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Norwegian schools are obliged to develop students’ social competences. Programs used are School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) or classroom-based ones that aim to teach students social and emotional learning (SEL) skills in a broad sense. Some rating scales have been used to assess the effect of SEL programs on SEL skills. We explored the Norwegian version of the 12-item Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales–Child–Short Form (SEARS-C-SF). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed, proposing a one-factor solution that was verified by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The scale reliability of .84 (λ2), means and standard deviations, as well as tier levels were compared with the original short form. Finally, concurrent, discriminant, and convergent validities for the SEARS-C-SF were compared with different Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) subscales.

In U.S. schools, Black and Latinx youth receive disciplinary action at rates greater than their White peers. In the context of systemic racism in the United States, proposed systemic solutions such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) should be evaluated for their effectiveness in producing more equitable school discipline. In light of mixed evidence for a SWPBIS–equity relationship, this study examined the merits of five SWPBIS elements demonstrating promise in the literature or underexamined potential for reducing discipline rates and disparities for Black and Latinx students in a sample of 322 SWPBIS-implementing schools serving a total of 292,490 students (19% Black, 28% Latinx) in a southeastern state. Multiple linear regression results indicated that higher fidelity to SWPBIS Classroom Systems was related to lower discipline risk for all students, including Black and Latinx students, but not more equitable discipline practices. Higher fidelity to SWPBIS Expectations was related to higher suspension risk among Black students, whereas higher levels of Recognition were related to more equitable suspension practices. No significant relationships were observed between Lessons and Data Analysis and disciplinary rates or equity. Implications for the research and practice of SWPBIS are discussed in the context of promoting more equitable and socially just discipline practices.

Literacy based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) have been used to teach numerous skills, such as requesting an accommodation, engaging in self-regulation, and remaining on-task, to children and adolescents. Electronic-LBBIs (E-LBBIs) have recently emerged in the literature as an effective strategy, using preferred forms of media (tablet or laptop), to teach students in the classroom new skills. Here we discuss how LBBIs work, what E-LBBIs are, and how teachers can use E-LBBIs in their classroom. Vignettes are provided to demonstrate applications to the reader.

Schools that employ evidence-based multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) frameworks, like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), invest in core system, data, and practice features to support students, families, and educators. A strong framework enables settings to enhance and adjust their implementation to meet the needs of all students, including students with disabilities, in a range of contexts. Importantly, as schools pivoted among remote, hybrid, and in-person learning modes throughout 2020 and 2021, effective leadership teams used their PBIS framework to successfully navigate these transitions. Based on lessons learned during this period, we present three key recommendations to adapt implementation in response to crises: (1) leverage existing systems, (2) use data to guide decision-making, and (3) pivot practices. To illustrate these recommendations, we describe PBIS implementation in an alternative setting supporting students with disabilities and share examples of how educators used the PBIS framework to meet the challenges presented by new contexts.

Nudges are behavioral interventions to subtly steer citizens’ choices toward “desirable” options. An important topic of debate concerns the legitimacy of nudging as a policy instrument, and there is a focus on issues relating to nudge transparency, the role of preexisting preferences people may have, and the premise that nudges primarily affect people when they are in “irrational” modes of thinking. Empirical insights into how these factors affect the extent to which people are susceptible to nudge influence (i.e., “nudgeable”) are lacking in the debate. This article introduces the new concept of nudgeability and makes a first attempt to synthesize the evidence on when people are responsive to nudges. We find that nudge effects do not hinge on transparency or modes of thinking but that personal preferences moderate effects such that people cannot be nudged into something they do not want. We conclude that, in view of these findings, concerns about nudging legitimacy should be softened and that future research should attend to these and other conditions of nudgeability.

Educators of students with disabilities who frequently display challenging behaviors are expected to deliver high-leverage practices and evidence-based behavioral interventions to improve student academic engagement and appropriate behaviors. For these practices and interventions to be successful, educators need innovative, accessible, and sustainable tools to efficiently and effectively implement these practices and interventions as part of their classroom and behavior management routines. Using technology as a delivery platform can fit this need. The Journal of Special Education Technology special issue presents three experimental studies where teachers used technology to deliver behavioral interventions and one qualitative study examining teachers’ perspectives of using technology for behavior management.

