Experts Advise Teachers, Childcare Workers on Positive Behavior Supports

Newswise — Anyone who's ever had to respond to a child's challenging behavior will benefit from the second edition textbook by John Wheeler, associate dean of Education, and Dean Richey, professor of curriculum and instruction.

Published by Prentice Hall, "Behavior Management: Principles and Practices of Positive Behavior Supports, 2nd ed." Is focused primarily for children with disabilities but is applicable for use with teachers of all children. In fact, Wheeler says, anyone involved in childcare might find the text useful.

"This book could potentially be helpful to parents and families and to anyone involved in childcare because it attempts to provide readers with an understanding and design of optimal learning environments and the use of teaching procedures that are specifically targeted to the developmental and behavioral needs of the individual learners," he says.

Wheeler is professor of special education and director of doctoral studies in the College of Education at Tennessee Tech University. He has served as director and principle investigator on the TTU Positive Behavior Support Initiative, a grant funded and designed to provide consultation and technical assistance to regional schools in a 23-county rural and underserved area of Tennessee for the past 13 years.

Prior to his appointment at TTU, he was an associate professor of special education and director of Interdisciplinary Training at the South Dakota Center for Disabilities in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota. While in South Dakota, he served as a founding member of the South Dakota Autism Project for five years delivering clinical and field-based supports to children with autism and other developmental disabilities, families and educators throughout the state of South Dakota.