October 2014 - vol. 29 no. 1

Carl Fenichel Memorial Research Award

Carl Fenichel Memorial Research Award

 

Award Competition Announcement

 

Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders

 

This award competition honors the memory of Carl Fenichel, the founder of the

League school in Brooklyn, New York, who was also a pioneer in the education of children with severe behavior disorders. The purpose of the competition is to promote student research in the area of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. This award will be given to students completing research projects, theses, or dissertations in the area of children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders.

 

The recipient will be awarded $400.00 to support their research, along with $500 towards attendance costs (e.g., airfare, per diem) related to participation in the International CEC Conference in San Diego, California, April 8-11, 2015 or the 2015 CCBD International Conference in Atlanta, GA September 24-25, 2015.

 

To apply for the award, the student must submit the following:

 

1. A copy of the approved proposal and a letter of recommendation from the student’s advisor stating the project’s potential contribution to the field of EBD.

 

2. A budget proposing how the $400.00 award will be used.

 

Award recipients will be encouraged to share their findings at local, regional or the international CCBD conferences and abstracts of the funded project will appear in appropriate CCBD publications.

 

Papers must be approved for consideration by the applicant’s department or college.

The deadline for receipt of applications and all materials is January 15, 2015. Submit the proposal, budget and a letter attesting to departmental approval electronically to:

 

Submit the nominating materials electronically to:

 

Wendy Peia Oakes, Ph.D.

CCBD Vice-President

[email protected]

 

For further information, contact Wendy Oakes by email ([email protected]).

 

Outstanding Leadership Award

Outstanding Leadership Award

 

Award Competition Announcement

 

Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders

 

The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding leader in the field of behavioral disorders who has made significant contributions and has had a significant impact on the field. This individual will have made significant contributions to the field of behavioral disorders through their research; leadership in state, regional, or national organizations; leadership in teacher education or practitioner preparation; or state and national policy development or implementation. The contributions made should extend over a considerable period of time. Nominations should be made by someone who is familiar with the nature and quality of the nominee’s work, and who can also speak to the nominee’s character.

 

Nomination materials include:

 

1. A letter of nomination should include the following nominee’s name, address, phone number, reasons for making the nomination, the nominee’s CEC identification number, and other information which might be helpful to the Awards Committee. The name, address, email, and phone number of the person/organization making the nomination should also be included;

 

2. A brief (4 pages) vita or resume for the nominee which shows educational background, places of employment and types of individuals worked with, length of time in each position, special projects undertaken, courses taught, publications, research grants/projects, positions held with professional organizations, any awards received, and other information which might assist the Awards Committee; and

 

3. A minimum of three letters of support from other leaders in the field of emotional and behavioral disorders.

 

The nomination package will be reviewed by the Awards Committee. All materials become the property of CCBD and will not be returned to the nominee or the person making the nomination.  The CCBD Outstanding Leadership Award recipient will receive $500 to support travel to the 2015 Annual CEC Convention and Expo in San Diego, California April 8-11, 2015 and a plaque commemorating the award. The award will be presented at the Annual CCBD Business Meeting at the convention.

 

All nominations and materials must be received by January 15, 2015.

 

Submit the nominating materials electronically to:

 

Wendy Peia Oakes, Ph.D.

CCBD Vice-President

[email protected]

For further information, contact Wendy Oakes by email ([email protected]).

 

The Janus Project: Capturing Conversations From Leaders in the Field: Richard Whelan

The Janus Project: Capturing Conversations From Leaders in the Field

 

A Conversation with Richard Whelan

 

Teagarden, J., Zabel, R., & Kaff, M.

 

Kansas State University

 The Janus Oral History Project began as a project of the Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders (MSLBD). The Janus Project has collected and disseminated the thoughts of many of the pioneers and leaders in education of children with emotional/behavioral disorders.

       All of the participants are asked to describe their professional career, to identify people and events that have influenced the field, to reflect on the current state of the field and what the future may hold, and to offer advice to persons entering the field.  These conversations are collected in video format and disseminated through the MSLBD website: http://www.mslbd.org/stories_and_information_interviews_with_profession…

       What follows are excerpts from a 2008 conversation with Dr. Richard J. Whelan. Dr. Whelan provided insight into a career that included teaching and administrative positions at the Southard School of the Menninger Clinic and at the University of Kansas, where he served in both professorial and administrative roles, as mentor to many leaders in the field, and was Ralph L. Smith Distinguished Professor of Child Development. From 1972-1974 Dr. Whelan was Director of the Division of Personnel Preparation of the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped (now Office of Special Education in the U.S. Department of Education). His observations address many historical developments and individuals that continue to shape the field. This article highlights some of Dr. Whelan’s thoughts about the current state of the field and advice to those entering the field.

