By law, physical education (PE) teachers must provide direct service to children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, which, whenever feasible, is a regular PE class. Traditionally, the adapted physical education (APE) specialist was responsible for teaching students with severe disabilities and the PE teacher was responsible for teaching students with mild disabilities. Today, however, many students with disabilities must be taught in a regular PE setting minimizing the need for the APE specialist. Now PE teachers are having to teach all students with disabilities, but some teacher preparation programs are not providing preservice teachers with opportunities to work with these students before their student teaching experience. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate preservice PE teachers' in-class experiences teaching students with emotional/ behavioral disorders (EBD) in a general education setting. Multiple interviews and observations were conducted with four preservice teachers throughout the span of their student teaching experience to examine their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about teaching students with EBD as well as examining their interactions with these students. The participants indicated that in order to feel more qualified to teach students with EBD, they needed more experience. Further, they struggled with issues of inclusion while they encountered a gamut of emotions throughout their experiences. These findings point to the need to enhance preservice PE teachers' experiences with more related fieldwork. / Ph. D.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Twomey / As the documented number of students demonstrating significant emotional and behavioral challenges continues to increase, teachers often encounter difficulties in meeting the needs of these students in their classrooms. With Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA) mandates requiring the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), schools are challenged to include these students in the regular education classroom while ensuring a safe learning environment for students and staff. This qualitative case study focused on affecting teacher attitude toward the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders in a suburban elementary school. The initiative incorporated a professional development series as well as the implementation of administrative, organizational and cultural supports aimed at building teacher capacity. As part of this study, the principal analyzed how school culture changed as the school sought to become more inclusive. The researcher, who was also the principal of the school, studied the attitudes and experiences of ten teachers who volunteered to be a part of this project. Data were collected and triangulated through interviews, journal entries, questionnaires, observations, field notes, a survey, and document analysis. The findings of this study indicate that efforts to affect teacher attitude must be comprehensive. Relying only on professional development opportunities does not necessarily ensure that teachers will generalize their newly acquired skills back to the classroom. Teachers require collaboration opportunities with special educators embedded within their school day. They also need the administrative, organizational, and cultural supports that sustain successful inclusion. These supports include: active modeling and assistance from the principal, accessibility to assistants, supportive scheduling, implementation of common language regarding behavior, and the identification of core values which affirm a commitment to inclusion. Implications for practice include the importance of: fostering communication and collaboration between and among special and regular educators, promoting professional development opportunities based on current adult learning theories, and utilizing journals to help teachers think more deeply about their interactions with students as well as their teaching practices. Limitations of this study include the researcher's role as school principal and participant, small sample size, and relatively short study duration. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Noncompliance in students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD) can contribute to difficulty with peer and teacher relationships and may result in reduced time for academic instruction. The Precision Request, an intervention which uses alpha commands, verbal praise, and reductive consequences, has been shown to increase compliance in students with EBD, but no studies have accounted for which component is responsible for the change. This study used an ABCDAX add-in component analysis to determine which component of the Precision Request produced the most effect on behavioral compliance in five sixth-grade elementary students with EBD. Data were collected on percent of student compliance, latency to compliance, and teacher and paraprofessional use of verbal praise and reductive consequences. Percent of correct implementation of the Precision Request was also recorded. All data were subsequently inspected via visual analysis. The interventionists which participated in the study were unable to implement the Precision Request with fidelity and no effect was found on student compliance, which prompted researchers to examine characteristics of the interventionists as a possible explanation for failure to implement with fidelity. A comparison of interventionists suggests that the Precision Request may be too difficult to implement for an individual who lacks behavioral training, who does not use foundational classroom procedures such as positive reinforcement and verbal praise, and/or whose philosophical viewpoints are not conducive to behavior analysis. Future research should examine contextual fit as regards behavioral interventions and interventionists, as well as which behavioral principles need to be mastered by an interventionist before the Precision Request can be implemented with fidelity.

