The present study was a multisite randomized clinical trial assessing the effects of adding a cognitive-behavioral intervention to positive behavior support (PBS). Fifty-four families who met the criteria of (a) having a child with a developmental disability, (b) whose child displayed serious challenging behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury,…

Analogue functional analyses are a well-researched means of determining behavioral function in research and clinical contexts. However, conducting analogue functional analyses in school settings can be problematic and may lead to inconclusive results. The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a trial-based functional analysis with…

The effects of a literacy intervention matching student skill level with academic performance demands were examined through a multiple baseline across participants design. The dual dependent variables were problem behavior and academic engagement. Four students in Grades 2 or 3 who exhibited low academic performance and problem behavior during…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a powerful group contingency with a history of documented empirical support. The purpose of this study was to compare two interdependent group contingencies, the GBG and a positive variation, the Caught Being Good Game (CBGG), in a school implementing school-wide positive behavior support. A kindergarten and…

Naturalistic interventions show promise for improving language in children with autism. Specific interventions differ in direct elicitation of child language and indirect language stimulation, and thus may produce different language outcomes. This study compared the effects of responsive interaction, milieu teaching, and a combined intervention on…

We conducted a systematic replication of Cannella-Malone et al. by comparing the effects of video prompting to video modeling for teaching seven students with severe disabilities to do laundry and wash dishes. The video prompting and video modeling procedures were counterbalanced across tasks and participants and compared in an alternating…

Students who continue to demonstrate at-risk behaviors after a school implements schoolwide primary (Tier 1) interventions require targeted-group secondary (Tier 2) interventions. This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of a targeted-group behavioral check-in/check-out (CICO) intervention with the school's standard practice (SP) with…

There are a variety of effective treatments designed for increasing social communication in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Two such treatments, naturalistic behavioral and developmental, social-pragmatic/relationship-based interventions, differ in their underlying philosophy yet share many similarities in their…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three levels of training (direct, indirect, and none) on teachers' ability to accurately rate video of student behavior. Direct and indirect training groups received instructional sessions on direct behavior ratings (DBRs), with the direct training group receiving opportunities for…

The importance of effective instruction on student academic and social achievement has been well documented. Strong classroom management and the use of high rates of opportunities to respond (OTR) have been two advocated classroom practices to positively impact student performance. This article presents an analysis of data collected across 35…

This article provides an overview of the empirical effects of students' academic choices on academic performance (e.g., amount, quality, and rate of work). Twenty-nine separate experiments within 26 publications were included in the review. The choices involved performance goals and standards, the nature of assignments, instructional support…

The "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" (JPBI) has been publishing reports of empirical intervention research since 1999, with a commitment to serve as a vehicle for dissemination of data and perspectives pertinent to positive behavior support (PBS). PBS is distinguished by an emphasis on certain features of interventions, such as…

Four preschool supervisors were individually trained in a collaborative team approach in which classroom and resource teachers together developed a plan to increase the peer interactions of the entire class, including children with disabilities. The purpose of the research was to assess the generalization of effects to a new program target…

In this study, the consistency of on-task data collected across raters using either a Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) or systematic direct observation was examined to begin to understand the decision reliability of using DBRCs to monitor student behavior. Results suggested very similar conclusions might be drawn when visually examining data…

Direct methods of functional assessment--through which information is gathered by observing environment--behavior relations--vary with the degree to which environmental events are manipulated. Unstructured (ABC) assessments involve observing the occurrence of problem behavior without altering environmental events in any way. At the other extreme,…