Wayne Sailor

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.

Positive Behavior Support Evolution of an Applied Science

Positive behavior support (PBS) is an applied science that uses educational and systems change methods (environmental redesign) to enhance quality of life and minimize problem behavior. PBS initially evolved within the field of developmental disabilities and emerged from three major sources: applied behavior analysis, the normalization/inclusion movement, and person-centered values. Although elements of PBS can be found in other approaches, its uniqueness lies in the fact that it integrates the following critical features into a cohesive whole: comprehensive lifestyle change, a lifespan perspective, ecological validity, stakeholder participation, social validity, systems change and multicomponent intervention, emphasis on prevention, flexibility in scientific practices, and multiple theoretical perspectives. These characteristics are likely to produce future evolution of PBS with respect to assessment practices, intervention strategies, training, and extension to new populations. The approach reflects a more general trend in the social sciences and education away from pathology-based models to a new positive model that stresses personal competence and environmental integrity.

Toward a Technology of "Nonaversive" Behavioral Support.

Nonaversive behavior management is an approach to supporting people with undesirable behaviors that integrates technology and values. Although this approach has attracted numerous proponents, more adequate definition and empirical documentation are still needed. This article presents an introduction to the nonaversive approach. Important definitions are suggested, and three fundamental elements are presented: (a) an emerging set of procedures for supporting people with severe challenging behavior; (b) social validation criteria emphasizing personal dignity; and (c) a recommendation for prohibition or restriction of certain strategies. These elements are defined in hopes of stimulating further discussion and empirical analyses of positive behavioral support.

Prevention and Intervention with Young Children's Challenging Behavior: Perspectives Regarding Current Knowledge.

Challenging behavior exhibited by young children is becoming recognized as a serious impediment to social–emotional development and a harbinger of severe maladjustment in school and adult life. Consequently, professionals and advocates from many disciplines have been seeking to define, elaborate, and improve on existing knowledge related to the prevention and resolution of young childrens challenging behaviors. Of particular concern for the field of behavioral disorders is the lack of correspondence between what is known about effective practices and what practices young children with challenging behavior typically receive. To increase the likelihood that children receive the best of evidence-based practices, the current analysis was conducted to provide a concise synthesis and summary of the principal evidence pertaining to the presence and impact, prevention, and intervention of challenging behaviors in young children. A consensus building process involving review and synthesis was used to produce brief summary statements encapsulating core conclusions from the existing evidence. This article presents these statements along with descriptions of the strength of the supporting evidence. The discussion addresses directions and priorities for practice and future research.

Handbook of positive behavior support

Origins and History of Positive Behavior Support.- The Intellectual Roots of Positive Behavior Support and Their Implications for Its Development.- Positive Behavior Support and Early Intervention.- Toward an Ecological Unit of Analysis in Behavioral Assessment and Intervention with Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities.- Positive Behavior Support and Early Intervention for Young Children with Autism.- Integrating a Positive Behavior Support Approach within Head Start.- Empirically-Supported Intervention Practices for Autism Spectrum Disorders in School and Community Settings.- A Program-Wide Model for Supporting Social Emotional Development and Addressing Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Settings.- Integrating PBS, Mental Health Services, and Family-Driven Care.- Optimistic Parenting.- Families Facing Extraordinary Challenges in Urban Communities.- Delivering Behavior Support in the Foster Care System.- Defining and Describing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.- Sustainability of Systems-Level Evidence-Based Practices in Schools.- Increasing Family Participation Through School-wide Positive Behavior Supports.- Primary Tier Interventions and Supports.- Secondary Tier Interventions and Supports.- Function-Based Supports for Individual Students in School Settings.- Implementation of School-wide Positive Behavior Support in Urban Settings.- Positive Behavior Support in Alternative Education, Community-Based Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Settings.- Behavior Supports in Non-classroom Settings.- Facilitating Academic Achievement through School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.- Using a Problem-Solving Model for Data-Based Decision Making in Schools.- Finding a Direction for High School Positive Behavior Support.- Systems Change and the Complementary Roles of Inservice and Preservice Training in School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.- Sustaining Positive Behavior Support in a Context of Comprehensive School Reform.- Completing the Continuum of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.- Implementing Function-Based Support within School-Wide Positive Behavior Support.- Response to Intervention (RtI) and Positive Behavior Support.

