The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system which is widely used to support children with developmental disabilities. In the present study, we surveyed individuals responsible for implementing PECS in special educational settings in the United Kingdom (N=283). We explored knowledge…

High-quality professional development can lead to increased and sustained implementation of evidence-based practices. This study examined the effects of practice-based coaching paired with scripted supports on a paraeducator's use of shared book reading strategies. Indirectly evaluated were impacts on the expressive and receptive vocabulary…

Special education advocacy programs support families to secure services for their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Although research demonstrates the efficacy of one such program (the Volunteer Advocacy Project), its effectiveness when replicated by others is unknown. Replication research is critical to ensure that…

Background: Implementation of Health Promoting School (HPS) programs can be challenging due to the dynamic school context. Navigating between program fidelity and adaptation, as well as integrating the program, is essential for successful implementation, and consequently, for program effects. As part of an evaluation study in the Netherlands, this…

Emotion regulation is a key developmental skillset, but many existing measures rely on self-report or laboratory-based measurement approaches. This study aimed to develop a training and implementation protocol for the widely used Facial Expression Coding System (FACES) to be used in real-world settings with pre-recorded video data. A revised…

High-quality professional development can lead to increased and sustained implementation of evidence-based practices. This study examined the effects of practice-based coaching (PBC) paired with scripted supports on teachers' use of shared book reading strategies. The primary dependent variable was percentage of strategies correctly implemented;…

The program evaluation examined the eighth-grade unit of the Second Step Program as implemented to special education students attending an approved private special education program (APSEP) in Connecticut. At the APSEP, special education students struggle to develop peer relationships, lack feelings of self-efficacy, and require a high level of…

The article describes a promising new, fully virtual, multicomponent professional development intervention to support special education teachers in rural U.S. schools who enter the profession without full state licensure. The intervention seeks to strengthen special educators' self-efficacy in relation to classroom and behavior management, and…

Treatment fidelity is essential for predicting student outcomes and discerning between intervention ineffectiveness and invalid implementation. Despite its significance, research on treatment fidelity within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and Response to Intervention (RTI) frameworks is limited. Despite their moderating role in…

This quantitative, ordinal logistic regression study aimed to explore the relationship between the implementation of personalized learning and special education students' progress measures on STAAR. Another purpose was to determine if teachers' perceptions of implementation, using Olofson's survey, can predict the growth on STAAR. The conceptual…

Video self-monitoring, a form of self-coaching, is a method of professional development for teachers. Reinforcement is an evidence-based practice for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and it is applicable in a variety of educational settings. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, we evaluated the effects of video…

Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is an outgrowth of Response to Intervention (RtI). The various systems of support for students and school communities provided through these programs are integral to modern education and embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. While there are many benefits to…

This brief report describes findings from a single case withdrawal design study which explored the impact of training and emailed video prompts to promote a teacher's implementation of a culturally responsive teaching plan in a therapeutic school. Data collectors gathered implementation data as well as observed students' academic engagement and…

Although evidence-based practices for improving academic engagement for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) have been identified, many teachers do not implement these practices with optimal fidelity. Thus, effective strategies are needed to improve teacher fidelity. Performance feedback is an effective professional…

In this systematic review, we evaluated the quality and rigor of the current evidence base for the Second Step social-emotional learning program in middle schools. Eleven studies were coded using the "Council for Exceptional Children Standards for Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education" with an 80% weighted criterion. We…