Early childhood education teachers often feel underprepared for addressing behavior challenges in the classroom. This can limit a teacher's ability to teach academic and social skills and lead to interruptions in their educational experience such as suspensions or expulsions. Effective planning can help teachers create and manage positive learning…

Many factors cause student disengagement from school that subsequently result in high dropout rates. Alternative education (AE) programs provide a different pathway for at-risk youths who do not meet the goals, standards, and requirements of traditional educational settings. However, educational agencies have vastly different interpretations…

Background: Teachers and parents play a very important role in providing valuable information for the assessment of children with severe disabilities. The needs of children, educational goals, and parental aspirations are similar irrespective of the part of the globe they live in. This study focused on the perceptions of teachers and parents of…

While there is a wide body of research to support the effectiveness of schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS), there are significant challenges to facilitating sustainable implementation. The present study begins to address these challenges by exploring PBS implementation in a diverse, regionally isolated elementary school that previously…

This article reviews features of behavioral support plans that teams should consider as they develop positive, effective responses to problem behavior, including investing in prevention occurrences of problem behavior and developing instructional objectives, avoiding rewarding problem behaviors, rewarding positive behaviors, and knowing what to do…

Discusses requirements specified in the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that pertain to functional behavioral assessment, as well as positive behavioral intervention plans and supports as they relate to the responsibilities of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team and to the IEP itself. (CR)

This article provides a general description of the features and steps of the functional behavioral assessment (FBA) process. It is organized around frequently asked questions and provides information on who conducts an FBA, when an FBA should be done, the components of an FBA, and outcomes of an FBA. (Contains references.) (CR)

This article reviews the functional assessment paradigm in relation to students with serious emotional and behavioral disorders who have well developed cognitive abilities and linguistic skills. Based on the needs of these students, the Assessment Intervention Process, a system for facilitating the development of effective positive behavior plans…

This introductory article to a special series discusses requirements under the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to base behavioral intervention planning and positive behavioral support on information obtained through a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) process. The lack of guidance on FBAs and strategies for…

This manual is designed to help school personnel conduct functional behavior assessments (FBAs) and to develop effective behavior intervention plans (BIPs). The manual begins by providing background information on FBAs including: (1) the four-stage model of collaborative problem solving that is used to conduct FBAs and develop subsequent BIPs,…

This article highlights the necessary components of a functional behavioral assessment, a decision making framework concerning the selection of assessment and intervention procedures to be used at school, and a description of one practical functional behavioral assessment tool, the Initial Line of Inquiry, that has been employed by school-based…

This digest discusses the new requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that Individualized Education Program teams conduct a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and implement behavior intervention plans that include positive behavioral interventions and supports for students with disabilities. It describes the purpose…

This article discusses legal requirements for developing functional behavioral assessment and behavioral intervention plans, especially as they pertain to disciplinary actions. This discussion is followed by an outline of elements related to behavioral intervention planning with specific guidelines for school personnel who seek to put such plans…

This article presents Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requirements on functional behavioral assessments (FBAs), describes the process of conducting an FBA, explains the legal requirements for developing measurable goals and benchmarks or short-term objectives, describes the development of a behavior intervention plan, and presents a…

This article examines the contextual, conceptual, and empirical foundations of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) in general educational settings. The need for schools to design effective responses to increases in individual problem behavior and the need to be compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are discussed.…