What causes the student’s problem behavior?
Even though the source of a student’s problem behavior may be related to the identified or underlying “disorder,” attempts to validate this assumption may be of limited educational relevance. If rigorous assessment procedures resulted in the identification of a disorder that “explains” the student’s behavior, the next step would be to remediate the behavior. Research has shown that the most effective way to remediate academic and prosocial deficits is through direct instruction of the target skill. The effective approach to remediation of behavioral problems is to pinpoint the area of concern, generate an operational definition, and conduct the evaluation procedures detailed here. Students with behavioral disorders exhibit behavior that is different from that of our standard, or the curriculum. The behavior problem may or may not be caused by an internal deficit disorder. Addressing and remediating the problem ultimately involves efforts to identify it, teach the necessary sub skills o
