Students identified with or at risk for Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities (EBD) are being included in the general education classroom with teachers who have little training or exposure to characteristics of and interventions for students with EBD. In this study, we used a simple professional development intervention to train teachers to better use behavior-specific praise (BSP) in their classroom. A modified multiple baseline design was conducted across four teachers and seven students. Three students were identified with EBD and four were considered at risk for EBD. The goal of the study was to increase the rate of BSP delivered to all students in the classroom and determine the effects of increased BSP on students with or at risk for EBD. Results of the study show that, following the teacher training, teachers increased BSP and target students increased their task engagement. In addition to increases in BSP, the use of corrective statements decreased following the training.

Functional behavioral assessments (FBA) have been mandated for use in schools since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997. Prior to this time, FBA were under-utilized in schools because of the complexity of the process. Translating this tool into an applied use in the schools has proven challenging to practicing teachers. We examined data-based and practical articles related to key components of FBA, including data collection, hypothesis development, brief functional analysis, and behavior intervention plan development and how these components are utilized and disseminated.Computer database searches returned 45 articles related to teacher involvement in the FBA process. Results suggest that each component is being disseminated in both data-based and practical articles to varying degrees; however, there remains a gap in the research-to-practice application of FBA.

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