Focus groups and interviews can help to determine teachers' perspectives on classroom management. The problem with special education in the United States is that teachers are not prepared for specific classroom challenges, and their perceptions of classroom management have not been thoroughly documented. Gaps in the literature included teachers'…

Observations of preservice teachers often lack information about specific strategies they use when guiding children's behavior. This study investigated how preservice teachers used verbal and non-verbal behavior modification techniques within structured and transition classroom contexts. Using an on-the-mark 20- second observe and 10-second record…

When, despite their best efforts, teachers feel defeated by a disruptive student, it seems they're fighting a losing battle. These students often have trouble regulating their emotions, become inflexible and have outbursts, and leave teachers feeling exhausted and incompetent. Through their collaboration, the authors have developed an approach…

When the author was asked to write an article for this issue about teaching kids with autism, he thought, who better to tell that tale than him? He grew up with undiagnosed autism in the 1960s, so he has a first-person understanding of what it's like. He has also raised a child with Asperger syndrome, so he has seen autism from the parent's point…

This ethnographic study of language shows the importance of educators' appropriate use of linguistic, nonlinguistic, and paralinguistic communication techniques when working with elementary students within two classrooms who have behavioral and emotional disorders. This study focused on communication techniques used by teachers and…

For long-term learning and positive connections to take place in the classroom, we need to assume that our students want to learn both content and appropriate behavior in school. Teachers must explicitly teach behavior, pausing in their lessons to address misbehavior in the classroom. Five strategies can help: using volume, tone, and posture to…

The second edition of CHAMPS helps classroom teachers design (or fine tune) a proactive and positive classroom management plan that will overtly teach students how to behave responsibly. The new 2nd edition includes tips and resources to make this definitive guide to classroom management even more user-friendly. CHAMPS strategies are easy to…

This study used a quasi-experimental research design to examine the impact of a professional learning program designed to enhance the competency of children with Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disabilities and to develop knowledge, understanding and skills of teachers and parents in helping them. Data were collected…

The effects on compliance of two types of differential negative reinforcement (DNR) were studied with a five-year-old girl with moderate mental retardation and a history of severe disruption. Escape from instructional trials was either contingent on a communicative behavior or compliance. Behaviors improved with both interventions, but compliance…

The purpose of this article is to summarize information presented in the prior articles into practical strategies physical educators can use when teaching children with autism. The authors divided the article into three areas: (1) structuring the environment; (2) accommodating communication challenges; and (3) preventing challenging behaviors.…

This paper discusses the results from 20 interviews over 10 years with therapeutic support staff members (TSSs) who revealed practices that they successfully implemented while working in inclusionary classrooms with students who had severe behavior challenges. All of the interviewees had Bachelor's degrees in behavior modification. They all worked…

This self-study training manual for teachers of young children with autism contains nine modules on behavior modification techniques. The modules address: (1) the ABC's of behavior, which discusses discriminating among words that describe feelings and words that describe behaviors, identification of examples of learned behavior, and defining and…

This digest describes the challenges of social skills instruction and provides three strategies for improving the social competence of all students, including children with disabilities. It begins by emphasizing the importance of teaching individual social skills within the context of establishing a school-wide culture of social competence. To…

This article describes how moving away from traditional behavior management techniques and using Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) can be useful in obtaining desired behaviors from children with autism. PBS is used widely by special education teachers and has tremendous implications for physical education. Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) is a…

This qualitative study focuses on the classroom interactions of a high school science teacher and a resistant learner in a Grade 10 science class in Australia. Data are presented in the context of a creative nonfiction story based on experiences in a rural Australian high school. In the story, a science teacher lives up to the expectations of…