Extending School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) with Emotional Support Systems: A Non-Randomized Study Testing the Effectiveness of a School-Wide Health Care Policy TIME-IN in Special Education

Abstract

Children’s readiness for school is often threatened by the occurrence of both externalising (EP) and internalising (IP) problems. In search for solutions, research has shown that School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) is particularly effective for fostering children’s behavioural skills and reducing EP. However, whether SWPBS can enhance children’s emotional skills and reduce IP is less clear. Therefore, TIME-IN was developed, which extends SWPBS by also including emotional support systems. It will be tested whether TIME-IN is effective for (a) improving emotion regulation (ER) and (b) reducing depressive symptoms. Furthermore, it will be tentatively explored whether TIME-IN is accompanied by more than natural fluctuations in both children’s EP and IP. The effectiveness of TIME-IN will be evaluated in a non-randomized study, in which an intervention group will be compared with a matched control group. Both research questions will be addressed in a sample consisting of children between 8 and 12 years of age with special educational needs (SEN), who have been argued to benefit most from school readiness interventions. Questionnaires for teachers, children, and their parents will be administered at the beginning (T0) and the end of the school year (T1) using multi-informant assessment. Practical implications, strengths, and limitations were discussed. ISCRTN registry 54456609.Registered on 28 March 2017. Ethical requirements were fulfilled.

Adaptive emotion regulation, academic performance and internalising problems in Flemish children with special educational needs: a pilot study

“…One Flemish elementary school, taking part in a larger intervention study (Weymeis, Braet, & Van Leeuwen, 2017), and providing special education for children between 6 and 12 years of age with SEN ('Type Basic Offer', which was defined as education for children with SEN, for whom the common curriculum is not feasible in regular education, unless adjustments; Flemish Ministry of Education, 2017), was included in the current cross-sectional pilot study. The sample size was not predetermined as it was an opportunity sample.…”

The Effects of TIME-IN on Emotion Regulation, Externalizing, and Internalizing Problems in Promoting School Readiness

“…In the current study, a practice-based evaluation was used to determine whether or not TIME-IN is potentially effective for promoting children’s school readiness ( Veerman and van Yperen, 2007 ; Simons et al, 2016 ). For an overview of related criteria and considerations, see Weymeis et al (2019b) .…”

“…Furthermore, to support emotionally overwhelmed children, Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI; Long et al, 2003) was used, which was stated to fit well within a schoolwide approach (Dawson, 2003), and was found to be effective for children with SEN (Soenen et al, 2014). For a more in-depth description of TIME-IN, including study design and CONSORT diagram (see also Figure 1), visualized continuum of PBIS, program description, and program delivery, see the recently published study protocol (Weymeis et al, 2019b was used to determine whether or not TIME-IN is potentially effective for promoting children's school readiness (Veerman and van Yperen, 2007;Simons et al, 2016). For an overview of related criteria and considerations, see Weymeis et al (2019b).…”