This dissertation contains two studies that examine family therapy services within public schools related to behavioral or discipline concerns. Both studies stem from an ecological and family systems theoretical framework in examining relationships between the student, family, and school systems. The first study is a scoping review on family…

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…

The present study asks what challenges student teachers meet in today's school and how they present, respond to, and reflect on these challenges in an online discussion forum. The study explores these questions by analysing cases written by student teachers in their last practice placement in a one-year post-graduate teacher education programme…

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.…

There is a need for more research regarding school-based behavioral mental health services addressing problematic internalizing behaviors. The purpose of this quantitative study was to implement Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) combined with Check-in/Check-out (CICO) in an alternative educational setting and evaluate its effects on (a)…

The objective of this Campbell systematic review is to examine the relationship between school-based law enforcement (SBLE) presence and school-related outcomes. The past several decades has witnessed a steady growth of the presence of SBLE around the world. There is no standard definition for SBLE, nor is there a common training, job description,…

This study sought to investigate the effects of a self-monitoring (SM) with goal-setting (GS) intervention on students' disruptive behavior. A multiple baseline A-B-BC design was implemented across five elementary school-aged participants diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to examine the use of a behavioral intervention…

The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of function-based decisions made in consideration of scores from the Intervention Selection Profile (ISP)-Function, a tool founded upon direct behavior rating methodology. The ISP-Function is designed to be a brief measure, given the need for efficient and low resource assessments in schools.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of function-based decisions made in consideration of scores from the Intervention Selection Profile--Function (ISP-Function), a tool founded upon direct behavior rating (DBR) methodology. The ISP-Function is designed to be a brief measure, given the need for efficient and low-resource…

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…

In this study, we examine friendship centrality and reciprocity between kindergarteners who exhibit externalizing classroom behaviors and their classroom peers. Teachers nominated children who display externalizing classroom behaviors, and we collected network data via individual interviews of 411 children (mean age = 6.7 years; SD = 0.33) from 21…

This study evaluated the use of the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) model as an intensive individualized behavior intervention. Three educators and three high school students with autism spectrum disorder participated in the study. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate the outcomes. The results indicated…

Social emotional development is crucial for all young children. Children who develop age-appropriate social emotional skills engage in positive peer relationships, establish friendship skills, and have competent problem-solving skills. Without adequate social emotional skills, young children are at risk for detrimental long and short-term…

Expulsion and suspension (or exclusionary discipline) in early care and education (ECE) are widely recognized as harmful to children. Numerous states have developed expulsion and suspension prevention policies through legislation or administrative rules. However, there is limited research on the implementation of state policies designed to reduce…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is characterized by variable neurobehavioral abnormalities, which leads to difficulties in developing and evaluating treatments and in determining accurate prognosis. We employed a pediatric cross-sectional sample (1,072 males, 338 females) from FORWARD, a clinic-based natural history study, to identify behavioral subtypes…