Strategies for Students with Behavioral Challenges: A Web-Based Resource for School Transportation Personnel

Problem behaviors on the school bus may be difficult for school transportation staff. Certain behaviors from students with characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) can become disruptive and result in a safety concern for students and school transportation staff. As more students with EBD take school-related transportation to and from school, the frequency and severity of difficult behaviors has increased. In addition, many transportation staff have not been specifically trained to support the rising behavioral needs on the bus. Research indicates that there are many strategies that support students with EBD during the school day, which could also be used during the transportation setting, so that overall maladaptive behaviors can be decreased. This project describes a web-based resource which reviews strategies for supporting students with behaviors related to EBD who are on the bus. The methods in this project include an expert review of the usefulness of the resource. Seven expert reviewers gave feedback on the website and field testing was also completed. Thirty-two school staff members were asked to complete an online survey after reviewing the web-based resource. The majority of the responses, by both expert reviewers and field testers, indicated that the website was a useful, helpful tool. In the future, this website could be useful for helping to train new transportation personnel. These strategies, which are easily accessed by staff, could also be extended for use with all children who display behaviors congruent to those with EBD.