Abstract
The topic for this issue of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education (TECSE) is “Positive Behavior Support in Early Childhood Programs.” Positive behavior support (PBS) is an approach that emerged in the mid-1980s and has been expanding ever since. A recent publication offered the following definition: PBS is an approach to behavior support that includes an ongoing process of research-based assessment, intervention and data-based decision making focused on building social and other functional competencies, creating supportive contexts, and preventing the occurrence of problem behaviors. PBS relies on strategies that are respectful of a person’s dignity and overall well-being and that are drawn primarily from behavioral, educational and social sciences, although other evidence-based procedures may be incorporated. PBS may be applied within a multi-tiered framework at the level of the individual and at the level of larger systems (e.g., families, classrooms, schools, social service programs and facilities). (Kincaid et al., 2016, p. 71)
The PBS approach has been applied in early childhood for many years (e.g., Conroy, Dunlap, Clarke, & Alter, 2005; Dunlap & Fox, 1999) and has been demonstrated as a multi-tiered, program-wide approach for more than a decade (e.g., Hemmeter, Fox, Jack, & Broyles, 2007). The most well-established PBS framework pertinent to early childhood systems is the Pyramid Model which was described first by Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, and Strain (2003). In subsequent years, the Pyramid Model has been described and evaluated in dozens of publications, and this issue of TECSE continues this trend.
The first article, by Mary Louise Hemmeter and colleagues, presents results of a randomized controlled trial that evaluated effects of the Pyramid Model on children’s social skills and challenging behaviors. The second article, by Angel Fettig and Kathleen Artman-Meeker, describes a group coaching approach for helping teachers implement Pyramid Model practices, and the third article, by Vinh, Strain, Davidson, and Smith, describes some results of a statewide effort to implement the Pyramid Model throughout the state’s early childhood programs. Each of these three articles shows impressive outcomes associated with the systematic implementation of the PBS approach in early childhood programs.
The two other articles in this topical issue offer essential perspectives that relate to PBS in services for young children with challenging behaviors. The article by Rosemarie Allen and Elizabeth Steed offers a much-needed, empirically based discussion of racial disparities and the potential for PBS programs to enhance cultural responsiveness and, in particular, to increase equity in disciplinary and behavior support practices. The article authored by Sharon Doubet and Michaelene Ostrosky focuses on the experiences of parents as they sought assistance to address their children’s severe and persistent challenging behaviors. Using qualitative methods, the authors extract important insights that should be useful as programs continue to develop procedures that are optimally responsive to families’ needs in the context of early childhood special education.
We thank all of the contributors to this topical issue on PBS and early childhood programs. We trust that the contents will be useful as our field continues to seek the most effective, most feasible, and most universally responsive strategies for children and families affected by disabilities and challenging behavior.