Individual Positive Behavior Supports: A Standards-Based Guide to Practices in School and Community Settings

Fredda Brown, Ph.D., is an affiliate of the Institute of Professional Practice in New Haven, Connecticut. Her work focuses on issues and practices for individuals with challenging behavior, with a specific focus on the relationship between challenging behavior, quality of life, and self-determination. Dr. Brown has published many articles and chapters in the area of severe disabilities and was co-editor with Donna Lehr of the book Persons with Profound Disabilities: Issues and Practices (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1989).

Jacki L. Anderson, Ph.D., received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in the areas of communication disorders, child and family studies, and individuals with severe disabilities. She has more than 30 years of experience conducting in-service training activities around the country and has taught for 28 years in the Department of Educational Psychology at California State University East Bay (CSUEB). The education specialist teacher preparation program at CSUEB is a dual-credential program through which students receive both general and special education credentials. Program graduates are known for their excellence in providing effective and innovative educational practices and positive behavior supports. Dr. Anderson's areas of specialization include positive behavior support, teacher training, and inclusive education/life for individuals with severe disabilities. She has been awarded federal funds to pursue these interests via research and training projects; has published the results in textbooks, training manuals, and journal articles; and is on the editorial boards of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities and Journal of Positive Behavior Intervention. Dr. Anderson is actively involved in a variety of professional organizations and policy-making committees, including as a founding member, vice president, and board member of the Association for Positive Behavior Support (APBS); chair of the executive committee and executive vice president of the International TASH organization; former president and current board member of CAL-TASH; president of the board for Casa Allegra Community Services (providing supported living, integrated work, and microenterprise services for individuals with severe disabilities); and a member of several advisory committees to local school districts.

Randall L. De Pry, Ph.D., received his doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon with a focus on individuals with behavioral disabilities. He currently serves as professor of special education and chair of the Department of Special Education at Portland State University. His primary research interests center on positive behavioral interventions and support, including work in social skills instruction, functional behavioral assessment, self-determination, and systemic change models in school and community-ased settings. Dr. De Pry served on the board of directors for APBS from 2005 to 2014, including service as secretary, treasurer, and vice president of the board. He is editor of the APBS Newsletter and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions as a consulting editor. Dr. De Pry has presented his work nationally and internationally and works with a variety of schools, agencies, and organizations around disability and behavior support issues.

Martin Agran, Ph.D., is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Northern Iowa. Prior to this, he was a Professor of Special Education at Utah State University. Dr. Agran taught high school students with moderate to severe disabilities, was a Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic, and served as a consultant and visiting professor at Herzen University of St. Petersburg University, Russia. Dr. Agran's principal research interests include the education of students with severe disabilities, self-determination, transition, and the preparation of teachers of students with significant instructional needs. He has directed several federally funded grants in these areas. He is the associate editor of Research and Practice in Persons with Severe Disabilities (formerly JASH). He is also on the editorial board of several professional journals, and he is the co-editor, along with Dr. Michael L. Wehmeyer, of the American Association on Mental Retardation's research-to-practice publication, Innovations. He has published extensively in the professional literature and is the author of several books, including Teaching Self-Determination to Students with Disabilities: Basic Skills for Transition with Michael L. Wehmeyer and Carolyn Hughes (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1998), Teaching Problem Solving to Students with Mental Retardation with Michael L. Wehmeyer (American Association on Mental Retardation, 1999), and Student-Directed Learning: Teaching Self-Determination Skills (Brooks/Cole, 1997).

Richard W. Albin, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Educational and Community Supports in the College of Education at the University of Oregon.

Linda M. Bambara, Ed.D., is a professor and program director of special education at Lehigh University, where she also directed two university fieldEditor-based programs serving adults and transition-age youth with developmental disabilities and autism to participate in inclusive community settings. She has been involved with individuals with disabilities for more than 35 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, advocate, researcher, and director of research and training projects. As a productive author, she has published numerous books, chapters, and articles, including three additional books on positive behavior support. She has served on national boards of professional organizations such as TASH, the Association for Positive Behavior Support, and the editorial boards of six journals. She is former Editor-In-Chief of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities.

