In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on the use of functional assessment (FA) in the selection of treatments for problem behaviors. Scholars now generally accept that an understanding of the antecedents and consequences of problem behavior, achieved through a FA, is necessary to select the most effective treatment procedure. Yet,…

For students with severe or complex challenging behavior, incorporating hypothesis testing as a component of functional behavior assessment (FBA) is often warranted. Several hypothesis testing strategies (i.e., functional analysis, antecedent analysis, concurrent operant analysis) can confirm whether and how features of a student's environment…

Background: Specific treatment and interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour have yet to be widely evaluated. This review aims to consolidate and assess the quality of research exploring non-pharmacological interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful…

Over the past several decades, we have developed quality behavioral assessments and interventions for challenging behaviors among individuals with a variety of severe developmental and cognitive disorders. These assessments and interventions have been used to educate family members on how to understand and intervene with these behaviors at home…

Special education teachers are tasked with ensuring the implementation of a free appropriate public education, which might also include supporting students who demonstrate severe problem behavior (SPB). Often, students with emotional and behavioral disorders are likely to engage in SPB in various forms such as physical aggression and property…

School Psychologists regularly conduct Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), though, most FBA are completed using indirect procedures, which are inadequate for creating function-based interventions relative to experimental measures, such as functional analysis (FA). However, traditional FA may be considered arduous in the school setting.…

Goal setting is a research-informed intervention that has demonstrated improved behavioral outcomes for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. However, not all students will respond to goal-setting interventions delivered in a standard format, requiring planning, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of more intensive goal-setting…

In my brief commentary, I offer a look to the past to celebrate lessons learned in social, emotional, and behavioral assessment. Then, I respectfully pose considerations for researchers and practitioners committed to early detection, intervention, and assessment of students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Specifically, I…

In the 25 years since the publication of the article reprinted in this issue of "Behavioral Disorders", a tremendous amount of research and opinion has been published on the topics of functional analysis, functional assessment, and assessment-based interventions. In this commentary, we reflect on the context in which our original work…

Special education teachers have one of the most challenging and stressful jobs in public education, which often leads to increased burnout. High levels of burnout have, in turn, been related to lower levels of fidelity of implementation in delivery of evidence-based behavior interventions. The purpose of this position paper is to (a) propose…

A percentage of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities engage in severe, dangerous challenging behaviors. Two common approaches for intervening for these behaviors are function-based interventions (FBI), which have been effective at reducing such behaviors, and crisis intervention, which has been shown to increase staff…

Intensive, individualized interventions are certainly the hallmark promise of special education. In a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), tier 3 interventions are the most intensive and require individualized delivery to address the learning and behavioral needs of students who are most often identified for special education services. MTSS,…

Students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often have unidentified co-occurring language deficits, but few studies have evaluated communication-based interventions for this population. Functional communication training (FCT) teaches a communicative response (CR) as a replacement for problem behavior. FCT is an…

Teachers report that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) present challenges that are among the greatest they face on a daily basis. Research, however, clearly shows that teachers routinely receive little or no training in how to effectively work with students with challenging behaviors. This is particularly frustrating when…

Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is one of the most commonly utilized and wellestablished Tier 2 interventions (Horner, Sugai, & Lewis, 2015). Evaluation of CICO components is necessary to inform implementation of adequate prevention and intervention services, as well as evidence-based modifications of intervention intensity for students at risk of…