The authors ask if participating in an early-childhood theater production improves pretend play and cooperation among preschoolers. They examined play sessions immediately before and after productions of interactive earlychildhood performances at Imagination Stage, Inc. and measured children's engagement, cooperation, pretense, and misbehavior.…

Individuals with ASD often display externalizing behaviors, which have been associated with lower quality of life in adulthood. Social difficulties have been hypothesized to underlie externalizing problems among individuals with ASD (Klin and Volkmar in "Asperger Syndrome," 340-366, 2000), but this has never been tested empirically. We…

This study employed Brehm's psychological reactance theory (PRT) to understand why students do or do not choose to follow classroom cell phone policies. Results (N = 750) from this study demonstrate that when instructors discourage cell phone use for noninstructional reasons, students feel their autonomy has been threatened. These perceptions of…

The purpose of this study was to explore similarities and differences between special educator preparation in Norway and in Sweden. Graduates of special education programmes at two Norwegian (n = 320) and two Swedish universities (n = 425) who completed their training between 2001 and 2012 responded to surveys. Findings indicate that both Swedish…

The purpose of this study was to conduct reliability and validity generalization meta-analyses of evidence regarding the "Student Risk Screening Scale" (SRSS), a universal screener for externalizing behavior problems. A systematic review of the literature resulted in the identification of 17 studies inclusive of evidence regarding SRSS…

Raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) poses unique challenges that may impact parents' mental health and parenting experiences. The current study analyzed self-report data from 77 parents of youth with ASD. A serial multiple mediation model revealed that parenting stress (SIPA) and parental mental health (BAI and BDI-II) appears to…

Charts that keep (public) track of whether a student's behavior is in some equivalent of a red (problem), yellow, or green ("well-behaved") zone are ubiquitous in elementary schools. This strategy based on shaming students is due to be retired because (1) it promotes only compliance, not social-emotional learning; (2) charts don't teach…

Descriptive assessments involve recording naturally occurring instances of behavior and corresponding antecedent and consequent events. Authors have argued for the use of two forms of descriptive assessment, structured and narrative Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence recording, because these methods may require little training. However, the extent to…

The researchers examined the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based attention group with elementary school students struggling with attention problems. The results revealed that students in the intervention group were more likely to improve their on-task behavior and decrease their attention problems during the group compared to students in the…

The national high school graduation rate reached its highest level in U.S. history--82 percent--during the 2013-14 school year (Kena et al., 2016)--but dropout remains a persistent problem in the Midwest and nationally. Early warning systems that use research-based warning signs to identify students at risk of dropping out have emerged as one…

The purpose of the qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of K-5 elementary teacher in Dekalb County, Georgia who perceived the influence of their spirituality on the behavior and academic achievement of students. The sample included 14 elementary school teachers that were purposefully selected from a local…

Managing classroom behavior is an important prerequisite to effective teaching and a salient need in alternative schools. Unfortunately, students from these schools are often underrepresented in the intervention literature. The primary aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two different theoretical approaches to classroom…

Given that students at secondary and postsecondary levels believe that certain behaviors are morally wrong and consider them cheating, they still perform them, albeit infrequently. This article examines the psychology of cheating, emphasizing individual psychological factors that influence integrity behavior. From this research, strategies to…

In the past decade, the number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has steadily increased. A common characteristic of ASD is the presence of stereotypical behaviors (e.g., hand flapping, echolalia), which some have suggested may be associated with heightened arousal and/or anxiety. The purpose of this study is to compare…

This study experimentally investigated preservice teachers' responses to student misbehavior according to the ethnic background of the student. Preservice teachers were presented with a verbal description of either an ethnic minority or an ethnic majority student. Afterwards, they were asked to estimate how likely they would be to apply each of 12…