Professionals who primarily deliver services to children on the autism spectrum employ a range of techniques and supports that are colloquially known as applied behavior analysis therapy. The landscape of evidence supporting interventions for children on the autism spectrum has vastly transformed in the last decade. A substantial, relatively high-quality literature base supports the effectiveness of Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Interventions for supporting development in children on the autism spectrum, yet few professionals serving this population receive training in this category of interventions. Board Certified Behavior Analysts and related professionals are the primary service providers for this population. The purpose of this survey study is to describe and understand the knowledge and beliefs that Behavior Analyst Certification Board certificants have around Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Interventions, and the implications for training the professionals most likely to serve young children on the autism spectrum. A total of 901 respondents completed the survey. Respondents indicated, on average, little to no knowledge of Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Intervention practices and that few believe these practices to be effective or appropriate for the field. We discuss the implications and needs for future training and research in this area. Lay abstract Primary service providers for young children on the autism spectrum and developmentally delayed children use many strategies under the umbrella of applied behavior analysis therapy. The evidence supporting interventions for children on the autism spectrum has changed last decade, and powerful research supports the relative effectiveness of Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Interventions, yet a few professionals serving young children on the autism spectrum receive training in this category of interventions. Board Certified Behavior Analysts and related professionals are the primary service providers for this population. The purpose of this survey study is to describe and understand the knowledge and beliefs that Behavior Analyst Certification Board certificants have around Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Interventions. The survey was completed by 901 respondents. Respondents indicated, on average, little to no knowledge of Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Intervention practices and few believe that these practices are effective or appropriate for the field. Recommendations include increasing training opportunities for related professionals, and changing certification requirements to match the current evidence.

General education teachers encounter challenges with behavior management that are compounded by limited experience and training on implementing targeted behavioral supports. One research-based method to support teacher implementation of behavioral interventions is on-site coaching. Unfortunately, coaching can be a time- and resource-intensive approach to professional development. The purpose of this article is to provide intervention team leaders with a step-by-step process for providing feasible coaching support to teacher implementers of Tier 2 behavioral supports.

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a widely adopted framework to support the social, emotional, and behavioral growth of all students. This article addresses two key questions related to supporting students with disabilities through PBIS: (a) Why focus on universal classroom PBIS practices?—without support, students with disabilities experience poor outcomes—and (b) How do you implement PBIS in classrooms that support all students?—differentiate and intensify supports.

Schools that implement School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) offer a multitiered continuum of supports that increases in intensity to support the behavioral needs of all students within a school. Although the number of schools that have adopted SWPBIS continues to rise, students with extensive support needs (ESN) may be excluded from various aspects of SWPBIS at the Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels. Given that SWPBIS is intended to be fully inclusive, the purpose of this article is to provide educators and other staff with practical tools and guidelines for including students with ESN in Tiers 1 and 2 of SWPBIS. We also present additional considerations for self-assessment, collaborative teaming, and professional development for including students with ESN in SWPBIS.

Background: Research participant engagement, which we define as recruitment and retention in clinical trials, is a costly and challenging issue in clinical research. Research teams have leveraged a variety of strategies to increase research participant engagement in clinical trials, although a framework and evidence for effective participant engagement strategies are lacking. We (1) developed a novel conceptual framework for strategies used to recruit and retain participants in clinical trials based on their underlying behavioral principles and (2) categorized empirically tested recruitment and retention strategies in this novel framework. Methods: We conducted a synthetic analysis of interventions tested in studies from two Cochrane reviews on clinical trial recruitment and retention, which included studies from 1986 to 2015. We developed a conceptual framework of behavioral strategies for increasing research participant engagement using deductive and inductive approaches with the studies included in the Cochrane reviews. Reviewed interventions were then categorized using this framework. We examined the results of reviewed interventions and categorized the effects on clinical trial recruitment and retention as significantly positive, null, or significantly negative; summary statistics are presented for the frequency and effects of each behavioral strategy type. Results: We analyzed 141 unique interventions across 96 studies: 91 interventions targeted clinical trial research participant recruitment and 50 targeted retention. Our framework included 14 behavioral strategies to improve research participant engagement grouped into four general approaches: changing attitudes by appealing to social motivators, changing attitudes by targeting individual psychology, reducing barriers and cognitive burdens, and providing incentives. The majority of interventions (54%) aimed to reduce barriers or cognitive burdens, with improving comprehension (27%) as the most common specific strategy identified. For recruitment, the most common behavioral strategies tested were building legitimacy or trust (38%) and framing risks and benefits (32%), while financial or material incentives (32%) and reducing financial, time, and social barriers (32%) were most common for retention interventions. Among interventions tested in randomized controlled trials, 51% had a null effect on research participant engagement, and 30% had a statistically significant positive effect. Discussion: Clinical researchers have tested a wide range of interventions that leverage distinct behavioral strategies to achieve improved research participant recruitment and retention. Common behavioral strategies include building legitimacy or trust between research teams and participants, as well as improving participant comprehension of trial objectives and procedures. The high frequency of null effects among tested interventions suggests challenges in selecting the optimal interventions for increasing research participant engagement, although the proposed behavioral strategy categories can serve as a conceptual framework for developing and testing future interventions.

