Scientifically Supported Practices in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: A Proposed Approach and Brief Review of Current Practices

Abstract

Both No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act require educators to use research-validated practices in classrooms. And yet education, special education, and the field of emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) continue to show large gaps in the consistent use of best practices. The authors propose that the research-to-practice gap can be traced to the lack of clear, consistent criteria to determine what are research-based practices and the absence of support structures to assist educators in implementing such practices. A four-phase review process was developed based on current recommendations from the E/BD literature, and a brief review of classroom-based strategies was conducted. Four practices were identified as being research based. The authors discuss each of these practices and call for the field of special education, and E/BD in particular, to develop and adopt a universal set of standards to determine research-based practice and look to school systems to support their use.

The effects of real-time visual performance feedback on teacher feedback.

“…Positive feedback is a particularly effective practice for shaping students' academic and behavioral performance, and multiple researchers consider it to be an evidence-based practice for a wide variety of students (e.g., Lewis, Hudson, Richter, & Johnson, 2004;Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008). Positive feedback to students regarding their academic or behavioral performance can be an effective tool to impact a variety of student outcomes.…”

“…While it is commonly acknowledged that teachers play a critical role in the success of their students (e.g., Pianta, Belsky, Vandergrift, Houts, & Morrison, 2008), teachers infrequently use certain evidence-based, instructional practices that are widely recommended by researchers (Lewis et al, 2004). This infrequent implementation continues despite evidence that such practices may greatly promote successful academic and social outcomes for students who have significant need for high quality instruction (e.g., students with disabilities).…”

“…Moreover, as empirical evidence has grown, several teacher behaviors have been identified as evidence-based practices for improving the social and academic outcomes of students, particularly those with disabilities. Examples of practices that researchers have identified as promising or evidence-based include modeling, opportunities to respond, positive feedback, direct instruction, procedures and routines, and mediated scaffolding (e.g., Lewis et al, 2004;Trout et al, 2003).…”

“…Feedback is a critical aspect of academic and behavioral learning for students. Accordingly, positive feedback has been considered an instructional best practice for all students, including those with the most challenging behavior (Lewis et al, 2004;Simonsen et al, 2008).…”

Examining the effectiveness of implementing Orton-Gillingham reading intervention on student engagement for elementary students with challenging behaviors.

“…Often, those students who most need positive feedback are the least likely to engage in desired or appropriate behavior (Burnett, 2002). However, research has highlighted feedback as being a best practice in classroom management, even or perhaps especially for students with the most challenging of behaviors (Lewis, Hudson, Richter, & Johnson, 2004;Simonsen et al, 2008). While this has led to intervention studies seeking to increase teachers' rate of positive feedback (Reinke, Lewis-Palmer, & Martin, 2007), teaching provides the impetus for students to engage in the types of successful behaviors that prompt higher rates of positive feedback.…”