Education and Treatment of Children最新文献

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders often need behavioral supports to facilitate their success in the classroom. One commonly used intervention involves taking brief breaks at targeted times during the day to return to the classroom better prepared for participation. However, research is limited on what should happen while a student is on break. Two potential strategies were evaluated using an alternating treatment design with three students at an urban charter school in 1st and 5th grades. Following a baseline phase, breaks alternated between a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) involving awareness of breath, body, and self and a relationship-based intervention (RBI) involving a “would you rather” get-to-know-you game. Results suggest both interventions improved behavioral outcomes for all participants compared to baseline. For two students, no clear break type had a more profound impact. For one participant, data suggest that MBI was a superior intervention for increasing academic engagement. Both interventions were implemented with acceptable fidelity and social validity. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

In this article, we present findings from our first iterative design study for Project ENHANCE to share our findings as well as provide an exemplar for others engaged in design inquiry. In particular, we explain how we used a data-informed design process with district partners to determine content and features of three foundational professional learning modules to support implementation of integrated tiered systems of support. We report findings from three groups of individuals: advisory board and expert panel members (Phase 0), Ci3T Leadership Team members (Phase 1), and role-specific user groups from school faculty and staff (Phase 2). Results indicated acceptability and overall usability of content from multiple perspectives, with priority placed on smaller units of professional learning and flexible resources (e.g., videos infographics). Results also raised questions about how to use resources without overwhelming teachers as they manage multiple responsibilities within a finite amount of time. We discuss limitations and future directions.

A primary goal of educational settings in the United States is to produce competent writers. However, most students do not receive adequate instruction and practice beyond grade three. Furthermore, only 29% of high school graduates without disabilities, and 5% with disabilities exit with proficient writing skills (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). There is growing body of evidence for the use of explicit instruction and timed practice interventions to teach writing skills to struggling writers. However, to date there is no review of these combined strategies (i.e., explicit instruction and timed practice) to teach writing skills. The current review analyzed 10 studies that met the What Works Clearinghouse Single Case Design Standards 5.0 and included 53 students who received explicit instruction and timed practice interventions for sentence-level writing skills. Results from the independent analysis show that explicit instruction and timed practice have a significant impact on decreasing the frequency of incorrect writing performance and establish the need for additional research on frequency building strategies for writing skills. Results of the review, recommendations for educators, and future directions for researchers are discussed.

Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) and the Daily Report Card intervention (DRC) are well-researched interventions designed to reduce challenging student behavior and improve academic and behavioral functioning. Yet each intervention has been studied within siloed literatures and their similarities and differences are not well understood by many educators. The goals of this commentary are to (1) highlight the similarities and differences between these interventions; (2) help educators and researchers understand the value of both interventions; and (3) stimulate conversation, innovative thinking, and new research that serves to reduce rather than reinforce the existing silos.

Training competent behavior analysts is fundamentally crucial for the survival and prosperity of behavior analysis. The current article introduced the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) as a training model to train behavior analysts as strategic scientists. The CABAS training model is based on the philosophy of behavior selection and features a personalized system of instruction-based rank system. Each rank includes three areas of expertise: verbal behavior about science, contingency-shaped repertoire, and verbally mediated repertoire. The trainees work on these components with small-unit modules that shape and maintain their effective criterion-based performance. Advancement through these ranks demonstrates the trainees' increased proficiency and advanced expertise. We also discussed future research direction and the implications to graduate training programs in behavior analysis in general.

Students with challenging behaviors can be some of the most vulnerable persons in educational settings when it comes to behavioral analytic practices. The potential for bias and racism influencing behavior analysis is elevated if those observing and evaluating behavior are not cognizant of cultural and societal differences. Behavior professionals should strive for cultural understanding to perform their work in a nonbiased manner. This includes being vigilant in the pursuit of cultural competence and sociopolitical awareness. One vehicle for growth and development in behavior analytic practice is through self-reflection. The current article examines the constructs that can lead to nonbiased and antiracist behavior analysis through self-reflective questioning. In particular, we introduce the self-reflection tools of the ABC Diversity Iceberg, and Multicultural Reflective Behavior Analytic Practice to minimize biases and support antiracism in behavioral observation and analysis.