Schools implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with fidelity demonstrate a wealth of student and school benefits. At the same time, there exists limited research from an inclusive innovation perspective: examining whether schools and communities have equitable access to PBIS based on sociodemographic school and community variables. This article presents the results of an ex post facto research design examining PBIS implementation and access across sociodemographic school and community variables from an inclusive innovation lens, examining data from schools ( N = 489) in the state of Georgia. The significant interaction effects revealed that between both PBIS and non-PBIS schools, those located in suburban areas had significantly higher median household incomes compared with rural and urban schools. Additional findings included the following: PBIS rural schools had higher household incomes and lower percentages of free/reduced-price lunch than non-PBIS schools in rural communities, and PBIS schools included significantly higher proportions of students who identified as White compared with non-PBIS schools.

Rumination is theorized to be a cognitive avoidance process that is implicated in several manifestations of psychopathology. Few interventions directly target rumination as a core process maintaining emotional disorder symptoms. This pilot study compared the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of self-directed behavioral approaches for reducing rumination. Participants ( N = 60) with elevations in rumination were randomized to 3 weeks of self-directed interventions: (a) scheduled rumination time; (b) a strategy combining mindfulness, shaping, and disengagement strategies; or (c) self-monitoring control. Both active treatment conditions outperformed self-monitoring control on post-treatment depression scores. Scheduled rumination time significantly outperformed the other two conditions on measures of rumination and worry. No between-group differences emerged on the secondary outcome (i.e., anxiety symptoms). Brief, self-directed, behavioral interventions targeting rumination are feasible and demonstrate preliminary efficacy. Scheduled rumination time shows moderate to large effects. The use of a small, non-treatment seeking sample was the primary limitation.

Although prior research has advanced our understanding of the drivers of organ donation attitudes and intentions, little is known about how to increase actual registrations within explicit consent systems. Some empirical evidence suggests that costly, labor-intensive educational programs and mass-media campaigns might increase registrations; however, they are neither scalable nor economical solutions. To address these limitations, the authors conducted a field experiment (N = 3,330) in Ontario, Canada, testing the effectiveness of behaviorally informed promotion interventions as well as process improvements. They find that intercepting customers with materials targeting information and altruistic motives at the right time, along with streamlining customer service, significantly increased registrations. Specifically, the best-performing intervention, prompting perspective taking through reciprocal altruism (“If you needed a transplant would you have one?”), significantly increased new registration rates from 4.1% in the control condition to 7.4%. The authors followed up with seven posttests (total N = 3,376) to find support for their theoretical predictions and to explore the mechanisms through which the interventions may have operated. This article provides evidence for low-cost, scalable marketing solutions that increase organ donor registrations in a prompted choice context and has important implications for public policy and societal welfare.

The success of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) frameworks relies upon educators supporting and implementing PBIS plans. However, common staff-level perceptions exist that may interfere with successful implementation, which we refer to as misses. In this article, three types of misses representing common sets of staff concerns for PBIS implementation are discussed: misunderstandings, misapplications, and misalignments of educator philosophies. We discuss common misses, unpack them from the perspective of implementers, and provide suggestions for supporting staff. Common misses in PBIS can be prevented and successfully addressed when they occur through staff engagement, professional development, and implementation support.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine patterns in implementation of Tiers 2 and 3 school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) systems to identify timings of installation that led to higher implementation of advanced tiers. Extant data from 776 schools in 27 states reporting on the first 3 years of Tier 2 implementation and 359 schools in 23 states reporting on the first year of Tier 3 implementation were analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, we found that higher Tier 1 implementation predicted subsequent Tier 2 and Tier 3 implementation. In addition, waiting 2 or 3 years after initial Tier 1 implementation to launch Tier 2 systems predicted higher initial Tier 2 implementation (compared with implementing the next year). Finally, we found that launching Tier 3 systems after Tier 2 systems, compared with launching both tiers simultaneously, predicted higher Tier 2 implementation in the second and third year, so long as Tier 3 systems were launched within 3 years of Tier 2 systems. These findings provide empirical guidance for when to launch Tiers 2 and 3 systems; however, we emphasize that delays in launching advanced systems should not equate to delays in more intensive supports for students.