Adolescents with behavioral difficulties and emotional and behavior disorders (EBD) or other health impairment (OHI) have demonstrated deficits in reading, and these deficits appear to remain stable or worsen over time. Reading fluency is an essential skill for overall reading achievement, yet relatively few studies have addressed reading fluency intervention for adolescents, particularly adolescents with behavioral difficulties. This study used a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effect of a repeated reading intervention on the reading fluency and comprehension skills of middle school students with reading difficulties and behavioral difficulties and EBD or OHI. The intervention involved repeated reading combined with an audio-recorded model and cues to read for comprehension. Working independently at a classroom computer, participants received six to nine minutes of daily supplemental fluency instruction over a four-week period. Instruction involved listening to an audio recording of a model reading a passage, receiving cues to read for understanding, reading the passage aloud while using the computer to record the reading, listening to the recording, and reading the passage aloud again while recording. Results indicated no functional relation between the intervention and the number of words correct per minute or the percentage of comprehension questions answered correctly. However, on-task behavior did improve during study session when compared with on-task behavior during regular classroom instruction. The findings of the study have implications for addressing the needs of adolescents with behavioral difficulties who have reading difficulties.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a functional relation between the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy-Based intervention curriculum, Tools for Getting Along (Smith & Daunic, 2012), and Externalizing Behaviors exhibited by students with EBD served in special education. Four students, nominated by their teacher and principal and receiving services in special education for behavioral goals addressing Externalizing Behaviors, participated in this single-subject, multiple-baseline study. Data collected to answer the research question were Systematic Direct Observations, Direct Behavior Ratings, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), and the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (D’Zurilla et al. 2002). Participants began receiving Tools for Getting Along instruction in staggered intervals based on their baseline SDO, DBR, and consulting with their special education teacher. The SDQ and SPSI-R:S were administered pre- and post-intervention. Data indicated that although two students showed some improvements on DBR, there was not a functional relation between TFGA and Externalizing Behaviors. However, SDQ and SPSI-R:S sub-scale data did indicate some individual improvements. In addition to individual participant improvements, a number of implications for future research were noted from social validity data completed by the special education teacher, treatment fidelity observations, and in order to address the limitations of the study.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have very poor long-term outcomes. Non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) has been used to successfully reduce problem behaviors. NCR is frequently used with populations with severe disabilities and in hospital settings using function based reinforcers. Very few studies have applied the use of NCR to EBD populations, and to students whose cognitive scores fall within the normal range. No studies have examined the use of preferred tangible reinforcers delivered non-contingently with participants with EBD or in classroom settings. This study measured the effects of delivering tangible reinforcers selected through preference assessments on the disruptive and on-task behaviors of three students with EBD in the classroom setting. Results indicate the use of preferred tangibles delivered on a fixed-schedule can be effective in reducing disruptive behavior in the classroom without reducing on-task behaviors, and may, in fact, be effective in increasing on-task behaviors in the classroom.

ABSTRACT TECHNICAL AND APPLIED FEATURES OF FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS AND BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLANS by Shannon M. Hawkins When conducted correctly, functional behavior assessments (FBAs) can help professionals intervene with problem behavior using function-based interventions. Despite the fact that researchers have shown that effective interventions are based on function, recent investigators have found that most behavioral intervention plans (BIPs) are written without regard to the function of students’ problem behaviors as documented in their FBAs. This study was conducted to examine the overall technical adequacy of FBAs and BIPs within one educational system to evaluate reliance on the outcomes of FBAs in the development of BIPs. The technical and applied features of a randomly selected sample of 134 FBA/BIPs of students with disabilities, ages 3-21 years, who were receiving services due to their severe emotional and behavioral disorders (SEBD) or autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within the Georgia Network of Educational and Therapeutic Services (GNETS) were analyzed. In addition, similarities and differences between function-based strategies specified in BIPs were examined. Logistic regression was used to reveal the probability that a given behavioral function can predict which intervention(s) might be chosen. A series of chi-square tests of independence and a multinomial logistic regression model were used to examine how BIP component variables, demographic variables, behavioral function variables, and behavioral intervention variables related to each other statistically. Components described as critical in research literature for conducting FBAs and developing BIPs were absent from a significant number of the student files. Results suggest few of the prescribed interventions were likely to be related to function. The findings extend research on FBAs and BIPs, particularly as they are used with students with SEBD and autism, documenting that a significant number of BIPs are developed without regard of the function of the problem behavior.

Educators today are faced with a worthy goal. Every student, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), must be taught by a qualified teacher. However, recruiting, training, and retaining quality special education teachers continue to confound the field. The purpose of this study was to determine if the completion of a NCATE/CEC (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education/Council for Exceptional Children) approved masters program specializing in EBD from a well-known university increased the confidence in knowledge and skills of special educators, the numbers of special educators, and/or the retention of special educators working with students with EBD. The sample in this study was composed of 199 students who had completed the master's degree in special education who specialized in emotional/behavioral disorders from 1985 to 2005. Data were compiled from 80 students at a response rate of approximately 40%. Additionally, five respondents participated in face-to-face interviews. The data did not lend themselves to the quantitative analysis and thus pose a limitation to the generalizability of this study. However, combined with the qualitative analysis, the study provided a rich analysis of a program whose graduates stay in the field of special education providing services to students with EBD.

Teachers of students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) find that myriad concerns for effective teaching (e.g., salaries, increased paperwork, classroom management) challenge their ability to meet personal and professional needs. The push for certified teachers and limited training to work with students with special needs create stressors that can prohibit effective teaching in the workplace. Teacher moral drops and half of newly hired employees leave the profession. Equally important, student outcomes are affected. Demographic information, program practices, and commitment information from special education teachers across the country were examined in this study. These areas of study helped to determine the best indicators for teacher job satisfaction and barriers that threaten satisfactory working conditions. An online survey was designed to capture 29 areas to explore qualifications and working environments for these teachers. Of the 600 targeted teachers, 332 individuals participated in Likert-like scales to determine their degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for working conditions, use of intervention strategies, and areas of commitment. Closed-ended and multiple-choice questions were used. Descriptive analyses and tables aided in understanding this study. The resulting factors indicated that, although some respondents pointed to job dissatisfaction within the subset of questions, participants who worked for more than 6 years were less likely to vacate their positions than teachers working for less than six years.

This session will present an empirical review of the SWPBS research. A discussion will be held concerning the issues about the effect on students with EBD.