The Implications of a System-Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention Initiative: From Design to Successful Implementation

Authors

Vance L. Austin, Ph.D., Micheline S. Malow, Ph.D., Nikki L. Josephs, Ph.D., Andrew J. Ecker, M.S.
  • Vance L. Austin, Ph.D. (Author) Manhattanville College image/svg+xml
    Dr. Vance Austin is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Special Education at Manhattanville College and also teaches part-time in a special high school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. He has formerly worked full time as a special educatio n JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2016 teacher in both public and private schools where he accumulated over twenty-five years of teaching experience and has also taught at several colleges and universities. Dr. Austin’s interests in special education extend beyond the U.S. to include Canada and Vietnam. His current research focus is in the area of finding effective interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders as well as improving the quality of teaching in special education. He has authored many articles and book chapters, and presented at numerous national and international conferences on the topics of effective teaching and behavior management, and is completing a second book for teachers on the subject of working effectively with students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
  • Micheline S. Malow, Ph.D. (Author) Manhattanville College
    Dr. Micheline S. Malow is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Special Education at Manhattanville College and also is a supervising psychologist for an APA doctoral internship training site in the area of psycho-educational assessment and evaluations. She has formerly worked full-time as a school psychologist in developmental preschools in addition to teaching at the college level at several colleges in the New York area. Dr. Malow’s interests in special education lie in the area of program evaluation and student assessment, in addition to identifying effective interventions for students with disabilities. She has authored articles and book chapters, presented at numerous regional, national and international conferences, as well as co-authored a book on the topic of adolescent risk taking behavior.
  • Nikki L. Josephs, Ph.D. (Author) Manhattanville College
    Nikki L. Josephs is an Assistant Professor in the Special Education Department at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. Dr. Josephs is certified in Social Studies Education and Special Education in the State of New York and has ten years of teaching experience at the elementary and secondary levels. Her current research focuses on addressing the academic and behavioral needs of students identified with emotional/behavioral disorders.
  • Andrew J. Ecker, M.S. (Author) Lower Hudson Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center (RSE-TASC)
    Andrew J. Ecker is a Special Education School Improvement Specialist (SESIS) with the Lower Hudson Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center (RSE-TASC) at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES in Yorktown Heights, NY. Andrew is an Adjunct Graduate Professor in the Special Education Department at Manhattanville College (Purchase, NY) where he is completing his Professional Diploma (PD) and Doctorate (Ed.D), both in Educational Leadership. Andrew’s research focuses on improving students’ behavioral and social-emotional outcomes through implementation of the Interconnected Systems Framework. Andrew is a member of the RSE-TASC Work Group on Specially Designed Instruction, creating and updating quality indicators and resources for Special Education instructional practices. He was previously a Director, Teacher, and PBIS Coach at a therapeutic, residential high school, a Non-District Specialist with the RSE-TASC and a professional basketball player.
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.303
Residential schools for students with emotional and behavioral disorders have been steadily evolving since the beginning of the 20th Century. Traditional behavioral approaches involving physical restraint and confinement have been replaced with more humanistic interventions involving positive reinforcement. This article traces this transformative journey from the punitive techniques employed in the 1950s and 1960s through to the present and the use of prosocial interventions recommended in current best practices such as PBIS. The authors share the success story of one such residential school as it embraced a sea change in behavior management philosophy, moving from a more traditional behaviorist model to a positive behavior intervention and support system (PBIS) dubbed: "WISE."

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Austin, V. L., Malow, M. S., Josephs, N. L., & Ecker, A. J. (2016). The Implications of a System-Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention Initiative: From Design to Successful Implementation. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 11(2), 6-16. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.303

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  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted May 2, 2016
  • Published June 15, 2016
  • Issue Spring/Summer 2016
  • Section Articles
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