College students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face challenges searching for jobs, often lacking communication and social skills needed during formal interviews. The COVID-19 pandemic complicates interviews, forcing students to search online and attend virtual interviews. This study used a multiple probe design across participants to examine the acquisition of literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) on virtual job interviews. Using a video conference platform, students answered interview questions from researchers acting as employers. LBBIs were customized, incorporating students’ input. Results indicated that LBBIs were effective for teaching and maintaining virtual job interview skills, and across novel employers. The findings have implications for using LBBIs to teach virtual job interview skills to students with IDD, and for researchers including these students in remote instruction.

Over 60% of children diagnosed with selective mutism are also diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Previous research established that behavioral interventions are effective at increasing speech in children with both diagnoses. However, few studies conducted assessments to determine environmental variables that inhibit speech, and such assessments are necessary for the development of effective and efficient treatments. This case study describes an assessment that evaluated the function(s) of selective mutism. The results confirmed that the participant did not talk to avoid social interaction and that mutism occurred primarily in the presence of multiple, unfamiliar people. Our first treatment focused on increasing tolerance for social interaction, demonstrated by an increase in speech production in the presence of unfamiliar people. Our second treatment focused on increasing qualitative aspects of the participant’s speech (i.e., both responses and initiations). Finally, we taught the participant’s parents to implement the treatment in naturalistic settings, and the participant demonstrated generalization of treatment effects across people and settings. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

School administrators are called upon to enact and maintain school-wide systems and programs that promote student safety and success. The positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) framework is a popular school-wide approach for teaching, maintaining, and addressing student behavior through a three-tiered framework with the aim of reducing challenging behavior and enhancing opportunities for learning by all students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to learn more about how elementary school administrators set the stage for, and participate in, school-wide PBIS implementation. Ten elementary school administrators who were successfully implementing the PBIS framework were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews revealed that administrators indicated that their primary responsibilities in the PBIS implementation process included maintaining the fidelity of systems, rationalizing system for staff, moving the school-wide implementation forward, and building capacity within and across teams and that, central to the success, was continued communication with stakeholders, including teachers.

Recent popular areas of research in psychology suggest that behavioral interventions can have profound effects on our cognitive abilities. In particular, the study of brain training, video gaming, mindset, and stereotype threat all include claims that low-cost, noninvasive manipulations of the environment can greatly affect individual performance. Here, I provide a quantitative reappraisal of this literature, focusing on recent meta-analytic findings. Specifically, I show that effect-size distributions in the four aforementioned areas are best modeled by multiple rather than single latent distributions, suggesting important discrepancies in the effect sizes reported. I further demonstrate that these multimodal characteristics are not typical within the broader field of psychology, using 107 meta-analyses published in three top-tier journals as a comparison. The effect-size distributions observed in cognitive-intervention research therefore appear to be uncommon, and their characteristics are largely unexplained by current theoretical frameworks of cognitive improvement. Before the source of these discrepancies is better understood, the current study calls for constructive skepticism in evaluating claims of cognitive improvement after behavioral interventions and for caution when this line of research influences large-scale policies.

I address the therapeutic jurisprudence implications of nonjudicial/administrative determinations to impose restrictive behavioral interventions on individuals with mental health disabilities in the jail and prison context. Such restrictive interventions include involuntarily medications, segregation, seclusion and restraints, and other related restrictive measures. I explain why our current policies violate the basic precepts of therapeutic jurisprudence and discuss the value of introducing therapeutic jurisprudence into this process.

The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework is currently implemented in more than 25,000 schools across the globe. Its implementation has demonstrated positive impacts on a number of behavioral and academic outcomes. A growing evidence base has found that PBIS has been particularly effective at reducing both in- and out-of-school suspensions. This article describes concerns with the use of suspensions, defines PBIS, and outlines how schools can implement and use PBIS to reduce suspensions.

Reports on behavioral interventions for the treatment of Tourette’s disorder (TD) from India are limited. This patient series describes the usefulness and feasibility of conducting behavioral interventions for patients with TD from an Indian general hospital psychiatric unit. Behavioral treatments in these seven consecutively treated adult/adolescent patients with TD included all components of habit reversal treatment, comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics, and exposure with response prevention in some patients. Patients were predominantly male, with adolescent-onset severe TD, typical features and psychiatric comorbidities, and poor response to multiple medications prior to the institution of behavior therapy. In addition to long delays in diagnosis, none of the patients or their caregivers had been informed by the doctors they had consulted earlier about TD or the need for behavioral treatments before attending our center. Institution of behavioral treatments along with medications led to a 75% reduction in the severity of tics and reduction in comorbid symptoms. Patients and caregivers also reported similar rates of improvement as well as reductions in subjective distress and caregiver burden. Five patients have been followed up for seven months to seven years; apart from one patient, all others have had only minor exacerbations of tics during this period. This limited experience suggests that behavior therapies for TD can be successfully implemented in low-resource, non-specialized Indian settings. They are effective, and gains from such treatment are usually enduring.