* * * * *

Janus:        How do you visualize the current state of the field in meeting the needs of those students who have emotional and behavioral problems?

Whelan:    I don’t think we have enough options in the schools. It’s difficult, given the schedules of our counselors and school psychologists, to plan individual and group counseling which could address the needs our children present. Our teachers, in many instances, have caseloads that preclude planning group sessions to identify and deal with conflict in positive ways. When coping with adolescents who have severe problems, that extra group session help is even more important. Adolescents, even those with the severe mental disabilities, are not usually dangerous to others because they tend to leave a stressful conflict situation, unless we corner or otherwise challenge them which are not very good tactics because the end result could produce injuries. The teachers, from my point of view, feel frustrated that they are not able to provide more therapeutic learning experiences.  

       The mental health centers are overwhelmed with family and individual problems. Juvenile justice centers, while helpful, are confronted with similar problems. Historically, the children in our society have not been at the top of the agenda to address mental disorders for whatever reason. Of course, when that happens, that’s disappointing. Prevention, as we know, does require costly resources but over time that investment is recovered several times over. It’s hard to convince people to put that initial expenditure out there.

       I’m disappointed that we haven’t gone further into early identification and prevention efforts as Eli Bower wanted us to do from the 1950s. It just didn’t happen much to the disappointment of many in our field.

       The other agenda item we’re still struggling with is the meaning of  the least restrictive environment (LRE). When I am asked the LRE question, I reply: “The fact that we might find a child in a general education classroom all day long with a para-educator teaching the child one-to-one is not the LRE in spirit or fact.”

       I’m optimistic about the future, I hope more and more people enter the field. In the 1960’s when P.L. 88-164 passed, our field grew from infancy through adolescence to the maturity with warts and other ailments of an aging profession that it has today. We had many students enter the field because they were very interested in teaching and a career of service to others. Some came to EBD because they had family members struggling with a mental disorder and they wanted to understand and help them and others.

       In terms of teacher education for educators of children with EBD, I know that Kansas has been criticized because it requires a general teacher education license prior to an endorsement to teach children with EBD. In my view, that general background is foundational for the knowledge and skills to be successful in our field. I also believe that a broad liberal arts education is extremely important for success in our field, because it gives us an interdisciplinary perspective so important for life-long learning and doing. When new teachers get several years of experience in a general education setting, they’re going to encounter youngsters with EBD, and because of their general education background may adapt their instruction and management plan to meet their needs. On the other hand, the children’s many complex needs may motivate them to enter our field; and that is good news. My long time friend and colleague, Dr. Pat Gallagher, referred to this phenomenon as “general to specific to general.” This phrase contains few words, but conveys a wise message. It tells us that it is important to be an effective teacher of general education students before we learn the specific knowledge and skills to understand and teach students with EBD. It is only then we will come to know that EBD understandings and effective teaching strategies are equally applicable in the general education setting. Think of the prevention and early intervention strategies that can be used as alternatives to EBD classification and special education placement. If only such a practice were more wide spread!  

Janus:        What is your advice for practitioners entering the field?

Whelan:    There are obviously very resilient teachers just as there are very resilient children. What’s amazing to me is that some children come through aversive experiences and still remain very productive, forgiving and so on. As I recall, the one common thing that the resilient youngsters have is a mentor,  a significant adult who helps them cope with life’s barriers and hurts; I believe that’s true with teachers too. If teachers go into our field with the right motivation and knowing that it won’t be grand and glorious every day, they will realize there will be times when they are so angry at the children that they can hardly stand it. But, they will also realize that families, parents and children, are extremely grateful for their efforts and show that in many ways. I certainly found it to be worth the effort. It amazes me that I still run across former students who are still teaching; they are hanging in there every day. There are others, after several years, who say: “You know, I need to get back into general education classroom,” and I say, “Go for it.” They may decide they want to be an administrator and I say “Go for it.” After all, most of the students with mental disorders are in general education settings so the added expertise should be welcomed.   

