The prevalence of weight problems among youth in general and youth in out-of-home care has been well documented; however, the prevalence of obesity/overweight among youth with high-incidence disabilities in more restrictive settings, such as residential care, has not been assessed. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of…

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive…

Teachers from mainstream and minority backgrounds teaching in the same school contexts presumably hold different beliefs of learning and teaching about minority students due to their unique prior life and ethnic experiences. Teachers in similar school environments are also assumed to share beliefs of teaching and learning about their students…

Although knowledge on the psychosocial (mal)adjustment of bully-victims, children who bully others and are victimised by others, has been increasing, the findings have been principally gained utilising a single method to identify bully-victims. The present study examined the psychosocial adjustment of bully-victims (as compared with pure bullies…

Over 200 million children under the age of 5 are not fulfilling their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health, and lack of cognitive stimulation. Experiences in early childhood have long term-effects on brain development and thus the cognitive and social-emotional skills that promote children's school success. Further, early childhood…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases its annual list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field. The 20 studies selected have given new insight into the underlying biology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and potential risk factors, examined the state of the science in early…

This brief describes how to use a free online behavior screener to identify student support needs in middle and high schools. Inclusive Behavior Instruction utilizes data to identify appropriate social-emotional supports for all students. The Lane et al. (2016) study demonstrated system-wide use of a free online behavior screener at the middle and…

The number of students identified under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with an emotional disturbance (ED) has remained remarkably stable over the last 30 years. During this time, approximately 1% of the school-aged population has been identified as disabled under the criteria set forth in IDEA (Kim, Forness, & Walker,…

Functional analysis represents a sophisticated and empirically supported functional assessment procedure. While these procedures have garnered considerable empirical support, they are often underused in clinical practice. Safety risks resulting from the evocation of maladaptive behavior and the length of time required to conduct functional…

Many programs to prevent aggressive behaviours have been implemented at German schools. One such program is "Faustlos," a German adaptation of Second Step. This study investigated the social validity of the Faustlos curriculum in a sample of German fourth graders. Social validity refers to the level of acceptance associated with a…

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) can present unique behavioral and academic challenges within the school environment. The Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) movements have sought to formalize intervention systems to address the needs of all children. An integral…

Direct training procedures have been beneficial in increasing teachers' knowledge and skills for the use of recommended intervention for target students in their classrooms. However, direct training alone has not been successful in teachers' consistent and sustained use of the intervention for the target student and the generalized use…

This brief report presents on gender and age effects in academic motivation and engagement. The results are based on an updated and much expanded dataset (from prior research) of 33,778 students from 92 high schools in Australia. Findings show there are significant gender and age effects--a number of which are qualified by the interaction of…

Extensive research has compared the overrepresentation of exclusionary (suspension type) consequences of certain groups. However, research has not been conducted to compare institutions that work primarily with at-risk, minority racial groups and those with disabilities, to traditional public institutions. Educational leaders have created numerous…

Family plays a very important role in infant's development and behaviour, being that the parents' divorce can be a very stressful experience. This is an exploratory and comparative study that aims at identifying the differences in children's behaviour with divorced parents (or separated) and married parents (or living together), based on the…