Problem behavior is a primary barrier to successful community inclusion for people with developmental disabilities and therefore a major priority for intervention efforts. Recently, researchers and clinicians have begun to focus on the systematic assessment of a broad range of contextual variables that purportedly affect problem behavior. In the…

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) has been suggested for facilitating the development and effectiveness of behavior intervention plans. In this study, the researchers examined whether behavior intervention plans based on FBA information (function-based) were more effective than behavior intervention plans not based on FBA information…

Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children (SET-C) is a comprehensive behavioral treatment combining social skills training, peer generalization experiences, and individualized in vivo exposure for the treatment of social phobia in youth. SET-C results in positive treatment outcome and its effects are maintained at least 3 years later. In this…

The use of toys in child clinical contexts is advocated by a number of researchers in the field as a means of overcoming developmental constraints on children's reports of their psychological states and their experiences. This paper reviews the literature relating to the impact of toys on children's ability to recall and communicate clinically…

Children who fail to become fluent readers by the end of the primary grades are likely to achieve below same-age peers throughout their school careers. With growing use of curriculum-based measures (CBMs), it is easier to identify those students who are achieving below same-age peers. Moreover, a process of conducting individualized assessment and…

In many classrooms, children behave in rude and hateful ways. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), "Sexual harassment of girls by boys--from innuendo to actual assault--in the nation's schools is increasing" (AAUW, 2001). In this article, the author features the anti-bias curriculum approach to building friendships and…

While many individuals with challenging behaviors now enjoy the benefits of inclusion and self-determination, large numbers of their peers remain in segregated, restrictive settings and continue to be subjected to coercive intervention plans that include aversives, (nonemergency) restraint, and seclusion as "treatment." A rising tide of…

School discipline is a growing concern in the United States. Educators frequently are faced with discipline problems ranging from infrequent but extreme problems (e.g., shootings) to less severe problems that occur at high frequency (e.g., bullying, insubordination, tardiness, and fighting). Unfortunately, teachers report feeling ill prepared to…

"Positive Action," a K-12 program, aims to promote character development, academic achievement, and social-emotional skills and to reduce disruptive and problem behavior. The program is based on the philosophy that you feel good about yourself when you think and do positive actions, and there is always a positive way to do everything.…

The PLAY Project Home Consultation (PPHC) program trains parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders using the DIR/Floortime model of Stanley Greenspan MD. Sixty-eight children completed the 8-12 month program. Parents were encouraged to deliver 15 hours per week of 1:1 interaction. Pre/post ratings of videotapes by blind raters using the…

Functional analyses of problem behavior for 4 young boys with developmental delays showed that problem behaviors were maintained by both negative and positive reinforcement. Functional communication training was conducted with one set of training stimuli in which the child's mother presented a work task in the family living room. Pretreatment…

This monograph presents highlights from a 2002 forum on school-wide approaches to working with students with challenging behaviors. The forum's focus was on ways to make systemic changes to create school environments that support the use of positive academic and behavioral interventions at the building and classroom levels. The following…

This article discusses evidence for functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures in terms of the meaning and interpretation of different forms of reliability and validity in FBA. It concludes that additional research needs to be conducted with various target behaviors across different settings to support the continued use of FBA. (Contains…

This article presents a rationale for the functional behavioral assessment (FBA) approach to solving behavior problems in the classroom as well as FBA components and applications. The paper notes advantages of FBA as well as legal and ethical reasons for using FBA. A case study illustrates use of FBA within a four-stage decision-making framework.…

This article offers a repertoire of behavior management strategies to help students with attention deficit disorder (ADD) succeed in school. Strategies range from conducting a functional behavioral assessment to antecedents- and consequences-based strategies. The article also discusses factors that educators may consider in meeting the behavioral…