       It’s the same words my wife Carol said to me when we moved to a new city to work on my doctoral degree and then moved to work in Washington, D.C. to give away our tax dollars. She also added, “Let’s go,” so we just picked up and went. That’s what I would say to teachers who are entering our field or are leaving it for other challenges: “Go for it and I hope your family also says let’s go.” 

* * * * *

    The Janus Project thanks Dick Whelan for his many contributions to our field and willingness to share his experiences and perspectives. The complete conversation with Dr. Whelan has been published in Intervention in School and Clinic (Kaff, Teagarden, & Zabel, 2011) and a video of this conversation is available at the following URL: https://archive.org/details/ReflectionsOnTheFieldWhelan

    Future issues of Behavior Today will include excerpts from Janus Project conversations with Norris Haring, James Kauffman, George Sugai.

   

Kaff, M. S., Teagarden, J., & Zabel, R. H. (2011). Seeing the field of emotional and  behavior disorders through the lens of a pioneer. Intervention in School and Clinic, 46 (3), 184-190.

 

Looking Ahead: The Lame Duck Session and Beyond

Myrna Mandlawitz

CCBD Legislative Consultant

The 113th Congress is rapidly drawing to a close, with only 15 legislative days scheduled in the lame duck session following the fall election.  During that short window, members have some serious decisions to make regarding appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY 2015) which began on October 1, debates about current and future military operations, and public health concerns, to name a few.  The clock is ticking.

 

Appropriations Action Critical

 

Immediately before adjourning in late September for the fall campaign season, Congress sent a Continuing Resolution (CR) to the president for his signature.  A CR is a stopgap measure Congress passes when it has not completed action by the end of the fiscal year on the 12 appropriations bills that fund all federal agencies.  For the past several years Congress has had to follow this procedure or risk a government shutdown like the one that occurred in October 2013.  Heading into an election, the prospects of government agencies closing their doors was the last thing members wanted to entertain.  Therefore, a CR was the only option, since Congress again failed to pass appropriations bills.  

 

The FY 2015 CR will keep the government open until December 11.  During the lame duck session, members must adopt one of several options to continue funding federal agencies:

 

Enact an omnibus appropriations bill that contains all 12 of the appropriations bills.  For education this would be the best option, since it allows the opportunity for at least some modest increases in funding for important federal programs such as the IDEA.
Enact an omnibus that contains some, but not all 12 bills, and extends the CR for the remaining bills.  Under this option, the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill which funds all education programs would likely be included in another CR.  Labor-HHS-Education is a difficult and complex bill to pass even under normal circumstances.
Extend the CR for the remainder of the year for all 12 bills.
Extend the CR until early next year.  This might occur if the majority in the Senate switches and is the least preferred option for education.  It would extend the uncertainty over final funding levels until March or later and raise a strong possibility that additional spending cuts would occur in a final FY 2015 spending bill next year.
 

The outcome of the election will heavily influence how Congress chooses to proceed on spending.  Most likely the debate will hinge less on the specific amounts allocated to the various government programs and functions, but rather on policy.  Philosophical differences between the two parties regarding the role and level of involvement of the federal government in different programs are always heightened if the majority in either chamber of Congress switches. 

 

Looking Ahead

 

The 114th Congress will be seated in January 2015 and, even before the election, major changes are set to occur.  Here are some statistics:

13 current House members are running for Senate.
5 representatives are running for other offices (mostly state offices).
3 incumbent representatives were defeated in their primary bids for reelection.
24 representatives and 7 senators are retiring.
7 representatives and 3 senators will resign and one senator has already done so.
1 representative and 1 senator died in office this past year.
 

Adding to these statistics the possibility of a change in majority in the Senate and a possible increase in the House majority, the new Congress will look very different.  Among those retiring are Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative George Miller (D-CA), both exceptional champions for education generally, as well as strong advocates for individuals with disabilities. A number of other members exiting Congress on both sides of the aisle have been champions on issues related to students with disabilities and have fought for increased funding for the IDEA.  Therefore, the most important immediate step for advocates as the new Congress begins will be to identify new champions and shore up those remaining, so that sound policies are enacted to improve the educational outcomes for all students.

 

Remember:  Every citizen has both the right and the responsibility to vote!