For preschool children with autism, individual behavioral interventions are among the best-tested treatments. However, they are rarely implemented in special education preschools. We observed one-to-one behavioral interventions formally and informally delivered by staff ( N = 51) in 12 classrooms across three preschools for children with autism, aged 3–6 years, in a major US city. We estimated associations between the use of one-to-one intervention and classroom characteristics including staff-student ratio, professional role composition, and frequency of challenging child behaviors. A small number of classroom characteristics explained considerable portions of outcome variance: 23% for formally delivered one-to-one interventions and 41% for informally delivered interventions. The number of individually assigned personal care aides in the classroom was negatively correlated with less formal delivery of one-to-one intervention. Classroom challenging behavior was positively associated with formal delivery of one-to-one interventions. Interventionist’s professional roles and the number of children in the class accounted for the largest amounts of variance in informal intervention delivery. Staff training, clarifying professional roles, setting performance expectations for personal care aides and other classroom team members, and reducing class size may represent promising implementation targets. Findings suggest caution around task-shifting policies that transfer clinical functions from more highly trained to less highly trained staff. Lay abstract For preschool children with autism, individual (one-to-one) behavioral interventions are among the best-tested treatments. However, they are rarely used in special education preschools. We observed formally and informally delivered one-to-one behavioral interventions use by classroom staff ( n = 51) in 12 classrooms across three special education preschools for children with autism, aged 3–6 years, in a major US city. We estimated the associations between one-to-one intervention use and classroom characteristics including staff–student ratio, professional role composition, and frequency of challenging child behaviors. As a whole, the factors we examined were considerably important for both formally and informally delivered one-to-one interventions. The number of individually assigned personal care aides in the classroom was negatively associated with the use of formally delivered one-to-one intervention. Classroom challenging behavior was positively associated with use of formally delivered one-to-one interventions. Interventionist’s professional roles and the number of children in the class were most important for the use of informally delivered interventions. Staff training, clarifying professional roles, setting performance expectations for personal care aides and other classroom team members, and reducing class size may represent promising implementation targets. Findings suggest caution around task-shifting policies that transfer clinical functions from more highly trained to less highly trained staff.

An emerging body of research shows Tier 1 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be successfully implemented in high schools to improve school climate and graduation rates and reduce problem behaviors. However, high schools are often hesitant to adopt PBIS because of contextual barriers such as school size, organizational culture, and student developmental level. Resistance to high school implementation is also related to teachers perceiving PBIS as less socially valid for high school students. Although previous systematic reviews of Tier 1 have examined implementation and effects, none have exclusively focused on the unique contextual needs related to high school implementation. In this review, we synthesized 16 published research studies conducted at the high school level, described how authors addressed the unique challenges of implementing PBIS in high schools, reported findings related to academic and behavioral outcomes, and made recommendations for future research and practice based on our findings.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the leadership practices that elementary school administrators and leadership teams utilize to promote effective, successful, and sustainable schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS). The study focused on the practices, processes, and challenges that administrators and school leaders indicated led to the successful implementation of the SWPBIS framework. Twenty-four school leaders (six administrators; 18 leadership team members) from five elementary schools with platinum recognition for their high-quality SWPBIS implementation participated. School administrators participated in an in-person interview, and leadership team members participated in focus group interviews. Results revealed that successful SWPBIS framework implementation was promoted by establishing a distributed leadership approach that leveraged teachers as leaders while shaping their buildings’ systems of practices and processes, providing training and professional development to staff, establishing buy-in by stakeholders, and engaging stakeholders in their PBIS efforts.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a multitiered system of support for behavior used in many schools across the world. Researchers have begun adapting and evaluating Tier 1 of PBIS for students placed in alternative education (AE) settings. The purpose of this review is to synthesize these evaluations. We systematically searched two electronic databases to find potential studies of Tier 1 PBIS in AE settings. We screened 47 full texts, 19 of which met all inclusion criteria. Most studies (16 of 19, 84%) evaluated student behavioral outcomes, while seven studies (37%) evaluated academic outcomes alone or in addition to behavioral measures. Overall, restraints and seclusions generally decreased following Tier 1 implementation, but behavioral incident changes were variable and academic outcomes only improved for students enrolled continuously throughout the studies. The findings of this review support the need for continued evaluations of Tier 1 in AE settings using more rigorous methodologies and metrics that account for rolling admissions. The observed reductions in restraints and seclusions are promising for students and practitioners given the poor outcomes associated with these consequences.