Advances in classroom behavior management mobile applications (CBM apps) have led some teachers to use them to supplement their existing student management strategies, although little is known about their effectiveness in facilitating behavior change. This systematic review aimed to identify and appraise research on the effectiveness of CBM apps for promoting positive behavioral and learning outcomes of elementary, middle, and high school students. A systematic search was conducted in the PsycINFO, ERIC, and EBSCOhost databases for articles published between 2007 and 2020. The 15 included studies provided some preliminary evidence for CBM apps. Apps were primarily used to facilitate the delivery of self-monitoring interventions (SCORE IT and I-Connect) or class-wide reinforcement systems (ClassDojo and the Classroom Behavior Management System). An evaluation of study quality using the What Works Clearinghouse design standards (version 5.0) yielded mixed results, with only 53% of the included studies meeting standards with or without reservations. In general, these studies showed limited risk of bias and moderate to strong effect sizes. Based on the findings of the review, we provide practice recommendations and describe areas for future research.

Oral reading fluency is crucial to successful reading comprehension. Difficulties to effectively read aloud with fluency often pose challenges to develop more complex reading skills. Although there exists research on teaching oral reading fluency using repeated readings, there is limited research on the effectiveness of listening while reading with error correction procedures for children struggling with reading. Using a single-case, alternating treatments design, this research evaluated the effectiveness of repeated readings with word rehearsal when compared to listening while reading with error correction on the number of words read correctly per minute for three 2nd graders who struggled with reading. In addition, silent reading was assessed as a control condition in this study. The results of this research indicated an acceleration in the correct number of words read as a result of practice, as well as a deceleration of incorrect words read, overall, for both reading interventions. Listening while reading with error correction and repeated reading with word rehearsal did not seem produce a larger effect than the other. However, the implementation of silent reading resulted in both correct and incorrect words accelerating. This may suggest that silent reading may not be as effective as repeated reading and listening while reading. Furthermore, best-quality reading instruction appears to need some form of corrective feedback (e.g., error correction or word rehearsal) to obtain best outcomes for students.

The demand for preventive and easily implemented interventions to address the needs of children with significant behavioral challenges in general education settings is well-documented. First Step to Success is an evidenced-based program to address challenging behavior in preschool and elementary-school settings with a 20-year history of successful implementation (Walker et al., 1997; Walker et al., 2014b). A revision of the intervention, called First Step Next (Walker et al., 2015), was designed to (1) standardize the program components across preschool and elementary settings; (2) make the program more user friendly for implementers, including parents; and (3) increase the program’s efficacy by adding new components and updating existing ones. The current study used a mixed-method approach to compare process data collected from a previous efficacy trial of the original preschool version of First Step (Feil et al., 2014) to the revised version (First Step Next; Feil et al., 2020). Overall procedural fidelity ratings were high for both program variations. Further, alliance and satisfaction ratings, as per parent- and teacher-report, were acceptable, although there were some divergent findings between parent and teacher perspectives at the item level. This study provides support for the feasibility of successfully implementing First Step Next with young children and their families in preschool settings.

Multitiered support for professional development (MTS-PD) is emerging as a research-supported, three-tiered framework to support teachers’ classroom management skills through targeted training and ongoing coaching. In this study, we applied MTS-PD to increase elementary general education teachers’ treatment fidelity of a targeted behavioral support (i.e., self-monitoring) and examined whether increases in treatment fidelity were accompanied by increases in on-task behavior for three focal students who were identified as at-risk of being identified for having an emotional/behavior disorder. Results, which were evaluated in the context of a multiple-probe, single-case research design, indicated that MTS-PD increased teachers’ treatment fidelity. However, outcomes were inconsistent with regard to increases in focal students’ on-task behavior and decreases in rate of disruptive behavior as a result of increases in treatment fidelity. Results of this study demonstrate that MTS-PD can support teacher implementation of targeted behavioral supports. Practical and research implications are discussed.