 

News from Around the Regions

Submitted by Lonna Moline, Regional Services and Membership

 

Region 1 (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY)  Vanessa Tucker          [email protected]

             

Region 2 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, UT)    Kim Rice          [email protected]

 

Region 3 (IA, KS, MN, MS, NE, ND, SD)   Chad Rose        [email protected]

Region 3 is beginning to organize and reactivate state chapters. Most recently, the Missouri chapter has been reactivated by establishing a constitution, bylaws, and electing officers. This reactivation resulted in a collaboration between the Missouri State CEC and CCBD, where CCBD will be organizing an invited strand during the conference. Over the course of the 2014 - 2015 academic year, I will be contacting CCBD members from the states in Region 3 with a goal to increase membership, strengthen active chapters, and reactivate the inactive chapters. Therefore, if anyone from Region 3 is interested in serving in a leadership role within their state's CCBD please contact Chad for more information.

 

Region 4 (AK, CO, LA, NM, OK, TX) Courtney Hertner [email protected]

Region 5 (IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, WI): Bev Johns    [email protected]

The Illinois Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders is pleased to announce several great opportunities this Fall and Winter.

 

1.  ILCCBD is offering mini grants to our members for direct service to students with emotional/behavioral disorders. 

 

2.  At the Illinois CEC Convention, ILCCBD will be offering a free CCBD membership to anyone who joins CEC at the convention.

 

3.  ILCCBD will be holding a workshop at the ICEC Convention at the Marriott Naperville on conducting effective functional assessment and developing effective behavior intervention plans on Saturday, November 8, 2014, from 1:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m.  Immediately following there will be an ICEC Drawing for over 30 different prizes, including free hotel nights, restaurant certificates, and more!!  Loads of sessions are planned at the ICEC convention  on working with students with behavior challenges.  On Saturday morning, the ever popular Rick Van Acker will be doing a double session on Addressing the Needs of Students who engage in Escape and Avoidance Behaviors. 

The ICEC convention has lots to offer you--Thursday offers two strands--one on legal issues and the common core and the other on the Power of Using the IEP.  Friday offers sessions all day and poster sessions all evening.  Sessions dealing with children with emotional/behavioral problems include:  Life Space Crisis Intervention, Implementing culturally attuned behavior interventions in the classroom, What's Mental Health Got to Do With It, Relaxation strategies for students, Dealing with Abuse and Neglect of Children.  Also on Friday, ILCCBD president Libby Hardman will do a special workshop on Using the Unite Organizer to Enhance Content Literacy.  This is just a small sampling of the many sessions that will be offered.  Friday night includes thirteen poster sessions.  The convention is a great opportunity to get your professional development credits. If you will need a hotel room, call the hotel at:  1-800-228-9290 or at 1-630-505-4900  right away and identify yourself with the Illinois Council for Exceptional Children.  Register for the conference online at:  www.illinoiscec.org

 

4.  Mark your calendar now for the ILCCBD Winter Drive In Conference at the Hyatt Lisle to be held on Feb. 6-7, 2015.  A great program is planned.  If you did not receive your program in the mail, you can download it at:  www.ilccbd.org

 

5.  For the latest updates, remember to like our Facebook page at:  Illinois Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders

 

Region 6 (NY, VT, CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, RI) Lois [email protected]  

 

Region 7 (MD, NJ, PA, TN, VA, DC, WV)    We are looking for a member who would like to be the Regional Representative for this area. Please contact me if you are interested. Lonna Moline   [email protected]

           

Region 8 (AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC)   Linda Phillips  [email protected]

Region 9 (Canada)   Pauline Thornton                               [email protected]

 

Region 10 (Canada)   George Corbett                             [email protected]

 

The Scope of How They Cope: Purposeful Messaging for Parent-Teacher Report Card Conferences

This time of the academic year finds teachers engaged in initial and follow-up parent-teacher conferences as the first quarter/first trimester comes to end. Hopefully, by now, the mantra of “two positive comments for each negative one” has permeated throughout K-12 schools. For parents and guardians of youth with EBD, hearing those positive comments are necessary.

 

Our profession, however, should go one step further than simply offsetting reports of negative behaviors with positive ones during these conferences. We understand that the ultimate goal for our students is to learn how to navigate academic, social, recreational, and other settings with an EBD. It plays out when we witness our students’ abilities to identify “triggers” on their own and choose healthy responses for their own well-being and within environmental contexts. In sum, we want our students to cope with their EBD, and in so doing, lead healthy, happy, and productive lives.

