Timothy J. Lewis

Applying Positive Behavior Support and Functional Behavioral Assessment in Schools

Positive behavior support (PBS) and functional behavioral assessment (FBA) are two significant concepts of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. These two concepts are not new, but they are important for improving the quality of efforts to educate children and youth with disabilities. The purposes of this article are to describe (a) the context in which PBS and FBA are needed and (b) definitions and features of PBS and FBA. An important message is that positive behavioral interventions and supports involve the whole school, and successful implementation emphasizes the identification, adoption, and sustained use of effective policies, systems, data-based decision making, and practices. Systems-level challenges are also discussed.

Functional Behavioral Assessment An Investigation of Assessment Reliability and Effectiveness of Function-Based Interventions

This study investigated (a) the efficacy of using descriptive and experimental assessment methodologies to generate hypotheses regarding the function of problem behavior and (b) the efficiency and efficacy of function-based interventions compared to traditional intervention approaches that focus on the topography of behavior. Functional assessments were conducted with three elementary school students identified as at risk for failure due to problem behavior. Agreement among indirect measures, direct observation, and experimental manipulation of environmental variables supports the value of using convergent data from indirect assessment methods to develop valid hypotheses. In addition, behavioral interventions based on functional assessment were found to be more effective than alternative intervention approaches across all three case studies. Implications, study limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Scientifically Supported Practices in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: A Proposed Approach and Brief Review of Current Practices

Both No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act require educators to use research-validated practices in classrooms. And yet education, special education, and the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) continue to show large gaps in the consistent use of best practices. The authors propose that the research-to-practice gap can be traced to the lack of clear, consistent criteria to determine what are research-based practices and the absence of support structures to assist educators in implementing such practices. A four-phase review process was developed based on current recommendations from the E/BD literature, and a brief review of classroom-based strategies was conducted. Four practices were identified as being research based. The authors discuss each of these practices and call for the field of special education, and E/BD in particular, to develop and adopt a universal set of standards to determine research-based practice and look to school systems to support their use.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support and Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: Implications for Prevention, Identification and Intervention

Special education continues to document the poor within and post-school outcomes among children and youth with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD). While the poor outcomes are due to a myriad of causes, three issues routinely emerge as problematic in the field. First, the need for early intervention and prevention has been well documented, and yet educators continue to struggle with building effective prevention systems. Second, a clear disconnect exists between the current federal definition of “seriously emotionally disturbed” and the educational focus and intent of the law leading to inconsistencies and under-identification of students and the adoption of a pathology model versus a strength-based educational model. Finally, the field continues to struggle with the implementation and sustained use of evidence-based practices within and across schools and school districts. The purpose of this article is to discuss how School-Wide Positive Behavior Support can assist in addressing the issues related to the prevention, educational identification and effective intervention implementation through its systemic logic, data-based decision making, and capacity building within and across schools. Research to date is reviewed with respect to addressing EBD challenges in school and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Positive Behavior Support Systems: Applying Key Features in Preschool Settings:

tions that were adopted by one preschool after they began using systems of positive behavior support (PBS). In order to support early intervention and prevention efforts, many professionals are working to establish systems of positive behavior support earlier, before children enter elementary school settings. This article presents the differences between PBS at the preschool level and at the elementary school level and also discusses how to implement features of PBS in preschool programs. Early childhood professionals need to be prepared to support the development of appropriate social behavior in young children. Research has clearly shown the developmental path of children who enter elementary school with relatively stable externalizing behavior patterns (e.g., Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2003; Webster-Stratton, 1997). That is, children with early behavior problems are at risk for peer rejection, teacher rejection, limited opportunities for learning appropriate behavior in school, and continued problems in these areas as they get older (Kauffman, 2001; Stormont, 2001; Walker et al.). Many contributing factors—including common school discipline practices that exacerbate and perpetuate negative behavior patterns—can contribute to the stability of problem behavior in children (Kauffman; Lewis & Sugai, 1999; Mayer, 1995; Skiba & Peterson, 2000). This finding is especially pertinent for early childhood and primary grade teachers, since research suggests the existence of a window of opportunity for affecting these behavior patterns to reduce the likelihood that they become chronic across the children’s school experience. Research indicates that at-risk children who have not learned more adaptive behavior patterns by the end of the third grade are highly unlikely to ever be successful if continuing and comprehensive external supports are absent (Walker et al.). The research on children who enter school with problem behavior demonstrates poor outcomes for children who develop antisocial behavior patterns and indicates that the previous reactionary and punishment-oriented school approaches have negative effects. Fortunately, school professionals now recognize the need for proactive, supportive interventions that promote appropriate behavior in all students (Lewis & Sugai, 1999; OSEP Technical Assistance Center, 2003; Sugai & Horner, 2001). Schools across the United States are implementing schoolwide systems of PBS. The main purposes of implementing systems of schoolwide PBS are to “define, teach, and support appropriate behaviors in a way that establishes a culture of competence within schools” (OSEP Technical Assistance Center, 2003, p. 1). Accordingly, the key features of schoolwide PBS are to

