Academy Modules: Modules developed for students in the three content areas are referred to as Academy modules. The instructor's modules are created for orientation purposes and are not intended for professional development. Rather, they are designed to convey information about Academy modules and how they can be integrated into teacher education programs.

Antecedent: A stimulus (i.e. a verbal cue, activity, event or person) that immediately precedes a behavior. This stimulus may or may not serve as discriminative for a specific behavior.

Antecedent Event: A stimulus (i.e. a verbal cue, activity, event or person) that immediately precedes a behavior. This stimulus may or may not serve as discriminative for a specific behavior.

Antecedent Strategy: Synonymous with antecedent-related interventions. The modification of events that immediately precede problem behaviors. Examples include changes in the physical setting, curriculum, or schedule.

Antecedent-Related Interventions: Strategies that include the modification of events immediately preceding problem behavior. Examples include changes in the physical setting, curriculum, or schedule.

Coercion Theory: Coercive interactions develop between two people when one person engages in a negative behavior to achieve a social outcome and the other person responds in an equally negative fashion. The ongoing exchange between the two individuals increases in intensity until one of them gives up. The origin of this hypothesis is associated with G. Patterson and M. Sidman.

Communication Interventions: A positive behavioral support strategy that involves identifying the function maintaining problem behavior and teaching a student an alternative verbal or gestural response that results in the same desired outcome as the problem behavior.

Consequence: A stimulus (i.e. a verbal response, the acquisition of a reinforcing item or activity) that contingently follows a behavior. For instance, if a little girlīs crying results in attention from her teachers, then teacher attention would be considered a consequence that followed the crying behavior.

Consequence Interventions: Strategies that address the stimuli (i.e. a verbal response, the acquisition of a reinforcing item or an activity) that contingently follow a behavior. Two strategies can be used when problem behavior occurs more frequently than appropriate behavior: increase reinforcement for appropriate behavior, and decrease reinforcement received for engaging in problem behavior.

Content Areas: OSEP has specified three content areas within the teacher education curriculum for the Academy to focus on. The content areas include reading, positive behavioral supports and technology in education. These are the content areas from which research-based interventions will be selected and transformed into instructional modules.

Crisis Prevention Strategies: Developed by an interdisciplinary team to provide teachers and staff with clear strategies for interrupting and redirecting dangerous behavior. The crisis prevention approach is only one component of the overall positive behavioral support plan.

Curricular Modifications: Adjustments made to academic activities within a school setting to meet the needs one student or a class. These antecedent interventions are not exclusive to school settings and can be used in a variety of home, school, and other community settings.

Curricular Variables: The individual elements that make up a total academic activity. These elements can be manipulated in order to increase student interest and involvement while decreasing the likelihood of problem behavior.

Directed Questions: A series of questions about lesson content has been included as a feature in each module. A question is presented. Once students enter their response they are able to access exemplary answers. This allows them to compare their response to responses prepared by the Academy staff.

Discriminative Stimulus: An antecedent event that has become a cue that signals a behavior will be reinforced.

Environmental Modifications: Changing the variables within a student's physical surroundings to increase desirable behavior and decrease problem behavior.

Errorless Learning: An instructional approach that involves adding extra support by manipulating the stimuli within a task, then gradually fading those extra supports until the student is successfully completing the original activity.

Escape-Motivated Behavior: Behavior that is reinforced by the removal of an activity, object, or person.

Extinction: Reinforcement is withheld from a previously reinforced behavior in order to decrease the occurrence of that behavior.

Fading: The systematic, gradual removal of prompts until the discriminative stimulus (antecedent event) triggers an independent response from the learner.

Function: The consequences that are related to maintaining the occurrence of a behavior. An individual may engage in problem behavior to (a) gain attention, (b) indicate a desire for activities or items, (c) escape from attention or activities, and (d) escape from or obtain physiological stimulation.

Functional Activities: Curricular or academic tasks that are outcome-based and have a distinct, useful purpose for the student.

Functional Analysis: Documenting a meaningful relationship between the occurrence of problem behavior, antecedents and consequence events through direct observation and the systematic manipulation of environmental events.

Functional Assessment: Also known as Functional Behavioral Assessment. The process of collecting information in order to develop hypothesis statements regarding the variables that maintain and predict problem behavior. Functional assessment strategies include indirect assessment methods, direct observation, and functional analysis.

Functionally Equivalent: An intervention approach meant to replace problem behavior with a socially desirable alternative that results in the same reinforcing outcome and is equal in terms of the physical effort as the problem behavior.

Generalization: The use of a new skill in a setting that is different than the setting in which the skill was initially learned.

Immediacy of the Reinforcer: The amount of time that transpires between a student's behavior and the delivery of the desired item or event.

Instructional Content: The information contained within academic activities or lesson plans.

Interspersing: Alternating the presentation of two different types of activities or requests.

Menu: There are menus for each level and lesson in an Academy module. Links to the level menus appear in the center of the menubar. Access any level menu by clicking the level titles in the center of the menubar. Click the up arrow (top right) to access the menu for the current level or to go to the next higher menu level. For example, if you are viewing a page in a lesson the up arrow takes you to the current Lesson menu then to the menu for all Lessons then to the Table of Contents (ToC) for the entire module.

