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Volume 6, Number 1, Winter 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS
Editorial
Robert L. Koegel and Glen Dunlap
Transitions for Young Children with Autism
from Preschool to Kindergarten
Emily J. Forest, Robert H. Horner, Teri Lewis-Palmer
and Anne W. Todd
The transition of young children with autism
from preschool to kindergarten is an important event for
both sustaining gains made during preschool, and establishing
future social and academic development. This paper provides
a summary of 25 transition elements identified from the
research literature as important for a successful transition.
The elements were built into a survey instrument and the
instrument was used with the parents, preschool teachers,
and kindergarten teachers for three children with autism
who transitioned during 1999-2001. Results from the survey
indicate that transition elements identified in the literature
were perceived as important by families, preschool teachers,
and kindergarten teachers. High variability, however, was
reported in the perceived level of implementation for the
transition elements. The report provides an index of transition
elements that may be useful to guide future research and
to facilitate effective transitions.
The School-wide Evaluation Tool (SET):
A Research Instrument for Assessing School-wide Positive
Behavior Support
Robert H. Horner, Anne W. Todd, Teri Lewis-Palmer, Larry
K. Irvin, George Sugai, & Joseph B. Boland
Schools throughout the country are now encouraged
to implement school-wide positive behavior support procedures
as a way to improve their behavioral climate, safety and
social culture. Research is needed, however, to determine
(a) the extent to which schools already use school-wide
behavior support, (b) if training and technical assistance
efforts result in change in the use of school-wide positive
behavior support procedures, and (c) if use of these procedures
is related to valued change in the safety, social culture
and violent behavior within schools. To address these questions,
researchers need a metric for assessing if schools are implementing
school-wide positive behavior support practices. The School-wide
Evaluation Tool (SET) was created to provide a rigorous
measure of primary prevention practices within school-wide
behavior support. The present report describes the content
of the SET and documents the psychometric characteristics
of the instrument. Results suggest that the SET is a valid
and reliable measure, and can be used to assess the impact
of school-wide training and technical assistance efforts.
The SET also will be useful in formal analyses of the relationship
between use of school-wide positive behavior support and
changes in valued social and academic outcomes.
Framing Positive Behavior Support in
the Ongoing Discourse Concerning the Politics of Knowledge
Wayne Sailor and James L. Paul
In this paper we examine a progressive form of postmodern
social theory for its contribution to raising substantive
issues about the politics of knowledge, or the factors that
govern decision processes regarding the nature of evidence
from research. We then examine the basis for the reaction
against postmodernism that has appeared in the special education
literature to date and, in particular, question whether
it, collectively, represents a reasoned defense of the scientific
basis for inquiry. We call attention to a confusion that
occurs in these reactive positions between postmodernism
on the one hand, and subjectivism (i.e., qualitative research
methods) in the production of knowledge on the other, which,
like positivism (i.e., empirical methods), is a modern epistemology.
Finally, we offer a justification of progressive postmodern
social theory as a means to create a needed discourse on
contextualizing our professional practices. We suggest that
positive behavior support because of its inherent pragmatism
and multi-method focus on valued outcomes for people with
disabilities, may offer a practice-focused forum for more
productive conversations about multiple warrants, or justifying
reasons, for alternative approaches to inquiry.
Using Staff and Student Time Engaged
in Disciplinary Procedures to Evaluate the Impact of School-Wide
Positive Behavior Support
Terrance M. Scott & Susan B. Barrett
This paper presents an example of how school
time was monitored to facilitate a cost analysis of school-wide
systems of positive behavior support. The example provides
descriptions of (a) how positive behavior support efforts
were initiated in the school, (b) how time and money were
spent preparing for and implementing positive behavior support,
and(c) how changes in behavior referrals and suspension
were used to evaluate the effect of positive behavior support
on the larger system. Results demonstrate the school’s
positive assessment of PBS, based on their predetermined
criteria. A discussion focuses on larger issues of cost
analyses as systemic evaluation tools for assessing lifestyle
change.
Improving Classroom Behavior by Modifying
Task Difficulty: The Effects of Increasing the Difficulty
of Too-Easy Tasks
John Umbreit, Kathleen L. Lane & Carlos Dejud
This study examined the effects of increasing task difficulty
when inadequately challenging tasks are assigned. Jason,
a 10-year-old, normally developing Caucasian male, attended
a fourth-grade general education classroom at a public elementary
school. During independent academic assignments in math
and reading, Jason often talked with other students, kicked
his seat or the one in front of him, or wandered around
the classroom. His teacher considered these behaviors to
be very disruptive. The study was conducted in two phases.
In Phase 1, a functional behavioral assessment identified
that Jason’s problem behaviors (a) occurred when he
had completed his assignment and (b) resulted in him gaining
access to preferred activities. In Phase 2, a function-based
intervention (providing more challenging academic assignments)
resulted in improvements in Jason’s behavior. Both
Jason and his teacher gave the intervention very positive
acceptability ratings.
Innovative Practices: Self-Determination
and Student Involvement in Functional Assessment
Michael L. Wehmeyer, Daniel J. Baker, Rick Blumberg &
Richard Harrison
Five 6th-grade students diagnosed with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), taking psycho stimulants
for treatment of ADHD symptoms, and enrolled in a general
education classroom participated in the study. Participants
were taught self-management techniques to monitor academic
performance, on-task behaviors, and disruptive behaviors.
A multiple baseline design across students with intervention
withdrawal embedded within each baseline was used to empirically
assess the effectiveness of self-management. Self-management
associated with increases of on-task behaviors and academic
performance, and associated with a decrease of disruptive
behaviors when compared to other phases. Implications for
practical application of the strategy in general education
classrooms are discussed.
A Not So Good Job with Good Job: A Response
to Kohn, 2001
Phillip S. Strain & Gail E. Joseph
A Book Review of Shapiro, Joseph P. (1994)
No pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights
movement
Daniel Openden
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