 

Unfortunately, parent-teacher conferences are typically brief conversations bound to students’ report card grades, homework performance, and general classroom dispositions. We should challenges ourselves and our colleagues to frame these conversations within the broader quest of helping our students cope with EBD. I offer the following three suggestions and examples that may reinforce the content of your communications with families and/or offer new insights for your professional reflection about how to make parent-teacher conferences all the more beneficial for parents and guardians of youth with EBD.

 

Discuss Data: Through designing and refining FBAs, BEPs, check-in/check-out daily recording sheets, and other assessments and interventions IDEA requires, EBD teachers consistently collect data. It is second nature to our profession. Parents and guardians, however, typically learn about such data during an IEP meeting, often resulting in their perception that the only purpose for data is to verify a need for ongoing special education services. We should explain how our ongoing data processes could help determine interventions in response to the type of report card information shared in parent-teacher conferences. Middle school example: “As you just heard, Ashley’s math teacher praised your daughter’s consistent performance with individual class assignments and homework. The teacher also reported that Ashley often argues and is disruptive in group project assignments. In response, I will implement interventions for Ashley’s group work in math class. I will collect daily data about the intervention and adjust my strategies accordingly. When we meet for the forthcoming IEP meeting, we will revisit this concern about Ashley’s group work, review the data I will have collected and discussed with you in the weeks ahead, and determine our next steps for helping Ashley regulate her behavior in group assignments.”
 

Go Beyond the A-B-Cs: While EBD teachers frame behavior within the context of antecedents and consequences, parents and guardians typically view it in more simplistic terms, such as “getting better” or “getting worse.” Upon arriving to my son’s school for parent-teacher conferences, I ran into another parent of a teenager who displays challenging behaviors similar to those of my son. She grabbed my arm and said, “Let’s hope we get out of this alive and that our kids don’t get kicked out!” The “all good” or “all bad” labels are common within the EBD parent/guardian community, the later often voiced more. The venue of parent-teacher conferences allows us to interpret report card information and model for colleagues and parents and guardians how to break it down in order to move beyond global summaries of doom and focus on specific areas where coping interventions need to occur. High school example: “You are correct Mr. Starglet, your son’s teachers all reported his disruptive behavior affecting their classes. However, I notice your son’s engagement in negative behaviors often occurs during the first 5-10 minutes of each class, making it appear as if he is disruptive for an entire class period and for the whole school day. We should label the primary concern as the first 5 minutes in each of his 6 classes. I will proceed with implementing additional interventions for the transition time between class periods. I suggest we remain optimistic that addressing these transition periods might resolve some of the negative reports you have received about his report card.”  
 

Explain the double triangles: Our profession is most familiar with the concept of tiered-pyramid interventions associated with PBIS and RTI. Parents and guardians might not fully grasp the concept and/or understand the differences and relationship between PBIS and RTI interventions. The parent-teacher conferences is an ideal setting in which to explain the relationship and apply it to students coping with an EBD. Elementary school example: “Sam’s second grade teacher has documented his continued need to participate in my small group reading intervention program three times a week, as we discussed in our last IEP meeting. However, I have noted how he displays more anxiety in my small group setting than in his second grade classroom. Therefore, while still providing interventions throughout his entire day, I will specifically implement a check-and-connect intervention with him immediately before and after my small group instruction. My intent will be to strategize with him ways to cope with his anxiety while simultaneously benefiting from our interventions for his learning disabilities. The two go hand-in-hand.”
 

Purposeful messaging in parent-teacher conferences about report cards results in a win-win for everyone. Most importantly, doing so reminds us that parents and guardians of youth with EBD might resolve their trepidation to participate in these conferences when we help them interpret grade reports as ways to inform and empower their children’s coping skills. Parents and guardians will welcome our empathy.

 

John Palladino, Ph.D. is a Professor of Special Education at Eastern Michigan University. He is also an adoptive parent of two teenage sons, each benefiting from teachers helping them cope with their behavior and learning challenges.

 

R2P: Research to Practice: Influences on Juvenile Delinquency

Catherine C. George, Ph.D., Sam Houston State University

 

R2P: Research to Practice

Influences on Juvenile Delinquency

Have you ever wondered about some of the factors involved in Juvenile Delinquency?  In the 39 (3) issue of Behavioral Disorders, Barrett, Katsiyannis, Zhang, & Zhang conducted a large scale examination of the influences involved in juvenile delinquency and recidivism.  The study included nearly 200 thousand individuals in South Carolina, about ½ had a juvenile record and ½ did not.  The authors examined a host of possible factors internal to the child and external or environmental that might that influence the possibility of delinquent behavior and the chance of recurring offences.