Multi-Component Intervention Plan: A comprehensive behavioral support plan that contains multiple strategies to address problem behaviors in settings where problem behaviors occur.

Navigation: Navigation refers to the technical process of moving from one feature to another in an online module. The navigation system for Academy modules allows students to follow a critical path, but also to exercise flexibility when they wish to vary from the normal path of progressing through a module.

Neutralizing Routine: A setting event intervention that is implemented before an antecedent event associated with problem behavior occurs.

Noncontingent Reinforcement: The same reinforcers that are maintaining problem behavior are delivered to a student on a time-based schedule and are not dependent upon the occurrence of specific behaviors. Extinction procedures are usually implemented in conjunction with noncontingent reinforcement.

Off-Task Behavior: When a student is not engaged in or working on a preselected task or activity.

Physiological Events: A branch of biology that studies the functions and processes of living organisms including the organs, tissues, and chemical phenomena involved. Physiological events may include ear infections, arousal levels, and other physical variables that may impact behavior.

Positive Behavioral Support: A comprehensive set of strategies that are meant to redesign environments in such a way that problem behaviors are prevented or inconsequential, and to teach students new skills, making problem behaviors unnecessary.

Precorrection Intervention: A strategy that involves prompting the student to use a desired behavior prior to the onset of challenging behavior.

Proactive Interventions: Strategies that are implemented before problem behavior has a chance to occur.

Prompts: The physical, verbal, or gestural assistance provided to a student after the presentation of the instructional materials but prior to the response of the student. Prompts are used to communicate or facilitate a desired response.

Punisher: A consequent stimulus that reduces the probability a behavior will occur.

Punishers: Consequent stimuli that reduce the probability a behavior will occur.

Punishment: A consequent stimulus that reduces the probability a behavior will occur.

Quality of Life: A variety of elements in a student's life including predictability, environmental stability, level of social belonging, empowerment and control, well being and satisfaction.

Quality of the Reinforcer: When one reinforcing event is more highly preferred than another event, the preferred event is considered to be of a higher quality.

Rapport Building: Involves building a positive and caring relationship that can form the basis for many positive behavioral support interventions, including teaching communication and self-management skills.

Redirection: Involves guiding the student toward a positive interaction (for example, talking about things that are interesting to the student, providing additional assistance or asking the student a series of questions that you know they will answer). The purpose of redirection is to create opportunities to give the student positive feedback for appropriate behavior.

Reinforcement: The state of receiving or presenting a reinforcer. A stimulus that when presented immediately following a response increases the probability that the response will occur again. Can be the presentation of a reward or removal of something unpleasant.

Reinforcer: A consequent stimulus that increases the probability a behavior will occur, or maintains the future rate of that behavior.

Response Class: Groups of behaviors that may look different but share a common relation with the antecedent and consequence events occurring within an environment.

Response Efficiency: When teaching a student an alternative behavior that is meant to replace problem behavior, the efficiency of the alternative behavior is considered. Response efficiency refers to the a) physical effort required to perform the new alternative behavior, b) the schedule of reinforcement, c) the immediacy of the reinforcer that follows the behavior, and d) the quality of the reinforcer.

Schedule of Reinforcement: The timing established for the delivery of a reinforcer.

Self-Evaluation: A self-management strategy that involves teaching a student to compare his performance to a self-selected criterion.

Self-Management: An intervention approach that is considered part of self-determination and involves teaching a student new skills for self-monitoring, self-evaluating, and self-recording behavior.

Self-Monitoring: A self-management strategy that involves defining a target behavior, observing one's own behavior and recording its occurrence while engaging in a task or activity.

Self-Reinforcement: A self-management strategy where a student controls access to and administers reinforcement independently after completing a designated task or activity.

Sensory Stimulation: (Sensory Stimulation Theory) The hypothesis that a behavior occurs in order to experience an internal sensation.

Setting Event: Any occurrence that affects a student's responses to reinforcers and punishers in the environment. Setting events can be due to environmental, social, or physiological factors. Occurrences that affect a behavior at one point in time may change the likelihood of a targeted behavior at a later point.

Setting Event Intervention: Strategies using information regarding social, environmental, and physiological events that may temporarily alter the value of reinforcers and punishers within the student's environment to decrease the probability problem behavior will occur. Setting event interventions may involve minimizing the likelihood of the setting event, changing expectations on days when setting events occur, or neutralizing the setting event.

Social Network: A web of interconnected people who directly or indirectly interact with or influence the student and family. May include but is not limited to teachers and other school staff, family members, friends, neighbors, community contacts, and professional support.

Stimulus Control: When a behavior is more likely to occur in the presence of a discriminative stimulus, but not in its absence, the behavior is described as being under stimulus control.

Table of Contents: Each module includes a general Table of Contents (ToC) covering the entire module. Click "ToC" in the top right of the menubar to access the Table of Contents

Tolerance for Delay: An intervention strategy that involves presenting the student with a verbal or visual cue that signals release from an activity. Initially, the interval between the verbal or visual cue and the release is very short, although, the time is gradually increased over a designated period of time based on the absence of problem behavior.