ABSTRACT

Teachers frequently report that responding to and managing disruptive student behavior consumes a disproportionate amount of time and that they lack the skills to work effectively with students exhibiting challenging behavior (Oliver & Reschly, 2007). Responding to challenging behavior-even of only a few students-results in a signifi cant loss of instructional time-for the students emitting disruptive behavior and for others in the classroom (Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2003). Persistent challenging behavior can disrupt the classroom, detract from instruction for all students, and have a long-term negative effect on the achievement of the student emitting the challenging behavior. Students exhibiting challenging behavior perform signifi cantly below average on standardized tests of learning and achievement and are viewed by teachers as less academically competent than their typical peers and students with learning disabilities (Lane, Carter, Pierson, & Glaeser, 2006).