Current Status and Future Directions of School-Based Behavioral Interventions

TLDR

The article reviews the current status and outlines future directions for school‑based behavioral interventions, emphasizing intensity‑based conceptualization, response‑to‑intervention tailoring, evidence‑based selection, and social validation of effects. It focuses on four critical themes—intensity‑based conceptualization, response‑to‑intervention, evidence‑based practice, and social validation—and examines how functional behavioral assessment informs design and implementation.

Abstract

This article describes current status and future directions for school-based behavioral interventions. The article is centered on four themes that are considered critical for future research and practice in school-based behavioral intervention work. First, the article argues for conceptualizing interventions based on intensity level and purpose (universal, selected, and target/intensive interventions). Second, response to intervention approach should be used as the basis for changing, modifying, or intensifying interventions. Third, evidence-based practices should be used for selecting and evaluating interventions. Fourth, social validation of behavioral interventions should be used to establish the clinical or applied significance of target behavior selection and to document the social importance of effects. Contributions of functional behavioral assessment in designing and implementing behavioral interventions are examined. Future directions for research and practice in behavioral interventions in schools are considered.