Education jurisdictions across Australia have significant experience with initiating and building the implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in schools. This column describes the nature of the Australian education system and contextualizes the way PBIS had been implemented. Future directions to enhance the scaled implementation of PBIS across Australia are also presented.

Objectives We conducted focus groups in people who had participated in mobile health (mHealth) studies of behavioral interventions for migraine to better understand: (a) Participant experience in the recruitment/enrollment process; (b) participant experience during the studies themselves; (c) ideas for improving participant experience for future studies. Methods We conducted four focus groups in people who had agreed to participate in one of three studies involving mHealth and behavioral therapy for migraine. Inclusion criteria were being age 18–80, owning a smartphone, and having four or more headache days per month. All participants met the International Classification of Headache Disorders third edition beta version criteria for migraine. Exclusion criteria were not speaking English and having had behavioral therapy for migraine in the past year. Focus groups were audio recorded, fully transcribed and coded using general thematic analysis. Results The 12 focus group participants had a mean age of 45 ± 15, a mean age of headache onset of 21 ± 13 and mean MIDAS disability score was 39 ± 56. Participants were women (100%), white (50%), Asian (33.3%) or members of other racial groups (16.7%). Certain themes emerged from each topic area. With regard to recruitment/enrollment (a), key themes were: (i) Participants joined their study out of an interest in research and/or a desire to try a new migraine treatment modality (behavioral therapy) . (ii) Enrollment should be simple and study requirements should be carefully explained prior to enrollment. When asked about their experiences during the studies (b), the following themes emerged: (i) It is difficult to participate in study follow-up and compliance phone calls; (ii) participants prefer to choose from among various options for contact with the study team; (iii) there are barriers that limit app use related to migraine itself, as well as other barriers; (iv) completing diaries on a daily basis is challenging; (v) technical difficulties and uncertainties about app features limit use; (vi) being part of a research study promoted daily behavioral therapy use; (vii) progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is enjoyable, and has a positive impact on life; (viii) behavioral therapy was a preferred treatment to reduce migraine pain. Ideas for improving study design or patient experience (c) included: (i) Increased opportunity to interact with other people with migraine would be beneficial; (ii) navigating the app and data entry should be easier; (iii) more varied methods for viewing the data and measures of adherence are needed; (iv) more information on and more varied behavioral treatment modalities would be preferred. Conclusion Though people with migraine are motivated to participate in mHealth and behavioral treatment studies, better communication up front about interventions as well as greater flexibility in interventions and follow-up methods are desired.

Much research exists supporting the efficacy of naturalistic behavioral interventions on increasing social communication skills for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, these evidence-based interventions are not consistently utilized in preschool classrooms. Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching was used to teach early intentional communication (i.e., purposeful and coordinated use of vocalizations, gestures, and eye contact) to three preschool students with or at risk for ASD. The present study extends prior research demonstrating the effects of PMT in increasing intentional communication through implementation in a preschool special education classroom, measurement of collateral gains related to PMT targets, and measurement of maintenance and generalization of gains. Results indicate students increased their rates of intentional communication upon introduction of PMT. These gains maintained over time for two students. Present study results have implications for future research and practice regarding the efficacy and feasibility of implementing PMT in preschool classrooms.

Class-wide behavioral interventions are a feasible and effective method to support the behavior of all students. In six peer-reviewed studies, Tootling, a class-wide intervention that combines positive peer reporting with an interdependent group contingency, has increased positive peer reports and academically engaged behavior (AEB), and decreased disruptive behavior (DB). However, no prior studies have been conducted with middle school students, and none have employed strategies to promote enduring behavior change. A withdrawal design with maintenance phase, implemented across two middle school classrooms, found moderate effects (nonoverlap of all pairs [NAP] = 0.74, Tau-U = −0.48) of Tootling on decreasing DB and moderate to large effects (NAP = 0.76, Tau-U = 0.68) on increasing AEB, although internal threats to validity prevented the demonstration of a clear functional relationship across both classrooms. Results from the maintenance phase, in which the group contingency reward was removed, suggest promising strategies to support durable behavioral change. Limitations of the present study, directions for future research, social validity, and implications for practice are discussed.

