Six Useful Websites for Practitioners Working in Schools
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DISCUSSION AND REVIEW PAPER
Six Useful Websites for Practitioners Working in Schools Rena VanDerwall 1
&
Alan Poling 2
Accepted: 11 September 2020 # Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020
Abstract A substantial, and seemingly increasing, number of Board Certified Behavior Analysts work in pre-K–12 schools. Many of them will be unfamiliar with the roles and activities of other school professionals, as well as with the structure, function, and mandates of schools. This article introduces 6 websites that are devoted to education. Accessing these free and user-friendly sites can provide practitioners with information and training activities that will help them function comfortably and competently in schools and benefit their clients to a greater extent. Our purpose in writing this article is to introduce and recommend these websites. Keywords Collaboration . Education . Professional competency . Self-study
Behavior analysts have long worked in schools (e.g., SulzerAzaroff et al., 1988), and many currently do so. A recent survey by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) found that 12% of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) worked in educational settings, second only to those working in autism (BACB, n.d.). School-based BCBAs can serve in a variety of roles, both as in-house staff and as outside consultants or service providers. Their work may center around behavior deceleration, skill acquisition, staff training and development, or systems analysis. As schools expand their approaches to supporting students, BCBAs may work to develop and implement multitiered systems of supports, providing targeted academic and behavioral supports for struggling students both with and without disabilities. Additionally, they may work as behavior specialists or coaches in early learning programs, as providers of staff training and development, or as coordinators for larger district, county, and state systems. School-based BCBAs often serve on individualized education plan (IEP) teams for students with disabilities. They work to assess, develop, and support the implementation of plans and procedures to help these students acquire skills in their deficit
* Rena VanDerwall [email protected] 1
Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
2
Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
areas. They may also work to reduce or eliminate problem behaviors that are inhibiting educational progress. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), the federal regulation that governs the provision of services for students with disabilities, requires that a behavior intervention plan based on a functional behavior assessment (FBA) be considered when developing the IEP of a student if the student’s behavior interferes with that student’s learning or with the learning of classmates. It also requires schools to have properly trained professionals available to conduct FBAs and develop appropriate intervention p
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