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School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is an inclusive multi-tiered system of behavioral supports that has been widely adopted by K-12 schools in the United States. SWPBIS focuses on creating safe, equitable, and inclusive school environments and has been linked to both positive behavioral and academic outcomes for students and improved perceptions of efficacy and job satisfaction for school personnel. However, there remain concerns about the involvement of students with extensive support needs (ESN) in SWPBIS despite calls to action in 2006 and 2016 for research in this area. Addressing these concerns, we conducted a scoping review to examine the current research literature on SWPBIS and students with ESN. We found that only 10 studies have been conducted since the 2006 call to action. Studies primarily focused on stakeholder perspectives regarding the importance or availability of SWPBIS for students with ESN. Although few studies examined SWPBIS effectiveness, findings from these studies lend support to the effectiveness of Tier 1 SWPBIS for students with ESN. We describe several key implications for supporting the inclusion of students with ESN in SWPBIS and future research initiatives.

For most students with intellectual disability (ID), education in the least restrictive environment has been determined to be separate special education classrooms. One means to promote greater participation in general education classrooms is for educators to identify and arrange individualized supports that students need to be successful. We conducted focus group interviews with 33 educators in 6 schools from 3 states to explore how they currently plan supports for their students, obtain their opinions on the usefulness of a systematic problem-solving process for supports planning, and gather their perspectives on resources, including the nature of technical assistance, that would be most helpful in planning individualized supports. Themes from the focus group interview transcripts were identified and recommendations for increasing educator competencies in planning and monitoring individualized supports for students with ID in general education classrooms are provided.

Careful consideration is essential for developing and conducting effective paraprofessional development. This study described a process of paraprofessional development and outcomes from assessments, workshops, and social validation focus group interviews from one rural public school in the USA. Fourteen paraprofessionals and their supervisors completed multiple surveys to indicate their perceived skill level and training needs before outside experts conducted a workshop on two high priority skill areas. Results showed that paraprofessionals increased their knowledge and skill development after a full-day workshop. Although paraprofessionals found the training procedures and targeted strategies to be socially valid, they identified challenges associated with implementation of the strategies and access to follow-up coaching.

Introduction: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a workshop and follow-up coaching sessions on the implementation of the system of least prompts procedure by classroom team members and explored whether this intervention resulted in personal hygiene skill acquisition by a male high school student with comorbid visual impairment and autism spectrum disorder. Methods: Implementation fidelity data were analyzed descriptively through visual analysis. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the system of least prompts procedure on student skill acquisition. Results: Implementation fidelity was high and increased over the course of the study: paraeducator 1: 93.9% (range, 70 to 100%); paraeducator 2: 78.2% (range, 11 to 90%); and special education teacher: 94.1% (range, 35 to 100%). In addition, the student's independent performance improved from baseline to intervention across each targeted skill, with Tau-U scores as follows: cleaning the augmentative and alternative communication device: 0.78; washing hands: 0.76; and brushing teeth: 0.92. Classroom team members found both the training procedures and the system of least promptsintervention to be of value and effective. Discussion: During intervention, classroom team members implemented the system of least prompts with fidelity and the student mastered each skill. These results are promising and add to the significantly limited literature on instructional interventions for students with comorbid visual impairment and autism spectrum disorder. Implications for practitioners: Classroom team members can effectively be taught to use the system of least prompts with students with comorbid visual impairment and autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the intervention might be used to increase independent functioning for students with these comorbid conditions

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a three-tier model of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), which was developed and tested in Head Start (HS) programs. Ten HS classrooms from five HS programs participated in the current study. Results indicated that PBIS was effective in improving classroom quality as evidenced by a statistically significant change on the classroom organization domain on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the overall score on the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised. We also found that children's social skills on the Social Skills Rating System significantly increased from the pre- to post-assessment whereas problem behaviors on the Child Behavior Checklist decreased. The data described here are encouraging and add to the expanding database supporting the value of the three-tier model of PBIS.

The Support Needs Assessment and Problem-Solving (SNAP) process is intended to assist educational teams in identifying and implementing supports for children with intellectual disability and related developmental disabilities (ID/DD) in K-12 schools. Each phase of the SNAP process is described, including identification of high priority support needs based on information derived from the Supports Intensity Scale-Children's Version (SIS-C). Two case studies of school teams using the SNAP process to identify and implement supports that enhanced opportunities for learning and participation of children in inclusive settings are presented. The importance of understanding children with ID/DD by their support needs and implications for team planning in K-12 schools are discussed.