Supporting Students With Disabilities With Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in the Classroom - Lessons Learned From Research and Practice

Oct 15, 2026

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Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a widely used framework for strengthening the social, emotional, and behavioral development of all students. The article tackles two questions: why universal classroom PBIS practices matter for students with disabilities and how educators can implement PBIS so all students receive appropriate supports. It emphasizes universal tier practices, fidelity, and differentiated supports through evidence-based implementation and intensified instruction where needed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Implementing universal PBIS practices

Evidence for improved student outcomes

Differentiating supports for students with disabilities

Research-to-practice gap and key questions

Why focus on universal classroom PBIS

Supporting Students With Disabilities With Positive Behavioral Interventionsand Supports in the Classroom: Lessons Learned From Research and Practice Beyond Behavior 2021, Vol. 30(3) 169–178 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/10742956211021801](DOI: 10.1177/10742956211021801)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/10742956211021801)[journals.sagepub.com/home/bbx](journals.sagepub.com/home/bbx) Katherine Meyer, PhD, 1, Sandra Sears, MA 1, Robert Putnam, PhD2, Crystal Phelan, DPT3, Alicia Burnett, MEd3, Susannah Warden, BA3, and Brandi Simonsen, PhD 1 Abstract Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a widely adopted framework to support the social, emotional, and behavioral growth of all students. This article addresses two key questions related to supporting students with disabilities through PBIS: (a) Why focus on universal classroom PBIS practices?—without support, students with disabilities experience poor outcomes—and (b) How do you implement PBIS in classrooms that support all students?—differentiate and intensify supports. Keywords disorders/disabilities, positive behavioral supports, school/classroom management, school/classroom environments Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is amultitiered behavioral framework that provides a continuum of research- or evidence-based practices designed to benefit all students. More than 29,000 schools (www.pbis. org) implement PBIS to support more than 15 million students, including more than 2 million students with disabilities. Based on a public health prevention model, PBIS organizes support into three tiers of prevention. Tier 1 provides universal support for all students within a school setting, referred to as universal practices throughout this article. Tier 2 offers targeted support for students who require additional support to be successful. Tier 3 provides intensive support for students who engage in chronic or high-risk behaviors and require individualized support to be successful. Within each tier, school leadership teams use a data-driven process to develop systems that facilitate the implementation of research-or evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for students (Center on PBIS, 2015) . In this article, we focus on the importance of implementing universal practices in classrooms to support all students, including students with disabilities. When educators implement universal PBIS with fidelity, outcomes improve. Specifically, students improve academic performance (Horner et al., 2009; Lee & Gage, 2020), social-emotional competence (Bradshaw et al., 2012), and attendance (Freeman et al., 2015) . Students also engage in less disruptive and aggressive behaviors (Bradshaw et al., 2012), report fewer unhealthy and unsafe behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse (Bastable et al., 2015), and receive less reactive and exclusionary discipline, including office discipline referrals and suspensions (Bradshaw et al., 2010; Lee & Gage, 2020) . In addition, educators perceive PBIS schools as healthier and safer environments, with improved ratings of organizational health and school climate (Bradshaw et al., 2008), school safety (Horner et al., 2009), and teacher efficacy (Ross et al., 2012) . In the context of universal PBIS practices, researchers have found that effective classroom PBIS practices are critical to achieve improved outcomes (Childset al., 2016) and sustain PBIS implementation (Mathewset al., 2014) . Emerging evidence suggests that students with disabilities benefit from universal supports (e.g., Bradshaw et al., 2012; Grasley-Boy et al., 2019) . In schools that implement 1 University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA 2The May Institute, Randolph, MA, USA 3Lynn Public Schools, MA, USA Corresponding Author: Katherine Meyer, University of Connecticut, 249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 306

FAQs

What is PBIS and what does it aim to support in classrooms?

PBIS is an evidence-based framework that supports students’ social, emotional, and behavioral growth. It organizes prevention into a multi-tier continuum to benefit all students, including students with disabilities.

Why should universal classroom PBIS practices receive priority for students with disabilities?

Universal PBIS helps students with disabilities avoid poor outcomes associated with insufficient support. The article links fidelity in universal practices to improved academics, social-emotional competence, attendance, and safer classroom behavior.

How do educators implement PBIS so it works for all students?

Educators implement PBIS with fidelity and use data-driven processes to develop systems for evidence-based practices. The article also stresses differentiating and intensifying supports, especially for students who need targeted or intensive intervention.

Oct 15, 2026

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