Intensive Academic Interventions for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: An Experimental Framework

Research has consistently demonstrated that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are at risk for academic underachievement. Despite the persistent and strong association between academic problems and EBD, there remains a dearth of information on the process for developing intensive academic interventions for students with EBD. The intent of the present article is to describe and review an experimental approach for developing intensive and individualized academic interventions that provide a potentially valuable method for informing the development of academic interventions. Specifically, brief experimental analyses of academic behavior allow for the comparison of two or more interventions over a relatively short period of time. These formal comparisons provide essential information on which particular practice or set of strategies produce improved responding for the student on the particular skill of interest. The authors contextualize the brief experimental analysis methods within the data-based individualization (DBI) approach advanced by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) before reviewing recent research on the approach. Results are used to make recommendations for subsequent research and practice.