The functional behavioural assessment (FBA) is a process used in identifying the reason (i.e., function) for challenging behaviours when working with students with disabilities and the circumstances and/or environment that reinforce the continued use of the problematic behaviour. However, the procedural definition of the FBA in US federal…

Students with disabilities who engage in high rates of challenging behaviors require educators who employ function-based thinking and have a particular sensitivity to the wide range of factors that influence student behavior. In essence, educators working with special needs students need to know what makes their instruction "special"; they must…

We compared the effects of escape extinction (EE) plus noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with sensory integration therapy as treatment for the feeding problems of 2 children. Results indicated that EE plus NCR was more effective in increasing acceptance, decreasing inappropriate behavior, and increasing amount consumed relative to sensory…

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)--a group of developmental disabilities that cause severe problems with socialization, behavior, and communication--continues to grow. In 2008, the year that "Odyssey" focused on autism, the estimated prevalence of ASD for hearing children was 1 in 150 (CDC, 2007), while today estimates suggest…

Autism has become one of the most heavily researched topics in the field of mental health and education. While genetics has been the most studied of all topics, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has also received a great deal of attention, and has arguably yielded the most promising results of any research area to date. The current paper provides a…

Self-monitoring is a popular, efficient, and effective intervention that is associated with improved academic and social behavior for students across age and ability levels. To date, this is the first study to directly compare the outcomes of self-monitoring functionally relevant and non-relevant replacement behaviors. Specifically, we used an…

Nondisruptive problem behaviors exist to a large extent in group-oriented Japanese regular classrooms. However, many children remain untreated. We implemented an antecedent-based functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and developed a behavioral support program for a first-grade boy who exhibited inattentive behavior in a Japanese regular…

A growing body of research shows that many seriously troubled children and adolescents are reacting to adverse life experiences. Yet traditional diagnostic labels are based on checklists of surface symptoms. Distracted by disruptive behavior, the common response is to medicate, punish, or exclude rather than respond to needs of youth who have…

The presence of challenging and violent behaviors that pose risks to the overall safety and the educational learning experience in the public education setting have been on the rise in recent years. Traditional reactive, coercive, and punitive measures to address these behaviors have been futile. Congress responded to the national increase in…

Recent correlational studies provide support for a transactional relationship between reading and behavior problems. A transactional relationship implies that reading problems cause behavior problems, and vice versa. This study took this basic finding and examined its implications for intervention. Specifically, this study employed single-case…

This meta-analysis examined school-based intervention research based on functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to determine the effectiveness of key individualized positive behavior support (IPBS) practices in school settings. In all, 83 studies representing 145 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Intervention, maintenance, and…

Preferences of 2 children with developmental disabilities, whose functional analyses indicated that their problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items, were assessed using three formats (i.e., paired stimulus [PS], multiple-stimulus without replacement [MSWO], and free operant [FO]). The experimenter administered each format five…

We assessed problem and appropriate behavior in the natural environment from a matching perspective. Problem and appropriate behavior were conceptualized as concurrently available responses, the occurrence of which was thought to be determined by the relative rates or durations of reinforcement. We also assessed whether response allocation could…

This study examined the effects of presession exposure to attention, response blocking, attention with response blocking, and noninteraction conditions on subsequent engagement in automatically maintained challenging behavior and correct responding in four individuals with significant intellectual disabilities. Following a functional analysis, the…

Challenging behavior is often a source of frustration for parents. Challenging behavior is defined as any behavior that interferes with children's learning and development, is harmful to children and to others, and puts a child at risk for later social problems or school failure (Bailey & Wolery, 1992; Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2003). Children's…