Functional Behavioral Assessment- Based Interventions for Students with or at Risk for Emotional And/or Behavioral Disorders in School: A Hierarchical Linear Modeling Meta-Analysis

Of the myriad practices currently utilized for students with disabilities, particularly students with or at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorder (EBD), functional behavior assessment (FBA) is a practice with an emerging solid research base. However, the FBA research base relies on single-subject design (SSD) and synthesis has relied on literature review or analyses using nonparametric effect size calculations. This study was designed to examine the omnibus effect that FBA-based interventions have on problem behaviors for students with or at risk for EBD in schools using a hierarchical linear modeling meta-analytic approach to SSD synthesis. Based on a sample of 69 FBA studies, 146 subjects, and 206 outcome graphs, results indicated that, overall, FBA-based interventions reduced problem behavior by an average of 70.5% and that the procedure was effective across all student characteristics. Differences of effectiveness were evident between functional analysis and descriptive assessment procedures. Findings of this study suggest that FBA-based interventions for students with or at risk for EBD are an effective approach for the reduction of problem behaviors.

The Effectiveness of Two Universal Behavioral Supports for Children with Externalizing Behavior in Head Start Classrooms.

To add to the emerging early intervention research on universal supports for children, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to increase teachers’ use of two universal behavioral supports on target children’s behavior. The children targeted for this study were at elevated risk for problem behavior according to teachers’ nominations and ratings. Three teachers in Head Start settings were selected to participate in this study. The Multi Option Observation System for Experimental Studies coding system was used to collect data on teacher and student behavior. The intervention included providing teachers with specific instruction in implementing precorrective statements and behavior-specific praise statements and then, after the intervention sessions, providing feedback on implementation. A multiple-baseline design was used, and baseline, intervention, and maintenance data were collected. Results indicate that teachers increased their use of the targeted universal supports and a functional relationship was observed between this increase and improvement in children’s behavior. Maintenance data were also promising. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Scaling Up School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Experiences of Seven States With Documented Success

Scaling of evidence-based practices in education has received extensive discussion but little empirical evaluation. We present here a descriptive summary of the experience from seven states with a history of implementing and scaling School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) over the past decade. Each state has been successful in establishing at least 500 schools using SWPBIS across approximately a third or more of the schools in their state. The implementation elements proposed by Sugai, Horner, and Lewis (2009) and the stages of implementation described by Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wallace (2005) were used within a survey with each element assessed at each stage by the SWPBIS coordinators and policy makers in the seven states. Consistent themes from analysis of the responses were defined and confirmed with the surveyed participants. Results point to four central areas of state “capacity” as being perceived as critical for a state to move SWPBIS to scale (administrative leadership and funding, local training and coaching capacity, behavioral expertise, and local evaluation capacity), and an iterative process in which initial implementation success (100–200 demonstrations) is needed to recruit the political and fiscal support required for larger scaling efforts.

Analysis of Effect for Single-Case Design Research

Single-case design (SCD) research is an experimental approach for analysis of an effect between an independent variable and dependent variable. Traditionally, analysis of effect for SCD has relied on visual analysis, an approach whereby a trained observer analyzes a visual display of the data. Recent advances in statistical approaches have been forwarded for SCD research in the literature to assist in the interpretation of intervention effects. This review outlines the logic of SCD and describes the varied approaches for the analysis of effect in SCD research.

The impact of targeted classroom interventions and function-based behavior interventions on problem behaviors of students with emotional/behavioral disorders

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of both functional behavior assessment-based interventions and targeted classroom interventions for reducing problem behaviors of children with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) in special education classrooms. Specifically, this study was interested in how interventions based on changes in classroom routines and instructional behaviors compared with interventions based on functional behavior assessment. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of incorporating effective classroom practices in reducing problem behaviors in special education classrooms for students with EBD. In addition, results demonstrated a clear additive effect when individually designed behavior interventions, based on functional behavior assessments, were incorporated following classroom intervention. Results confirm the importance of analyzing and manipulating environmental and instructional classroom variables as an essential step in the process of addressing problem behavior. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.