Young children are often removed from classrooms for challenging behavior. Removal is unlikely to improve a young child’s behavior and can cause long-term harm. This article presents preference assessments as a simple, evidence-based way to identify motivating items and activities. Effective use of preference assessments enables educators to build individualized reinforcement systems, improve daily routines, and reduce exclusionary discipline. Four types of preference assessments are described: free-operant observation, single-stimulus, paired-stimulus, and multiple-stimulus, with and without replacement. Step-by-step guidance is offered for classroom use and illustrated with a case study of a 4-year-old with autism spectrum disorder who has been repeatedly suspended from a preschool center for exhibiting challenging behavior.
Supporting students who have experienced trauma is a global topic in educational research. Children with and without disabilities affected by trauma may experience difficulty developing cognitive and executive functioning skills and regulating behaviors, which can have a negative impact on their ability to successfully participate in the educational setting. However, children with disabilities may experience higher trauma responses. Students may benefit from educators who utilize trauma-inclusive teaching strategies and have the knowledge, training, and skills to support the unique needs of students impacted by trauma. Effective support must employ more trauma-sensitive, strength-based intervention techniques to build skills aligned with the student’s strengths. The article describes the Trauma-Informed Positive Education model, which emphasizes the development and reinforcement of children’s strengths and strategies to support children who are exhibiting trauma responses in educational environments.
Special educators serving students with significant behavioral needs consistently report having unmanageable workloads, which are linked with stress, burnout, lower quality instruction, and worse student outcomes. The purpose of this article is to share a range of feasible, research-based supports and alterations to responsibilities to make special educators' workloads manageable. We provide examples and recommendations both for administrators to proactively ensure supports are available and for special educators to effectively share their needs and advocate for them.
Special education teachers (SETs) of color are underrepresented in the workforce and face higher burnout and attrition. School principals play a key role in disrupting these issues. This paper describes a mentoring program designed to support the personal and professional needs of SETs of color, especially those serving students with significant behavioral support needs. Implications for reducing burnout among SETs of color serving students with behavioral support needs and advancing equity-focused leadership are described.
Special education teachers (SETs) working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often experience high stress and feel underprepared to meet the complex needs of their students. Research shows that strong student-teacher relationships are critical for both SETs and students, yet preservice programs rarely provide explicit instruction in relational skills. Drawing on Torey Hayden's autobiographical narratives, along with related research, this article presents a vision for reconceptualizing preservice training to prioritize relationship-centered, process-oriented teaching.
Students with disabilities often experience exclusionary and punitive responses to their classroom behaviors. In this article, we highlight the important role of teachers' own emotions in shaping their responses to challenging student behavior. We explore how teachers' beliefs, emotions, and behaviors intersect. We assert that educators' own emotional regulation strategies play a crucial role in both educator and student success and provide ideas for how we as educators can foster emotional regulation within ourselves.
Undergraduate special education teacher preparation is only effective if graduates persist in the profession, yet many face early career burnout, especially when working with children with challenging behavior. In this article, we discuss how higher education faculty can embed high-impact practices that help develop autonomy and relatedness and inoculate preservice candidates against early burnout. We highlight protective measures and offer resources for higher education faculty and preservice teachers considering ways to prevent burnout along the preparation pathway.
Principals play a pivotal role in addressing school-level conditions that contribute to special educator attrition, especially for teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Drawing from the Lead IDEA and CEEDAR Center's Principal Navigator: Special Educator Retention, this article offers practical strategies and real-world examples to help school leaders improve working conditions, boost teacher retention, and help students with EBD thrive.
Punitive consequences are overly used in schools as the sole or first approach for responding to challenging behaviors. Punishment can have several potentially negative consequences on students and their relationships with educators and schooling. Herein, we highlight important guidelines for and alternatives to using punishment, including always pairing punishment with effective teaching, using logical and natural consequences, delivering positive feedback more frequently than negative feedback, and providing contextual supports. Implications for classroom practice are discussed.
This practitioner article outlines the effective implementation of the text map intervention to enhance reading comprehension among secondary school students with emotional and behavioral disorders. By detailing structured steps, including teacher-generated and student-generated text maps, the authors guide educators through the process from introduction to mastery. Outcomes discussed include improved comprehension scores, increased student engagement, and enhanced self-regulation skills. Practical tips for intensifying the intervention and incorporating multimodal resources are provided to adapt the strategy for diverse learning environments and needs.
The recent inclusion of behavior analysts in schools offers valuable opportunities to support students with behavioral challenges. However, it also presents challenges for interdisciplinary collaboration. This article introduces the TEAM framework, an approach for strengthening partnerships between behavior analysts and educational professionals by focusing on trust, expectations, alignment, and monitoring. The framework addresses barriers to effective collaboration, including miscommunication, role ambiguity, and differing professional philosophies, to enhance partnerships between behavior analysts and educational professionals, improve intervention fidelity, and student behavioral outcomes.
Emetophobia, an emotional and behavioral disorder, is characterized by a specific phobia of vomiting. Evidence suggests that emetophobia is a chronic and disabling condition that causes significant impairment in daily functioning with a surprising number of students affected. This article provides educators with information about emetophobia. In addition, the article highlights evidence-informed strategies and recommendations to address the needs of students struggling with emetophobia in educational settings.
Many classroom behaviors reflect communication breakdowns, not defiance. When students lack the words to ask, refuse, or negotiate, behavior becomes their message. This article reframes pragmatic communication, how language is used for social purposes, as a core element of schoolwide behavior support. Drawing on developmental science, interdisciplinary evidence, and inclusive education policy, the author describes how teachers, speech-language pathologists, and psychologists can teach and reinforce social communicative routines within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports frameworks. Practical tools, a tiered framework, and a classroom self-check resource illustrate how communication can replace conflict. It is argued that embedding social communication at every tier can transform behavior support from reactive management to proactive inclusion.
All students have emotional and behavioral difficulties periodically. Some students have difficulties at a rate, duration, and intensity significantly higher than those of their peers. We summarize the knowledge base on the development, maintenance, and change of emotional and behavioral disorders across the school years. Building from dynamic systems models of human development, we consider how student and context level factors work together to contribute to intensive needs. We discuss what leaders can do to support students and educators in these contexts.
Preparation before the school year begins is essential for new teachers working with students who have significant behavior support needs. District and school administration can help new teachers increase their likelihood of success with purposeful planning that both connects to classwide systems and supports students' positive and effective behaviors. Prior to the school year beginning, administration can support new teachers by providing professional development opportunities that focus on using (a) culturally inclusive pedagogies and practices, (b) strategies that promote positive student/teacher relationships, and (c) tools that communicate expectations to students clearly.
Special educators who work with students with significant behavioral support needs require professional development opportunities that provide practice-based professional development and create the social support inherent in communities of practice. We outline a practice-based professional development model with follow-up sessions using Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes to build authentic learning opportunities and support educators through a community of practice lens. We present an example illustrating one district’s approach to designing professional learning systems. We also offer recommendations and resources for designing impactful professional learning systems.
Nearly 31% of school-aged students labeled with emotional disturbance spend most of their school day in self-contained classrooms. Thus, it is critical for district leaders to understand how to support educators’ capacity to provide effective services for students with significant behavior-support needs. We overview how district leaders can establish the conditions educators need to run these programs effectively. Recommendations focus on establishing strong placement criteria and procedures and providing appropriate resources to the program.