The consideration of future consequences (CFC) is a cognitive-motivational construct describing the extent to which individuals consider the future outcomes of behavior during decision-making. The current research examined the extent to which CFC may be a domain-specific, as opposed to global, temporal construct. Across three surveys, adults ( n = 498; 66.9% female; 41.2% students) completed the 14-item general CFC scale, five newly adapted domain-specific CFC scales, and self-report measures of behavior in five substantive domains (work, health, the environment, money, and college). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the two-factor model in the CFC-14, supporting the distinction between CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate in domain-specific CFC-14 scales. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that domain-specific, and not the general, CFC subscales were most strongly associated with the relevant domain-specific behavior and revealed differential patterns of association between domain-specific CFC subscales and behaviors in particular domains. The applied implications for behavioral interventions are discussed.

Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) are evidence-based interventions implemented by the adults in a child’s natural environment (e.g., by practitioners in classrooms). The social validity of this body of research may have an impact on the maintenance of practitioner implementation of NDBIs. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the components (i.e., goals, procedures, and outcomes) and features of social validation assessment practices within studies where researchers trained practitioners to implement an NDBI with young children with disabilities in early childhood classroom contexts. Results of the systematic review indicated that social validity assessment within practitioner-implemented NDBI studies is lacking. Of the 23 studies identified, only 12 studies reported social validity assessment(s). Findings also highlight a lack of comprehensive social validity assessment and frequent use of biased respondents. An in-depth analysis of social validity assessment methods and features, as well as recommendations for the field, is provided.

Coaching is an important component in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS), but little is known about which coaching activities are most related to sustained implementation of this school-wide framework. A survey was developed to examine the amount of receipt and perceived importance of coaching activities delivered to SWPBIS school teams. Respondents included SWPBIS team members ( n = 264) implementing Tier 1 SWPBIS for at least 3 years in 138 districts across nine states. Partial correlations were conducted on a subsample of schools ( n = 131) using the Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ) to assess self-reported implementation fidelity to examine the extent to which each coaching activity was associated with fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS. Results indicated Assisting With Team Action Planning, Assisting With Data Collection, and Sharing Knowledge of SWPBIS Systems were perceived as most important to SWPBIS sustainability. Partial correlations showed two activities were statistically significant and positively correlated with SWPBIS fidelity of implementation: Running Data Reports for the Team and Modeling SWPBIS Implementation. Implications for assessing and differentiating coaching supports delivered to schools are discussed.

The success of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in typical schools has led to interest in applying PBIS in alternative settings, including secure care programs for incarcerated juveniles. PBIS holds promise for positively impacting youth behavior in this context. In this discussion article, we describe unique characteristics of secure care and strategies to enhance PBIS implementation and sustainability.

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) was first introduced with the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997. In this article, we describe the 25-year history of the PBIS implementation experience, including the core features of PBIS as a multitiered framework and the process and outcomes for implementing PBIS across over 26,000 schools. We also summarize the national outcome data of PBIS implementation and conclude with a discussion of future directions and considerations, focusing on sustainability and scaling.

Food refusal is commonly treated using behavioral treatment packages consisting of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and escape extinction. However, the effectiveness of such behavioral interventions is inextricably linked to the integrity with which the procedures are conducted. Although previous research has evaluated the effects of treatment integrity failures for behavioral interventions related to severe problem behavior and academic skill acquisition, the effects of these failures in the area of pediatric food refusal remain unknown. We conducted a parametric analysis to assess the effects of varying levels of errors on the treatment efficacy of contingent tangibles and attention, and escape extinction. Once stable responding was observed during an initial evaluation of treatment, participants were exposed to sessions of reduced-integrity treatment in descending order (i.e., 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20%) and subsequently exposed to full-integrity treatment (100% integrity). For one participant, integrity errors became detrimental to treatment when the level of integrity was decreased to 40%. For the other two participants, contingent tangibles and attention, and escape extinction remained effective despite being implemented with low integrity. Our preliminary demonstration suggests that behavioral interventions for pediatric food refusal remain effective despite considerable treatment integrity degradation.

School personnel can benefit from creating and sharing their own positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) videos. PBIS videos can (a) introduce a new initiative to faculty and students, (b) teach specific school or class expectations, (c) reinforce appropriate student and staff behavior, and (d) celebrate PBIS implementation successes. This discussion article lists and describes strategies that can be used to create and screen PBIS videos. Examples of school personnel using PBIS videos are included.

