The articles in this special Practitioner's Edition of "Psychology in the Schools" share the application of sound educational and behavioral practices in real school and classroom contexts. Given this emphasis in these articles on the applied use of behavioral practices, the purpose of this brief commentary is to highlight and comment on some of…

This review evaluates research on the treatment of challenging behavior in school settings for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Electronic database searches were carried out to identify studies published between 1995 and 2005. Twenty-six studies were identified. A variety of procedures were implemented in these studies to decrease…

A range of interventions exist to prevent and respond to disruptive classroom behavior. This study documents the efficacy of a function-based intervention conducted using a multiple baseline across settings design. Despite moderately variable levels of treatment fidelity, results suggest a functional relation between the introduction of a package…

Referral requests for individual counseling pose a threat to the implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs (Jackson & White, 2000). Consulting with teachers is one way that school counselors can efficiently respond to some referrals while also providing system support. Using a developmental counseling and therapy-based…

There has been much research concerning functional assessment over the past 20 years, but several important research considerations have yet to be explained. One is the comparison of different types of functional assessment (e.g., experimental functional analysis and non-experimental functional assessment). The current study aims to compare the…

Although FBA has been a familiar term to those in special education for over 30 years, its formal inclusion into IDEA is relatively recent. Currently, agreement as to the nature, context, and application of the FBA process is, at best, confusing and, at worst, inadequate to direct elective practice in schools. An analysis of the issues that define…

Traces functional assessment (FA) in school settings to early contributions by B. F. Skinner. FA plays an important role in behavior analysis, and the value of this approach in dealing with behavior problems in many settings has long been evident. Although interest in FA in school settings has only recently become widespread, FA in education has a…

This paper moves beyond the competence focus of mainstream value engineering training (e.g. Miles 1989, "Techniques of Value Engineering and Value Analysis"; Kaufman 1990, "Value Engineering for the Practitioner"), such books achieve their training goal well but lack the pedagogic aim we argue in this paper. This paper achieves our aim by…

Recent studies have used pretreatment analyses, termed competing stimulus assessments, to identify items that most effectively displace the aberrant behavior of individuals with developmental disabilities. In most studies, there appeared to have been no systematic basis for selecting the sampling period (ranging from 30 s to 10 min) in which items…

The implementation of school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) initiatives has experienced considerable success. Student behaviors have improved, and teachers' attitudes about the remediation of misbehavior have become more positive when PBS is used. When teacher practice results in a positive outcome, there is a corresponding increase in…

Describing the state of the science of ABA, this comprehensive handbook provides detailed information about theory, research, and intervention. The contributors are leading ABA authorities who present current best practices in behavioral assessment and demonstrate evidence-based strategies for supporting positive behaviors and reducing problem…

This study looks at the utilization of assessments on developing behavior intervention plans (BIPs) and their use in designing actual implementation for the children (elementary through high school) labeled EBD in a mid-sized district in eastern Washington. Files were reviewed to determine the types of assessments used, FBA components addressed,…

Educational experience in the community provides students with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities the opportunity to learn and rehearse skills they need to participate fully in community environments. The degree to which students with intellectual disabilities participate in their communities is often dependent on their ability to…

In an increasingly inclusive and complex setting, professionals in the school workforce working with children presenting social, emotional and behavioural difficulties are managing difficulties that frequently reflect co-morbidity and multiple-disorder. This article reports practitioner-led research taking place in a mainstream school in the USA…

It is generally acknowledged that school discipline is failing. Through a comparison of two very different disciplinary situations, I inquire into possible causes of failure and conditions of success. The argument is made that if discipline is to succeed, students must believe in and identify with the goals it is designed to support. Questions are…