 

Two factors appear to be the most powerful: parental maltreatment as determined by CPS and Foster Care indicators and developmental exceptionalities such as learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, DSM-IV problems.  These two areas each have a direct influence on juvenile delinquency. 

 

Some particularly interesting findings:

 

Females, but not males were directly and significantly impacted by parental maltreatment.

 

Parental maltreatment influenced the age of the first problem occurrence and the next occurrence as well.

 

Developmental exceptionalities was a stronger predictor of problems for males than females but influenced both.

 

 

For more valuable information about risk factors and predictors of juvenile delinquency the authors include findings from two other recent studies.

 

Zahn, Hawkins, Chiancone and Whitworth (2008) identified additional risk factors for delinquency in females:

• early puberty
• sexual abuse or maltreatment
• depression
• anxiety
• having romantic partners involved in criminal activity

Hawkins, Graham, Williams and Zahn (2009) identified the following protective factors:

• support from an adult
• success in school
• school connectedness
• religiosity

 

The results of this study highlight the need for ongoing, early intervention efforts to address the mental health needs of school aged youth as a critical component of programs focused on the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Special attention should be given to serious mental health needs of females. In this study, more females than males were found to have two or more major psychiatric disorders. This concern regarding the mental health needs of female youth is not surprising considering the national increase in delinquency and detention rates for females.

 

One findings of the current article directly related to intervention is that female youth who are at risk have a higher need for encouraging and supportive relationships, such as relationships with caregivers. Thus, establishing supportive, dependable relationships with caregivers and school staff (although important for males and females) is particularly influential on the behavioral outcomes for females.

 

 

For more information on the results of this study refer to the Barrett et al article in the May 2014 issue of Behavioral Disorders.

 

R2P: Research to Practice: An Examination of Intervention Research with Secondary Students with EBD

Denise A. Soares, University of Mississippi

 R2P: Research to Practice

An Examination of Intervention Research with Secondary Students with EBD in Light of Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

In the 39 (3) issue of Behavioral Disorders, Mulcahy,  Paccini, Wright, & Miller completed an in-depth review of intervention practices that show promise in reaching middle and high school students in the content area of Mathematics in light of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative.  This meta-analysis included 20 studies from 1975 to 2012, with 16 studies including students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD).  According to this study, five interventions have been studied in depth: behavioral, strategy, self-regulation, peer-mediated, technology-based, and other.  Table 1 summarizes the approach and intervention strategy implemented in the review. 

 

This study reviewed seven CCSS content domains: Numbers and Operations in Base Ten, Numbers and Operations – Fractions, Rations and Proportional Relationships, and Operations and Algebraic Thinking, with the remaining studies concentrated on basic arithmetic skills and computation of whole numbers, money fractions, and decimals.

 

In summary, the relatively small body of instructional research suggests several important teaching practices. 

• For students with EBD, peer-mediated instruction produced academic and social benefits.  To be most effective, students must be taught roles in the instructional episode; to be systematic, elicit responses, and provide feedback. Research supports the use of these approaches as alternative practice activities, however, does not condone the use of peers for providing instruction in "new" instructional content.
• Technology based practices benefits students who thrive with different modes of representation and delivery.  Given the many ways that the information revolution and the Internet have already changed and improved students, the potential educational benefits of technological modalities promote student motivation, engagement, and mathematics performance.
• Proactive behavioral strategies (e.g. self monitoring) can enhance both behavior and academics when paired with a strategy intervention.  Self-directed learners demonstrate a greater awareness of their responsibility in making learning meaningful and monitoring themselves. 
• Insuring multiple methods or strategies are evident in teaching, increases the positive results.  Multiple modes (e.g. manipulative, mnemonics, flashcards, real world applications) of learning tend to engage students in meaningful ways. 

 

Mulcahy & Maccini underscore the critical need to identify effective, age-appropriate mathematics interventions that align with CCSS.  Intervention has become an important way for teachers to ensure that all students succeed in today's educational environment. Helping students who are struggling with mathematics requires teachers to choose an appropriate time and strategy for the intervention. Without a systematic approach, this can be a challenge for teachers who have multiple students in need of help.

 

For more information on the results of this study check out the May 2014 issue of Behavioral Disorders.