The use of restraint and seclusion in schools and mental health settings has been steeped in controversy. Advocates cite the necessity and efficacy of these procedures as interventions for dangerous behaviors, while opponents question their effectiveness and focus on their potential for misuse. Amidst the controversy, however, there is consensus…

It is speculated that undiagnosed emotional and behavioral disorders are a contributing factor to the increasing number of incarcerated girls globally. Untreated, these disorders often lead to more severe maladaptive behaviors and contact with law enforcement. This article provides information available in Brazil, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, and the…

Students placed in special education programs for emotional and behavioral disorders with emotional disturbance (ED) identification have academic outcomes that lag both students in regular and special education. This issue is especially important for youth attending urban schools. Although prior research has examined students identified as ED,…

Special education researchers have a huge responsibility and opportunity to develop research designs that help practitioners in schools--particularly school teachers, leaders, counselors, social workers, and interventionists--develop research-based policies and practices that address and meet the increasingly complex needs of young people. In this…

This research occurs in a specialized primary school for students having emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) in a suburb of Montréal in Canada. The aims were to a) evaluate the impact of a schoolwide de-escalation intervention plan on the use of de-escalation and seclusion-restraint measures throughout the school year and b) to identify the…

The use of restraint and seclusion in schools has been identified repeatedly as an approach that is overused, misused, and potentially dangerous. In this article, we emphasize the importance of an approach to supporting students with significant problem behavior that focuses on prevention, evidence-based intervention procedures, heightened levels…

Despite schools increasingly adopting multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for prevention and intervention of mental health concerns, many are slow to adopt universal mental health screening (UMHS), a core MTSS feature, due to concerns about their limited capacity to meet the needs of all identified. In this study, we examined differences in the…

The achievement gap between African American students and their Caucasian peers has been of concern for quite some time in the field of education (Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004). As a result, this article examined high stakes reading test scores for 4,135 African American students in grades 3 through 10 in a Midwestern school district.…

To interrogate pedagogical discourses relating to child behaviour as "practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak" this paper features the analysis of three texts through the development and deployment of what might be called a poetics of pedagogical discourse. The principal text is a statement describing…

The Special Education Learning Center in Hartford, Connecticut, successfully teaches students with serious behavioral disorders. The program features a behavioral curriculum, built around rewards, punishments, a fully supervised setting, collegial support, and physical intervention. (TE)

This issue paper on violence in public schools provides an overview of the problem and a joint statement by the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) and the Council for Children with Behavior Disorders (CCBD). These two organizations believe that the majority of the violent, aggressive, or destructive students in U.S. schools are…

This article explores the status of implementation of the behavioral and discipline requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997. Data are presented from complaints, hearings, and court decisions that suggest that the overall discrepancy between competency expectation for Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams and…

A question-and-answer format is used to summarize requirements concerning suspension and expulsion of students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997. Questions address definitions, due process rights, suspension and expulsion as a "change of placement," the Interim Alternative…

Academic assessment for students with challenging behavior is often overlooked. Confronted with a curriculum that is above or below their instructional needs, students may engage in a range of inappropriate behaviors (e.g., acting-out, withdrawal, social avoidance). In that behavioral and learning problems are reciprocal, academically related…

This collection of papers focuses on practical approaches to resolving behavior problems in the Australian school system. The papers are divided into four general categories: perspectives on behavior problems, focusing on families, schools and system initiatives, and programs in special settings. The papers include: (1) "Beyond…