Functional communication training (FCT) reduces escape-maintained challenging behavior but can result in time away from instruction. Instructional time could be maintained if interventions incorporated academic interventions like curricular revision. We compared FCT with extinction to a curricular-revision treatment package involving antecedent…

Food selectivity affects up to 72% and 45% of individuals with and without disabilities, respectively, and there is a need for interventions that rely on positive, unrestrictive strategies. We evaluated an assessment and treatment package for food selectivity for young children with developmental disabilities that prioritized caregiver…

A trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) offers several advantages beneficial for classroom settings. TBFA can be completed rapidly, requires fewer resources than traditional functional analyses (FAs), can occur in the natural environment during typically scheduled activities, and involves less intense data collection methods. However, a number of…

Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity and oppositional defiant disorder are associated with a multitude of psychosocial developmental risks, e.g. academic underachievement. Various cognitive behavioral interventions have proven to be effective in reducing problem behavior in school settings. Drawing on this previous work and on our…

The current study evaluated the effects of a multicomponent function-based intervention on students with other health impairment (OHI) for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a private special education school. The focus of the intervention was to prevent problem behaviors and to increase academic engagement by modifying classroom…

This study investigated the use of noncontingent reinforcement with response cost to reduce problem verbal and physical behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement in an internationally adopted, post-institutionalized student diagnosed with ADHD. Systematic direct observation was employed to measure behavior in a single-subject withdrawal…

A comprehensive function-based intervention was developed to address the chronic, high levels of off-task behavior by a 15-year-old ninth grade Caucasian male with learning disabilities and ADHD. A descriptive FBA identified that the student's off-task behavior was reinforced by peer attention and task avoidance. Intervention involved the…

We manipulated relative reinforcement for problem behavior and appropriate behavior using differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) without an extinction component. Seven children with developmental disabilities participated. We manipulated duration (Experiment 1), quality (Experiment 2), delay (Experiment 3), or a combination of…

We conducted a three-phase study to evaluate the use of mands and the occurrence of problem behavior for 2 children with developmental disabilities. During Phase 1, a functional analysis identified the variables maintaining problem behavior. During Phase 2, functional communication training was implemented within a concurrent schedules design. The…

A functional assessment-based intervention (FABI) was designed and implemented to increase the on-task behavior of David, a second-grade student in a general education classroom. David attended an elementary school that used a comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered (CI3T) model of prevention. The school's principal nominated David for Project…

Previous research suggests that motivating operation (MO) manipulations may assist in assessing discriminated manding (Gutierrez et al., 2007). The current study partially replicated and extended previous research by varying access to concurrently available reinforcers with different preference values (i.e., MO manipulations). Manding did not…

Research has shown that functional analysis results are beneficial for treatment selection because they identify reinforcers for severe behavior that can then be used to reinforce replacement behaviors either differentially or noncontingently. Theoretically then, if a reinforcer is identified in a functional analysis erroneously, a well researched…

Research has shown a positive correlation between time spent on homework and learning. However, students often engage in off-task behaviors to escape the demands of homework. Youth with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) are especially likely to engage in off-task behaviors. Effective interventions to increase on-task behavior during homework…

With its roots in clinical and educational psychology, school psychology is an ever-changing field that encompasses a diversity of topics. "The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology" synthesizes the most vital and relevant literature in all of these areas, producing a state-of-the-art, authoritative resource for practitioners,…

Freddy, a student diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder served for part of the school day in special education, was having difficulty staying on task. Teachers reported that Freddy was continuously getting up out of his seat, bothering classmates, and making verbal comments or requests without raising his hand. Observations were…