The present study evaluated the effects of different types of teacher commands on response latency for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. Two different types of commands were assessed: alpha commands and beta commands. Research on instructional time in schools shows that loss of instructional time during transition periods may result in…

Inappropriate behavior on school buses is a safety issue that concerns students, parents, and educators. There is potential for traffic-related injury, and the limited adult supervision on school buses often facilitates bullying and other infractions. This review identified peer-reviewed articles and dissertations evaluating behavioral…

The current case study compared the effects of a Numbered Heads Together strategy with and without peer-led opportunities to respond during a postsecondary classroom management class. Results indicated that the student with high-functioning autism had a higher percentage of intervals of on-task behavior and weekly quiz scores during the Heads…

Although common among children learning to walk, persistent toe walking can cause physical harm due to inefficient gate, and, in some cases, result in negative social interactions such as teasing and bullying. In addition, although toe walking is often associated with a variety of neurological and developmental conditions, toe walking also occurs…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often receive low rates of positive attention in the classroom. Further, students with EBD may receive attention from teachers and peers contingent on disruptive behavior, which may reinforce disruption. In our study, we conducted two experiments, involving one special education teacher, one…

Self-monitoring (SM) is a behavioral intervention with a long history of successful implementation for students with autism spectrum disorder. Despite the development of sophisticated software applications, they are rarely incorporated into data collection procedures for SM interventions. The current study evaluated an SM application, goal…

Written expression curriculum-based measurement is a quick and effective way to screen for writing difficulties and evaluate student progress during an intervention. In this study the scores of third and fourth grade students in the fall, winter, and spring were analyzed as related to grade level, gender, special education participation, and…

We used a contingent acoustical feedback procedure to increase appropriate walking and decrease toe walking exhibited by a young boy with autism. After a pre-treatment screening assessment suggested that toe walking was maintained by automatic reinforcement, we paired an auditory stimulus (i.e., a clicking sound) with access to a preferred item to…

Research suggests (a) students benefit when educators implement positive and proactive classroom behavior support practices (e.g., maximizing structure, teaching expected behaviors, delivering engaging instruction) and (b) educators benefit when school leadership teams invest in positive and proactive professional development support systems…

Recent multiplication with regrouping research shows that the combination of the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) sequence and the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) has been effective in several studies. More evidence is needed to demonstrate CRA-SIM's effectiveness across settings and students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to…

The effects of guided notes (GN) in the English-speaking population are well documented. Limited empirical research has examined the effectiveness of GN with other non-English-speaking students. Hence, the present study investigated the effects of a GN intervention program on the academic performance of five students with learning difficulties…

Providing group instruction with high levels of opportunities to respond, including unison responding, is critical to maximize the educational instruction of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in public schools. Direct Instruction (DI) has shown promise in teaching skills to students with ASD. DI is generally taught to small groups…

Science is being criticized within scientific domains and society. To address this, we suggest that researchers in special education, broadly, and those working in the behavioral disorders field, specifically, consider three critical facets of research: (a) importance of rigor, (b) value of replication, and (c) transparency of reproducibility in…

Research indicates school personnel use punitive and exclusionary discipline practices more often with students from particular racial and ethnic groups. In response to these trends, many researchers suggest a need to adapt experimentally validated social, emotional, and behavioral interventions to align with cultural characteristics of students.…

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which two classroom-wide instructional interventions, peer support and instructional choice, were able to reduce escape-maintained off-task and problem behaviors. This study also measured the extent to which these interventions, when coupled with individually designed function-based…