The purpose of this phenomenological study is to better understand the experiences of engagement of African American caregivers of children with emotional impairments who attend a non-traditional alternative education setting within an urban New England area. The findings of this study answered the research question, "How do African American…

Misophonia is characterized by an autonomic response (e.g., increased heart rate) that is elicited by certain innocuous or repetitive sounds, and individuals with misophonia may display an extreme, overt response commonly associated with rage, hatred, and a loss of self-control. In this investigation, we used a combined respondent and operant…

Researchers have found that verbal aggression (VA) is the most frequent form of aggression reported in U.S. schools across all grade levels. There are numerous harmful outcomes for VA perpetrators, victims, and witnesses including depression, anxiety, decreased academic performance, and low sense of school belonging. Moreover, VA is known to…

Rural schools experience difficulty in filling teaching positions at higher rates than non-rural schools. Recruiting and retaining teachers are critical in these districts; however, because the term "rural" is variable, a one-size-fits-all response is not possible. Rural communities tend to be geographically remote, have a low critical…

The purpose of the current study was to determine how students identified as Emotionally Disturbed (ED) with severe internalizing concerns who receive special education services are placed in different school districts throughout the country. Examining the variance in how this population is placed in different parts of the country is of…

The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) safeguards the learning of students with disabilities and protects them from nondiscriminatory assessments that identify their disabilities and align them with the special education support and services required. However, when the IDEA is not adequately followed, students with disabilities…

To better understand the implications of comorbidity between reading disability (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a sample of 225 participants with RD but without ADHD, 139 participants with both RD and ADHD, and 1,502 children without reading or attentional difficulties was recruited through five large public school…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders served in alternative educational settings (e.g., residential treatment facilities) have been exposed to traumatic events at higher rates compared to their peers. Due to the significance of the need for connection with safe, healthy adults, in healing from past traumatic experiences and developing…

Education researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have emphasized the role that social-emotional learning and self-regulation play in children's adjustment and connection to school, particularly as they transition from pre-school to kindergarten and the primary grades. A pretest-posttest cluster-randomized efficacy trial of the…

The Scales for Assessing Emotional Disturbance Screener--Third Edition (SAED-3) is a standardized, norm-referenced measure designed to identify school-age students at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. Four studies are reported to address the psychometric status of the SAED-3 Screener. Study 1 examined the internal consistency of the…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) are an effective support for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) for improving targeted behavioral skills. As one of the most important strategies in PMI, peer prompting and reinforcement (PR) provides an effective approach for developing and maintaining positive behavior. This article provides…

The disproportionate, over-representation of Black boys in special education continues to be a matter of social injustice and inequity in education. Many Black students are placed in special education due to subjective identification processes. This is especially true when it comes to classifications such as Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD).…

The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand how emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) teachers experience the initiation, implementation, and continuation stages of the positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) multitiered framework. Fullan's educational change theory provided the theoretical…

This doctoral study explored headteachers' lived experiences of leading trauma-informed education in their special schools for pupils with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs throughout and since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Five headteachers of SEMH special day schools in England…

Currently more than 400,000 youth are placed in foster care across the United States. Between 33% and 50% of these children receive special education services. Nearly half of foster care youth with disabilities are identified as having emotional and behavioral disorders, in part due to their exposure to maltreatment including neglect, substance…