Diane M. Browder, Ph.D., is Snyder Distinguished Professor and doctoral coordinator of Special Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Browder has more than 2 decades of experience with research and writing on assessment and instruction of students with severe disabilities. Recently, she has focused on alternate assessment and linking assessment and instruction to the general curriculum. She is Principal Investigator for an Institute of Education Sciences—funded center with a focus on teaching students with moderate and severe disabilities to read. She is a partner in the National Center on Alternate Assessment and Principal Investigator for Office of Special Education Programs—funded projects on access to the general curriculum.

Glen Dunlap, Ph.D., has been involved with individuals with disabilities for more than 45 years and has served as a teacher, administrator, researcher, and university faculty member. He has directed numerous research and training projects and has been awarded dozens of federal and state grants to pursue this work. He has authored more than 250 articles and book chapters, co­edited numerous books, and served on 15 editorial boards. He was one of the founders of the Association for Positive Behavior Support, and served terms as treasurer and president of that organization. He is also the lead author on each of the books in the PTR series. Dr. Dunlap was a founding editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions and served for 10 years as the editor of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Dr. Dunlap lives in Reno, NV and is affiliated with the University of Nevada, Reno.

V. Mark Durand, Ph.D., is known worldwide as an authority in the area of autism spectrum disorders. He is a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where he was the founding Dean of Arts & Sciences and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Dr. Durand is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has received more than $4 million in federal funding since the beginning of his career to study the nature, assessment, and treatment of behavior problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Before moving to Florida, he served in a variety of leadership positions at the University at Albany-State University of New York (SUNY-Albany), including Associate Director for Clinical Training for the doctoral psychology program from 1987 to 1990, Chair of the Psychology Department from 1995 to 1998, and Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences from 2001 to 2002. There he established the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at SUNY-Albany. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees — all in psychology—at Stony Brook University.

Dr. Durand was awarded the University Award for Excellence in Teaching at SUNY-Albany in 1991 and in 2007 received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Scholarship at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Dr. Durand is currently Co-editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, is a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Autism Society of America, and is on the Board of Directors of the international Association of Positive Behavioral Support. He serves on a number of editorial boards, has reviewed for dozens of journals, and has more than 100 publications on functional communication, educational programming, and behavior therapy. His books include several best-selling textbooks on abnormal psychology, Severe Behavior Problems: A Functional Communication Training Approach (Guilford Press, 1990), Sleep Better! A Guide to Improving Sleep for Children with Special Needs (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1998), and When Children Don't Sleep Well: Interventions for Pediatric Sleep Disorders, Therapist Guide (Oxford University Press, 2008). In his leisure time, he enjoys long-distance running and just completed his third marathon.

Dr. Lise Fox is a professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and is Co-Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities: A University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Fox is one of the developers of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children and has authored 95 books, book chapters, and articles. She has developed and managed numerous technical assistance, research, model demonstration, and personnel preparation projects in the areas of early childhood special education, state capacity building, implementation of the Pyramid Model, preventing and addressing challenging behavior, and Positive Behavior Support. She is the director of the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations.

Meme was a consultant, researcher, educator, and advocate working with organizations that support children with significant behavioral challenges and providing information and resources through teaching and nonprofit work. She was married for over 30 years and had two young adult sons. Meme held a Ph.D. in Special Education and was certified as a behavior analyst. She published a variety of articles, chapters, and three books. She developed a comprehensive video and training package on PBS for parents of children with autism and other developmental disabilities and was a regular contributor to Parenting Special Needs Magazine. Meme worked with children with severe behavioral challenges and their families for over 30 years. She was a residential program manager, behavior specialist for a school district, staff member for a program assisting families and professionals of children with autism, adjunct instructor at USF, director of a state-wide PBS project helping schools to implement proactive, evidence-based interventions, co-training coordinator for the National Research and Training Center on PBS, research director of the Positive Family Intervention Project at USF, director and developer of the ABA and autism programs at All Children’s Hospital, and Co-Principal Investigator of a National Institute on Health-research study focused on behavioral parent education. She taught Masters’ level courses in applied behavior analysis, consulted with agencies that provide family-focused behavioral support, and lead a nonprofit organization called the Home and Community Positive Behavior Support Network (https://hcpbs.org/).

