natural state that our children are in on a daily basis. I have observed over time, more specifically since COVID-19, that children are struggling to balance their emotions, their…

As the rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increase, so does the need to provide high-quality and empirically validated supports across the lifespan. Despite most of an individual's life taking place in adulthood, it is well-documented that the supports and services for adults with ASD are severely lacking. This is evidenced by outcomes…

A neurological disorder, along with several behavioral issues, may be to blame for a child's subpar performance in the academic journey (such as anxiety, depression, learning disorders, and irritability). These symptoms can be used to diagnose children with ASD, and supervised machine learning models can help differentiate between ASD traits and…

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 study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief, in-person training package on Functional Communication Training (FCT). The training corresponded with content presented in the AFIRM e-learning modules on FCT with modifications to suit an in-person format including the addition of modeling, practice, and feedback to enhance…

The purpose of this study was to provide a measurement of the relationship between implementing Restorative Practices and Office Referrals. The background of this study was primarily rooted in the researcher's role in discipline and the restorative practices training the researcher was involved in. This training subsequently became the primary…