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UCSB Koegel Autism Center

Journal of

Positive Behavior Interventions

Volume 12, Number 3, July 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

What's Inside: Highlights From This Issue
Mark Durand

Articles

Examining the Effects of Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports on Student Outcomes: Results From a Randomized Controlled Effectiveness Trial in Elementary Schools

Catherine P. Bradshaw, Mary M. Mitchell, and Philip J. Leaf

Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a universal, schoolwide prevention strategy that is currently implemented in over 9,000 schools across the nation to reduce disruptive behavior problems through the application of behavioral, social learning, and organizational behavioral principles. SWPBIS aims to alter school environments by creating improved systems and procedures that promote positive change in student behavior by targeting staff behaviors. This study uses data from a 5-year longitudinal randomized controlled effectiveness trial of SWPBIS conducted in 37 elementary schools to examine the impact of training in SWPBIS on implementation fidelity as well as student suspensions, office discipline referrals, and academic achievement. School-level longitudinal analyses indicated that the schools trained in SWPBIS implemented the model with high fidelity and experienced significant reductions in student suspensions and office discipline referrals.

Using Social Stories and Visual Schedules to Improve Socially Appropriate Behaviors in Children With Autism

Naomi Schneider and Howard Goldstein

The current study investigated the effects of Social Stories written according to Gray’s specifications on on-task behavior in inclusive classroom settings in three children with autism. Using a multiple-baseline design across participants, modest improvements in on-task behavior were associated with implementation of an auditory-visual Social Story intervention. In follow-up analysis, the Social Story was replaced with a visual schedule component to augment the effects of Social Stories when there was room for improvement for one participant. Further improvement in on-task behavior indicates that strategies such as visual schedules may be an effective way to augment the effects of Social Stories. An effect size estimate calculated using Parker et al.’s percentage of all nonoverlapping data points procedure revealed a large effect (d = 1.33) associated with Social Stories alone, which increased (d = 1.7) when the visual schedule intervention applied to one participant was added to the analysis. Although Social Stories produced improvements in on-task behavior in children with autism, additional components, such as visual schedules, may be useful for optimizing performance.

A Reexamination of the Psychometric Properties of the School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET)

Claudia Vincent, Scott Spaulding, and Tary Jeanne Tobin

As a follow-up to Horner et al., this study focuses on the internal consistency and validity of the School-wide Evaluation Tool (SET) at all school levels. Analyzing SET data from 833 elementary, 264 middle, and 93 high schools, the authors focused on (a) describing commonalities and differences in SET data across the school levels, (b) assessing the SET's internal consistency at all school levels, and (c) examining the SET's validity as the extent to which SET scores collected by external observers correlated with Team Implementation Checklist (TIC) scores reflecting internal self-assessments. Results indicated that overall, the SET performs best in elementary schools, shows less cohesion in middle and high schools, and highly correlates with TIC scores. Based on these results, the authors formulated a number of recommendations to improve the utility of SET data for research and implementation decisions across school levels and implementation phases.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in an Alternative School Setting: A Case Study

Brandi Simonsen, Lisa Britton, and Dale Young

Students with disabilities who display serious (e.g., dangerous) problem behaviors are frequently educated in alternative school settings. Although there is considerable research on intervention approaches (e.g., function-based support) to support individual students with challenging behaviors, there is a lack of research on schoolwide intervention approaches to support all students in alternative school settings. A 3-year, descriptive, single-subject case study (AB design) was conducted to examine the impact of introducing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) into an alternative education setting. Results indicate that introducing SWPBS is associated with an overall decrease in serious incidents and an increase in the percentage of students who refrain from serious physical aggression. The limitations and implications of this study are described.