Voice, Collaboration, and Inclusion Democratic Themes in Educational and Social Reform Initiatives

Although the rise of constructivism calls conventional remedial and special education practices into question, it also represents a positive opportunity for progress and renewal in the professions and in society. emphasizing the constructivist principles of voice, collaboration, and inclusion, the authors identify the influence of constructivism across three interrelated levels of reform: structural reforms in school organization, pedagogical reforms in classrooms, and institutional reforms in human service systems generally relative to the “school-linked services integration” movement. by doing so, the authors argue that, far more than a new special education service delivery model, inclusion is the emerging cultural logic of the 21st century. they conclude the article with a political-economic argument for inclusive education and a discussion of the implications of constructivist reform efforts for the broader possibility of democratic renewal in society.

A Blueprint for Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support: Implementation of Three Components

This article provides a case study (focus on an eighth-grader with autism) within a case study (focus on an urban middle school) in terms of the implementation of positive behavior support (PBS). Information is provided on the characteristics of three key components of schoolwide PBS-universal support, group support, and individual support. For each component, information is presented on policy, assessment, and intervention in terms of an evolving approach to schoolwide PBS with descriptions of how the components were implemented at the middle school with a particular emphasis on the eighth-grade student. The authors conclude with implications for practice in terms of assessing current resources, providing professional development, and intensifying universal support within urban schools to address some of the complex issues associated with poverty.

Schoolwide Application of Positive Behavior Support in an Urban High School: A Case Study

The nuances of the application of schoolwide positive behavior supports (PBS) in an urban high school setting were investigated. Impact of implementation was measured using qualitative interviews and observations, including the School-wide Evaluation Tool (SET), Effective Behavior Support Survey, Student Climate Survey, and office disciplinary referrals. The results indicated that schoolwide PBS was implemented in an urban high school setting with some success. The overall level of implementation of PBS reached 80% as measured by the SET. Staff and teachers increased their level of perceived priority for implementing PBS in their school. A decrease in monthly discipline referrals to the office and the proportion of students who required secondary and tertiary supports was noted. These findings seem to indicate that PBS may be an important process for improving outcomes for teachers and students in urban high school settings.

Special Education in the Restructured School

Two significant, overriding trends in reform have emerged in special education at all levels from policy to program implementation during the past decade. These are, first, the movement to integrate students with severe disabilities and those with low-incidence disabilities into general education schools and classrooms for their educational programs; second, the effort to retain students with mild and moderate disabilities in the general classroom as an alternative to pull-out programs. These trends are closely associated. Until recently, parallel trends in general education reform have tended to focus on improvement in curriculum and in instructional techniques. Most recently, however, these reform efforts have shifted in the direction of systematic reorganization of school governance structures, policy, and resource utilization at the school site. This shift presents an opportunity for amalgamation of these various related viewpoints through broad-based, school restructuring policy reform. This amalgamation is particularly reflected in those aspects of restructuring that are concerned with regulatory waivers, site-based management and budgetary control, shared decision making, and full infusion, with school site coordination, of federal, categorical program resources into the general education program. Sufficient parallels exist between the general and special education reform agendas to suggest that the time may be at hand for a shared educational agenda.

Urban Applications of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Critical Issues and Lessons Learned.

Researchers and educators have recognized that typical school-wide approaches to discipline and the prevention and management of problem behavior are often insufficient to address the needs of many students in inner-city schools with high base rates of problem behavior. This article outlines critical issues and lessons learned in the planning and implementation of effective and self-sustaining Positive Behavior Support (PBS) efforts in inner-city schools. Among these issues are methods for the facilitation of school—university partnerships, the incorporation of PBS into existing comprehensive school improvement efforts, the maintenance of school-wide PBS efforts, and the formalization of exit strategies and arrangements for subsequent technical assistance. The importance of service integration, family support, youth development, and community development are emphasized in ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of school-wide PBS efforts in inner-city settings.