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is an empirically-based framework for proactively supporting student behavior across school settings. One technique schools utilize to teach and reinforce behavioral expectations is through the use of video. Since 2010, the Association for Positive Behavior Support has hosted the PBIS Film Festival at the annual meeting to showcase schools’ use of video with 56 videos entered in the PBIS Film Festival in 2017. Despite the current utilization of videos as a means to sustain and/or support PBIS initiatives, the supports for creating and procedures for disseminating videos remain unclear. The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to gain an understanding of how schools are creating (e.g., resources, administration commitment) and utilizing (i.e., screening) PBIS videos. Interviews were conducted with 14 PBIS film creators who submitted videos to the 2017 annual PBIS Film Festival. Analysis revealed themes surrounding the development and use of PBIS videos. Implications for PBIS video creation and use are provided.

Students receiving behavioral supports in the third tier of the schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) framework are often identified as having emotional and behavior disabilities. Although educators implement evidence-based practices with fidelity, these practices are not always effective in supporting students with emotional and behavior disabilities to improve their behavior. This article provides an overview of the process of data-based individualization (DBI) to intensify behavioral interventions for students identified as having emotional and behavior disabilities receiving Tier 3 supports. The steps of the DBI process are explained, with a focus on using data to intensify interventions. These practices are examined as components of the broader SWPBIS Tier 3 framework.

There are several widely used Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) implementation fidelity measures, including the Schoolwide Evaluation Tool (SET), but there is limited empirical investigation substantiating the association between specific fidelity cut point scores and student outcomes. This article examined different SET cut points in reference to school-level outcomes across 180 elementary, middle, and high schools participating in randomized trials of PBIS. Specifically, we examined the implementation fidelity achieved in the sample, as well as within each school level (i.e., elementary, middle, and high). Using the binary complier index, we examined the association of each of three SET cut points with behavioral and academic outcomes using t tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Although the t tests did not provide confirmation of one specific cut point, post hoc analyses suggested that the cut point may need to be tailored to school levels. There was moderate convergence between implementation on one scale (i.e., responses to behavioral violations) and academic achievement, based on ROC curve analyses for the 70% and 80% cut points. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Many secondary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not taught employability skills and routines needed for competitive or supported employment in regular community environments. Literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) that combine print, pictures, and behavioral rehearsal are effective for promoting acquisition and maintenance of numerous skills, but have not been investigated as a job coaching intervention for individuals with ASD. In this study, a peer coworker was taught to deliver an LBBI guide to students with ASD as a job coaching intervention for three skills in an employment preparation routine: preparing and selling coffee in a work-site food truck. Results showed students’ accuracy with the skills in the work routine increased, and maintained after the intervention.

To explore family–professional partnership within schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS), we conducted a qualitative analysis of the perceptions of family members of stu...

Objective Seclusion and restraint are procedures utilized in youth psychiatric settings. While a number of agencies have called for a reduction and ultimate elimination of the use of these practices, there has been limited research on behavioral programs to reduce seclusion/restraint. This is particularly true for research on behavioral programming in youth psychiatric partial hospital settings. As such, the current study sought to examine the effectiveness of a modified version of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (M-PBIS) implemented on a youth psychiatric partial hospital service to reduce seclusion/restraint. Method This naturalistic, prospective study covered a 26-month period and utilized a pre–post design. M-PBIS features include a defined set of positive behavioral expectations, a system to teach behavioral expectations, reinforcement of appropriate behaviors, data collection/evidence-based decision making, individual support for those not responding to the unit-wide system, active support by all stakeholders (including all staff members agreeing to the program), and positive recognition among staff. Results With a sample of 442 admissions, there were meaningful reductions in the percent of patients who were in seclusion/restraint (from 47.6 to 6.7%) as well as the overall seclusion/restraint rate (from 3.56 ( SD = 1.94) to 0.48 ( SD = 0.64)). Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in the use of Pro Re Nata (PRN) medication for agitation/aggression (percent of patient who received a PRN decreased from 33.3 to 12.9%). Conclusions This naturalistic study suggests that M-PBIS is a promising intervention for use in youth psychiatric partial hospital services to reduce seclusion/restraint and PRN medication for agitation/aggression. Reduction and ultimate elimination of seclusion/restraint is a critical objective in improving the quality and safety of acute mental health services for youth.

The Class Pass Intervention (CPI) is designed to be implemented within School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) to decrease disruptive behavior and teach replacement beha...