Dr. Horner is the Alumni-Knight Endowed Professor of Special Education at the University of Oregon, where he directs the Educational and Community Supports research unit. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford University, his master's degree in experimental psychology from Washington State University, and his doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon. Dr. Horner's research has focused on developing evidence-based interventions that result in socially significant changes for people with and without disabilities. As co-director with Dr. George Sugai of the Office of Special Education Programs Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, Dr. Horner coordinates research and technical assistance activities with multiple partners across the nation.

During the past 20 years, he has worked directly with schools and school administrators in the development of approaches for implementing school-wide systems of positive behavior support. He has been the editor of the Journal of The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, co-editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, and associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the American Journal on Mental Retardation.

In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Horner has received multiple awards, among them the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis Public Service Behavior Analysis Award (2006), the American Association on Mental Retardation Education Award (2002), the TASH Positive Approaches Award (2000), and the American Psychological Association Fred Keller Educational Research Award (1996).

Lee Kern, Ph.D., received her doctorate in special education from the University of South Florida. She is currently professor of special education at Lehigh University and Director of the Center for Promoting Research to Practice. Dr. Kern has worked in the field of special education for more than 35 years as a classroom teacher, behavior specialist, professor, and consultant. Her research interests are in the area of interventions to reduce challenging behavior. She has published numerous articles, book chapters, and two books on topics related to problem behavior. Dr. Kern has received more than $20 million in grant support from the U.S. Department of Education and National Institutes of Mental Health to pursue research in behavior problems. She is currently co-editor of Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions.

Angel Lee, M.Ed., works with the National Center and State Collaborative on a General Supervision Enhancement Grant focusing on the development of curriculum and instruction aligned to the Common Core State Standards for students with significant disabilities. She is coauthor of three literacy curricula developed for students with significant disabilities: The Early Literacy Skills Builder, Pathways to Literacy, and Teaching to Standards: English Language Arts.

Joseph M. Lucyshyn, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, and Special Education, Faculty of Education University of British Columbia.

John McDonnell, Ph.D., Dr. McDonnell's research focuses on curriculum and instruction, inclusive education, and transition programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He has published extensively in these areas and has been actively involved in the development of innovative school programs for more than 25 years.

Dr. Mirenda earned her doctorate in behavioral disabilities from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For 8 years, she was a faculty member in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. From 1992 to 1996, she provided a variety of training, research, and support services to individuals with severe disabilities through CBI Consultants, Ltd., in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is now Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia. From 1998 to 2001, she was editor of the journal Augmentative and Alternative Communication. In 2004, she was named a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and was awarded the Killam Teaching Prize at the University of British Columbia. In 2008, she was named a Fellow of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Dr. Mirenda is the author of numerous book chapters and research publications; she lectures widely and teaches courses on augmentative and alternative communication, inclusive education, developmental disabilities, autism, and positive behavior support. Her current research focuses on describing the developmental trajectories of young children with autism and factors that predict the outcomes of early intervention.

Michael L. Wehmeyer, Ph.D. is Professor of Special Education; Director, Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities; and Senior Scientist, Beach Center on Disability, all at the University of Kansas. He has published more than 25 books and 250 scholarly articles and book chapters on topics related to self-determination, special education, intellectual disability, and eugenics. He is s co-author of the widely used textbook Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today's Schools, published by Merrill/Prentice Hall, now in its 7th Edition. His most recent book, co-authored with J. David Smith, is Good Blood, Bad Blood: Science, Nature, and the Myth of the Kallikaks, published by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). Dr. Wehmeyer is Past-President (2010-2011) of the Board of Directors for and a Fellow of AAIDD; a past president of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT); a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Division (Div. 33); a Fellow of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD); and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Remedial and Special Education. He is a co-author of the AAIDD Supports Intensity Scale, and the 2010 AAIDD Intellectual Disability Terminology, Classification, and Systems of Supports Manual.

Leah Wood, Ph.D.,

Ms. Wood is a third-year doctoral candidate pursuing a Ph.D. in special education. Prior to returning to school full-time, Ms. Wood taught students with moderate to severe intellectual disability for 6 years. She is the lead graduate research assistant for the GoTalk Phonics IES grant, and coauthor of the GoTalk Phonics Curriculum, which is in development.