Preschool teachers in a small county in a southern state are among a growing number of teachers who have expressed concern about not having the skills needed to support young children with challenging behaviors. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) teaching pyramid was developed to help preschool teachers…

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 are five developmental areas: gross motor, fine motor, communication, adaptive behavior, and social-emotional. If social-emotional skills are delayed, all other developmental areas are negatively impacted. Preschool-aged students are incapable of kindergarten readiness if they have a delay in social-emotional development as it impacts their…

Because there are immediate and long-term implications when preschool children exhibit challenging behavior in the classroom, it is crucial to prevent and address challenging behavior as early as possible. Social and emotional teaching strategies have been shown to reduce challenging behavior of preschoolers and increase social and emotional…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental delay that is increasing in prevalence among children in the United States. Those being educated in general education classrooms see benefits in various areas. However, there are a number of barriers to effective education, which may be overcome through teacher education and professional…

It is critical for young children to develop social-emotional competence, as delays in this area are associated with negative social and behavioral outcomes, and the preschool classroom is a natural setting for children to build these skills. However, for many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this can be a challenging task, as…

Preparing young children for kindergarten is an important task. There are many skills that need to be learned. Simple everyday school and daily living tasks are kindergarten readiness skills that need to be taught. Many preschool students struggle to learn these skills unless taught directly. There are a sufficient number of interventions that…

This qualitative study addresses teacher perceptions of using positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) as positive behavioral interventions. This phenomenological study was conducted within a Pre-K-5 elementary school in northwestern North Carolina. In order to collect qualitative data, personal individualized interviews were conducted…

The goal of an early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) program is to teach each child the skills necessary to make meaningful progress in less-restrictive environments (Fox, Dunlap & Crushing, 2002). However, few studies have detailed the steps necessary for a "successful" transition into these educational settings. We…

Naturalistic behavioral interventions increase the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of child social communication skills among children with developmental delays (DD). Teaching Assistants (TAs) are ideal interventionists for delivering social communication interventions because of the significant amount of time they spend working…

Preschool students who display social emotional deficits pose challenging issues for families, caregivers and teachers who educate them. In this study, the effectiveness of an assistive technology based treatment package consisting of video self-modeling and behavior management software was investigated to determine if its combined use would…

Challenging behavior in preschool is a serious concern for teachers. In recent years, positive behavior support (PBS) has been shown to be effective in reducing such behaviors. Class-Wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a specific program for implementing PBS principles in classroom settings. CW-FIT is a group contingency that…

Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT), which is an adaptation of the empirically-based treatment of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), addresses the needs of children and teachers through increasing positive teacher-child interactions while educating teachers on effective discipline techniques. The theoretical and empirical basis for PCIT…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) has been widely supported as an effective intervention to alter a variety of target behaviors, in various settings, with varying age groups; however, there are areas warranting further investigation. Prior to the present study, no study has examined the GBG's effectiveness in decreasing disruptive behaviors while…

There is great concern by teachers, school administrators and parents regarding the increase in the number of preschool-aged students who exhibit challenging behavior in early childhood settings (Benedict, Horner & Squires 2007), need for early intervention procedures that focus on young children who may be at risk for developing patterns of…