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Classroom behavioral interventions: Do teachers consider the function of the behavior?
Author(s) -
Myers Carl L.,
Holland Karin L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6807(200005)37:3<271::aid-pits7>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychological intervention , function (biology) , school psychology , functional analysis , behavior management , behavior change , response to intervention , applied psychology , developmental psychology , mathematics education , clinical psychology , social psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , evolutionary biology , psychiatry , gene , biology
Teachers and school psychologists are often involved in designing classroom behavioral interventions. Functional behavioral assessment, mandated under certain circumstances by IDEA (1997), is considered a best practices approach in designing behavioral interventions. A functional assessment can result in an intervention tailored to a specific student's needs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether teachers considered the function of a behavior when determining a classroom intervention. A sample of 209 Kentucky teachers were given scenarios of students exhibiting problematic behaviors. Information was provided so that the function of the behavior was apparent. The results found that few teachers considered the behavioral function when deciding upon an intervention. Few differences were found between regular and special education teachers. Implications for school psychologists are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.