ATTAIN
Adapting Tier 2 Interventions for Non-Responsive Students in Elementary Schools (ATTAIN)
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES Award #R324A160096)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Lee Kern, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Center for Promoting Research to Practice, Special Education Program (Lehigh University)
Co-Principal Investigator: Joseph H. Wehby, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Special Education (Vanderbilt University)
About ATTAIN
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is a tiered system that provides a continuum of support to students within an educational or therapeutic setting (PBIS.org). Specifically, three tiers exist within PBIS. Tier 1 is aimed at providing school-wide behavioral supports. Tier 2 provides providing services to 10-15% of students that do not respond to school-wide Tier 1 interventions. Furthermore, Tier 3 is reserved for 1-5% of students who do not adequately respond to Tiers 1 and 2. For the purposes of this project, we focus on students receiving a common Tier 2 intervention, Check-in/Check-out (CICO). Approximately 25% of students do not sufficiently respond to Tier 2 interventions. Instead of placing students directly into resource and time intensive Tier 3 intervention, students who do not respond to CICO could benefit from simple adaptations to standard CICO. Adapting standard CICO may increase responsiveness.
To date, we have developed an Adaptive Intervention Framework that guides school personnel through a series of questions and decision-making rules to select adaptations to standard CICO. These adaptations consider the function of the student’s behavior, student needs, and school resources. We are currently piloting (via small, randomized control trial) our framework in elementary schools in the surrounding area.
Kern, L. & Kelly, S. (in press). Three Considerations to Boost Tier 2 Intervention. ReThinking Behavior.
Kelly, S., Nielsen, C.M., Kern, L., Abed, K., & Wehby, J.H. (in press). Using Adaptations to Enhance Tier 2 Social Skills Training. Teaching Exceptional Children.
Kern, L., Gaier, K., Kelly, S., Nielsen, C. M., Commisso, C. E., & Wehby, J. H. (2020). An evaluation of adaptations made to Tier 2 social skill training programs. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 36(2), 155-172.
Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A.M., Wehby, J.H., Kern, L., Commisso, C.E., & Gaier, K. (2020). An evaluation of adaptations made to Check-In Check-Out. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 22, 25-37.
Commisso, C. E., Gaier, K., Kern, L., Majeika, C. E., Van Camp, A. M., Wehby, J. H., & Kelly, S. (2019). How to Make Adaptations to Check In/Check Out to Increase Its Effectiveness. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 52(1), 30-37.
Kelly, S., Gaier, K., Wehby, J. H., Kern, L. (2020, February). Using an adaptive intervention framework to enhance tier 2 behavior interventions. Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference, Portland, OR.
Kern, L. & Wehby, J. (2020, February). Adaptations to Tier 2 Social Skills Interventions for Nonresponsive Students. Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference, Portland, OR.
Kelly, S., Nielsen, C. Kern, L., Wehby, J., Hancock, E., Van Camp, A. (2021, March). Tier 2 interventions: Simple modifications to improve the effectiveness of check-in check-out. Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference, Virtual Conference.
Majeika, C. E., Kelly, S., Commisso, C. E., Kern, L., & Wehby, J. H. (2019, February). Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater: Adapting Behavioral Interventions. Presented at the annual International Conference on Positive Behavior Support, Washington, D.C.
Van Camp, A. M., Copeland, B. A., Kelly, S., Wehby, J. H., & Kern, L. (2018, October). Data Shouldn’t Be a Four Letter Word: Building Capacity to Use Data in the Context of Tier 2 Interventions. Presented at the National Council for School Mental Health Conference.
Kern, L & Wehby, J. (2019, January). Adapting Tier 2 Interventions for Non-Responsive Students in Elementary Schools. Presented at the IES Conference, Washington, D.C.
Van Camp, A., Kelly, S., Majeika, C., Kern, L., Pickren, S., & Wehby, J. (February, 2019). 5 Easy Ways to Adapt Check-in/Check-out to Meet Individual Student Needs. Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
Commisso, C., Kern, L., Majeika, C., & Wehby, J. (February, 2019). An adaptive frame of mind: Building a framework for tier 2 interventions. Presented at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
Chan, G., Goodman, S., Kern, L., Kincaid, D., & Simonsen, B. (March, 2019). The intersection of MTSS and Special Education: Addressing Myths, Facts, and Misconceptions, Presented at the Association for Positive Behavior Support Conference, Washington, D.C.
Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A.M., Wehby, J.H., Commisso, C., Gaier, K., & Kern, L. (2017, October). Adapting Tier II Behavior Interventions. In B.P. Lloyd (Chair) Adapting and Intensifying Behavioral Supports Along a Tier II—Tier III Continuum. Symposium presented at the annual conference of the Tennessee Association of Behavior Analysts, Nashville, TN.
Commisso, C. E., Gaier, K. L, Kern, L., Majeika, C. E., Van Camp, A. M., Wehby, J. H. (2017, October). A Review of Check-in/Check-out (CICO): Components, Evaluated Adaptations, and Implications for Use with Students. Presented at the Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health, Washington, D.C.
Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A.M., Wehby, J.H., Commisso, C., Gaier, K., & Kern, L. (2017, October). The Current Landscape of Tier 2 Behavior Interventions: Evaluating the Use of Data and Clinical Judgment to Make Decisions. Presented at the annual conference on Advancing School Mental Health, Washington, DC.
Van Camp, A. M., Majeika, C. E., Chauvin, C.B. Wehby, J.H., Commisso, C., Gaier, K., & Kern, L. (2018, February). When Standard Protocols Don’t Work: Adapting Check-In/Check-Out to Meet Individual Student Needs. Presented at the annual conference of the Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders, Kansas City, KS.
Chauvin, C.B., Wehby, J.H., Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A. M. (2018, February). Function-Based Approaches to Selecting and Adapting Tier 2 Behavior Support: A Systematic Review of the Role of Functional Behavior Assessments in Check-In Check-Out. Poster presented at the annual conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Tampa, FL.
Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A.M., Wehby, J.H., Pickren, S., Commisso, C., Gaier, K., Gaier, K., & Kern, L. (2018, February). Social Skills Training for Students with or At-Risk for EBD: Are We Setting Kids Up for Success? Poster presented at the annual conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Tampa, FL.
Majeika, C.E., Van Camp, A.M., Wehby, J.H., Commisso, C. E., Gaier, K., & Kern, L. (2018, March). Enhancing Tier 2 Behavioral Interventions with an Adaptive Intervention Framework. Presented at the 15th annual International Conference on Positive Behavior Support, San Diego, CA.