Children on the autism spectrum often experience difficulty generalizing social skills across environments and contexts, which can make developing friendships challenging in early childhood. This means that, in addition to initial social skills instruction, children with autism may need specialized supports to promote the generalization of newly…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) are an effective support for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) for improving targeted behavioral skills. As one of the most important strategies in PMI, peer prompting and reinforcement (PR) provides an effective approach for developing and maintaining positive behavior. This article provides…

In this article, we provide both a critical analysis of and logical response to a set of the most typical school-based objections to the effective use of positive reinforcement. For example, one objection is that positive reinforcement amounts to bribery. Practitioners are provided with clear and concise arguments refuting each objection and…

Purpose: Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) experience challenging behaviors during service delivery and also report minimal training in effective behavior management strategies. The purpose of this tutorial is to present low-effort behavior management strategies that SLPs can adopt, adapt, and implement. Method: After providing an overall…

Students with disabilities benefit from positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS; Meyer et al., 2021). The use of school-wide and class-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) shows promise in helping educators to integrate evidence-based practices for the benefit of all students, including those diagnosed with…

This article discusses a three-phase model aimed at obtaining vocal speech with students who display selective mutism at school. The three phases discussed include: (1) establishing reinforcer influence; (2) enhancing motivation to speak; and (3) generalize to nontherapy settings. The utilization of this approach to get speech to occur and…

Reflective writing tasks are commonly employed across higher education programmes, yet despite their use, they are often accompanied by concerns that students simply performance manage by constructing positive accounts of their practice in their reflections. To address this, students are encouraged to be 'honest' in their reflections based on the…

In this introduction, the editors provide an overview of resurgence and its importance to practitioners. They also provide an overview of the four articles contained in this special section focusing on the applied implications of resurgence.

Since the reopening of schools after COVID-19, students and staff have been required to wear face masks. Some students, including those with extensive support needs (ESN), may have difficulty in wearing these novel protective garments. Fortunately, researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of several procedures for supporting the wearing of…

This article provides an overview of how reinforcement serves as the foundation for a function-based approach to support students with challenging behavior. Understanding reinforcement is essential when providing function-based support for students with challenging behavior. Reinforcement "strengthens" behavior, increasing the…

Managing social dynamics is a critical aspect of creating a positive learning environment in classrooms. In this paper three key interrelated ideas, reinforcement, function, and motivating operations, are discussed with relation to managing social behavior.

The paper picks up from the widespread use by politicians and some educational theorists of maximising (including optimising) notions about those being educated such as 'reach their full potential' or 'make the best of themselves' or 'develop their talents to the full'. The paper discusses then puts some of these ideas on one side to focus on the…

Functional communication training (FCT) is a strategy to address problem behavior for students with various disabilities that is supported by a broad evidence base. Despite this support, multiple factors continue to dissuade educators from utilizing FCT in their classrooms. This article outlines the process of developing and implementing FCT plans…

Managing student behavior is an essential component to creating positive and productive learning environments for school-aged children. As more teachers shift to synchronous online teaching, they face managing student behavior in a new learning environment that can pose distinctive challenges. Fortunately, teachers can bring to their online…

Functional communication training (FCT) reduces escape-maintained challenging behavior but can result in time away from instruction. Instructional time could be maintained if interventions incorporated academic interventions like curricular revision. We compared FCT with extinction to a curricular-revision treatment package involving antecedent…