Creating private school vouchers for special education students--programs that are largely unchallenged in court, unlike other publicly financed tuition vouchers--can be the perfect way to clear a path for other students to get school options, according to school choice proponents. At least seven states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio,…

This study examined the efficacy of a game-based cognitive-behavioral group therapy program for addressing problems typically found among elementary school-aged victims of child sexual abuse immediately after treatment and at three months following treatment. It was hypothesized that positive gains would be observed among the following domains:…

Unresolved issues from home often spill over into behavior problems at school. This article discusses the five-minute RAP techniques: (1) connect; (2) clarify; and (3) restore. The authors present a case study wherein this brief restorative intervention had been a successful alternative to punishment and exclusion.

In a strengths-based study, 17 women ages 25 to 54 participated in focus groups to identify their motivations for positive financial behavior change. Performing a thematic analysis of data, evidence shows they progressed through the Transtheoretical Model stages of change. Emotion, family influence, and life transitions helped participants…

The delivery of food contingent on 10 s of consecutive toy engagement resulted in a decrease in engagement and a corresponding increase in other responses that had been previously reinforced with food. Similar effects were not observed when tokens exchangeable for the same food were delivered, suggesting that engagement was disrupted by the…

File review data were used to explore the impact of a large-scale publicly funded Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) program for young children with autism. Outcomes were compared for 61 children who received IBI and 61 individually matched children from a waitlist comparison group. In addition, predictors of better cognitive outcomes were…

The purpose of this study was to examine group classroom instruction and the need for in vivo feedback when teaching 11 behavioral therapists how to conduct a brief paired-stimulus preference assessment, when to conduct preference assessments, and how to interpret the data during regular therapy sessions. Group classroom instruction, consisting of…

This study was a systematic extension of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzulo-Gomez, Ross, and Rivera-Valdes (2005) and Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, and Chung (2007). We investigated the effects of a tact correction procedure on stereotypic vocalizations in 4 children diagnosed with autism who ranged in age from 6 to 16 years. Participants had limited vocal…

This article reports on Phase 1 of a pilot programme on self-management of behaviour with challenging class groups of students as part of the evidence-informed practice of the National Behaviour Support Service. The Alert Program is a structured active learning programme using an engine analogy. The person's engine runs on high, low or just right…

Physical health may be an important variable that influences students' behavioral and academic performance in school settings. Poor health status is hypothesized to negatively influence student performance even in the presence of evidence-based practices. In this study, teachers reported their perceptions of students' health status as well as…

Research on fraternity men focuses almost exclusively on problematic behaviors such as homophobia and sexism, alcohol abuse, violence against women, sexual promiscuity, and the overrepresentation of members among campus judicial offenders. Consequently, little is known about those who perform masculinities in healthy and productive ways. Presented…

The enduring existence of disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education programs and disciplinary practices creates a double bind for educators, educational leaders, and families. Disproportionality is an adaptive systemic issue that is not under any entity's control; thus,…

In this Issue Brief we discuss the impact that the Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) has on improving the outcomes of several current federal, state, district, and school education reform initiatives. Federal initiatives include Race to the Top, School Improvement Grants, and Campaign for Grade-Level Reading; Common Core…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop, illustrate, and apply the concept of choice architecture to schools. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is a synthesis of concepts from the social science research that nudge people toward positive actions. Findings: A dozen concepts are identified, defined, and illustrated as a set of…

In recent years, there have been major concerns expressed regarding the use of restraint and seclusion to control the behavior of children with disabilities and/or challenging behavior. In May of 2009, for example, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released findings regarding a number of cases in which seclusion and restraint were…