The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and No Child Left Behind emphasize the use of scientifically based research to improve outcomes for students. From this emphasis, response-to-intervention has evolved. We present one perspective on the defining features of response-to-intervention and application of those features to school-wide…

Social skills training (SST) is a topic of great importance in the field of autism as social skill deficits are a prominent feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Improving and/or facilitating the acquisition and performance of social skills across multiple settings should be the primary purpose of SST. Unfortunately, few children receive SST…

Due to deficits in communication, students with autism experience anxiety and confusion, which cause withdrawal and disruptive behaviors. However, teachers can create a positive educational environment that will facilitate learning by having an understanding of autism and of the characteristics associated with children with autism. One important…

The purpose of this article is to describe the development and 10-year implementation of the effective behavior and instructional support model in a midsized northwestern Oregon school district. The district experienced a sustained reduction in students' discipline referral rates, an increase in the percentage of students on track for early…

Children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) exhibit distinct visual behaviors which are often misinterpreted. As the incidence of CVI is on the rise, this has subsequently caused an increased need for identification and intervention with these children from teaching and therapy service providers. Distinguishing children with CVI from children…

Children with Down syndrome are at an increased risk for engaging in challenging behaviour that may present problems within community, leisure, and educational settings, and, in many instances, precludes them from accessing these environments. Factors contributing to the occurrence of challenging behaviours include characteristics associated with…

In this theoretical paper, mentoring relationships are conceptualized as close relationships that occur along a spectrum from highly functional to highly dysfunctional, with most occurring in between. A complex set of factors describe the functioning level of mentoring relationships: (a) the attachment styles of the mentors and mentees; (b)…

Students with challenging behaviors are very deft at engaging teachers in power struggles as a way to either feel empowered, obtain attention, or escape an unpleasant task. The more frustrated that teachers permit themselves to get, the less capable they are of responding in a therapeutic, productive fashion to students' challenging behaviors. The…

Using the new "emerging adulthood" developmental period (Arnett, 2000) as a theoretical framework, this article emphasizes the challenges faced by emerging adults (17- to 24-year-olds) enrolled in adult education. First, emerging adulthood as a developmental period and the additional difficulties experienced by youths with emotional,…

Youth are currently growing up in a culture where gambling is legal, accessible and widely supported. Although minors are largely restricted from regulated gambling, the greater incidence of problem gambling amongst youth than adults suggests that the perception of gambling as a harmless entertainment activity is inaccurate. Gambling is widely…

The time-away intervention model targets students in conflict with teachers or other students. The model features a 3-step intervention process: (a) time out, (b) redirection, and (c) conflict resolution. Schools that implement time away have documented an effective skill-building strategy for preventing the need for tertiary-level restrictive…

Response to intervention (RTI) program is a tiered process of implementing evidence-based instructional strategies in the regular education setting and frequently measuring the student's progress to determine whether these strategies are effective. The use of RTI methods as part of a comprehensive system to address student learning difficulties…

This article reports on the results of a groundbreaking brain-imaging study suggesting that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stems from delayed brain maturation. Implicit in some of the news coverage was the hopeful idea that many--even most--children eventually grow out of the disorder. But that's not exactly true, according to a…

Extinction is accepted as a viable intervention for behaviors that are hypothesized to be maintained by contingent attentional reinforcement. However, it is frequently acknowledged that extinction has potential numerous side effects, including the generation of aggressive behavior. This explanation does not provide a behavioral conceptualization…

Many young children demonstrate behavior that teachers find challenging. Accordingly, early childhood and elementary educators must be prepared to support children's social development and use effective practices so that children will be less likely to develop or sustain behavior problems. General education reform and legislation direct schools to…