Students with emotional and behavioral disorders often need behavioral supports to facilitate their success in the classroom. One commonly used intervention involves taking brief breaks at targeted times during the day to return to the classroom better prepared for participation. However, research is limited on what should happen while a student…

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…

Disruptive behavior disorders in childhood are increasingly pervasive and associated with numerous, negative long-term outcomes. The current study examined whether adding a brief, home-visitation intervention to an existing, multi-component (child and teacher) intervention, would improve social-emotional and behavioral outcomes for young children…

Literacy influences all aspects of life. Unfortunately, a rising number of students struggle with reading and spelling, which can result in enormous educational barriers. Difficulties in literacy accompanied by learning-related problem behavior can create additional risk factors. Effective interventions for these students should consider…

The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the current check-in, check-out (CICO) literature base for inclusions of trauma-informed adaptations, specifically within the conversations occurring between CICO facilitators and students. Published studies and dissertations incorporating at least four of the five steps in the CICO intervention…

Schools continue to experience difficulty meeting the needs of young children who are formally identified as having an emotional and/or behavioural disorder (EBD). Although schools are mandated to use evidence-based practices to improve student outcomes, such practices must first be identified before they can be employed. Systematic reviews of…

The connection between school success and the quality of the student-teacher relationship (STR) is especially salient for students with or at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD; Zolkoski, 2019). However, the STR is typically poor for these students (Breeman et al., 2018; Crum et al., 2016) and little work has been done to understand…

While the long-term societal costs for youth with disruptive behavior disorders are well documented, there is a dearth of information about the comprehensive costs of implementing even the most well-regarded early intervention programs, and the costs of scaling effective interventions are even less well understood. This study estimated the costs…

Several mental health programs have been developed in clinics and transported into schools, which has great potential for increasing access to intervention for students who may not be otherwise served. However, such programs may lack consideration of the complexity and constraints of schools, including the diversity of student needs and…

Researchers have shown that children's social-emotional growth is inextricably connected to academic learning. We developed the Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF) intervention, a Grade K-1 curriculum merging social-emotional learning (SEL) and literacy instruction, to promote language supported self-regulation, specifically for primary…

This case study describes the actions and processes of implementing Behavior Support Coaching for Paraprofessionals (BSC-P) with a kindergarten teacher and paraprofessional to support the implementation of behavior support plans with three students in a high-poverty elementary school. BSC-P consists of eight, 40-min coaching sessions using direct…

Several mental health programs have been developed in clinics and transported into schools, which has great potential for increasing access to intervention for students who may not be otherwise served. However, such programs may lack consideration of the complexity and constraints of schools, including the diversity of student needs and…

Antecedent interventions are often used preventatively to address engagement, but few studies have evaluated their effectiveness with students at risk for disability. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two commonly recommended antecedent interventions that have limited empirical support for use with students at risk: social stories and…

Despite receiving little to no training in behavior management, paraprofessionals often support young students with or at risk of disruptive behavior disorders in elementary schools. The Behavior Support Coaching for Paraprofessionals (BSC-P) is a new evidence-based data-driven approach for enhancing paraprofessionals' skills in identifying…

Teachers may benefit from using classroom-delivered, low-intensity strategies to increase engagement of students at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders and academic failure in the general education classroom. This project focused on empowering teachers to be involved in every step of the research process: screening, planning, data…