An analysis and reduction of disruptive behavior on school buses

A University-Based Social Services Parent-Training Model: A Telehealth Adaptation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in social-distancing recommendations, many service providers find themselves altering the way they must provide medically necessary therapy. Even with the advent of more advanced telehealth technologies, the implementation of behavioral programming falls mainly on the caregivers of the clients that are served. This crisis brings to light ethical dilemmas and upends the current ways many programs may have been implemented across the world. As a result, a reevaluation of how these services are delivered is in order. This article reviews how a university-based, state-funded service delivery program (USSDP) provided essential and necessary services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the purpose of this article is to describe how the USSDP quickly adopted a telehealth care model in a program that previously had not delivered services in this modality. Ethical, contextual, and competency-based factors are reviewed in the context of this organization, followed by a dialogue on broader generalization suggestions utilizing an active support model of care within telehealth restrictions.

Reduction of classroom noise levels using group contingencies

The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based abstinence reinforcement intervention for unemployed drug users where trainees receive on-the-job employment skills training in a classroom setting. The study is an extension of prior therapeutic workplace research, which suggested that trainees frequently violated noise standards. Participants received real-time graphed feedback of noise levels and had the opportunity to earn monetary group reinforcement for maintaining a low number of noise violations. Results suggested that feedback and monetary reinforcement reduced the number of noise violations.

School bus crash rates on routine and nonroutine routes

BACKGROUND

Although prior research has established that school buses are a safe form of transportation, crashes can produce catastrophic consequences. School buses have 2 types of routes: predictable, routine routes that take children to and from school and less predictable, nonroutine routes for school events. No studies have examined school bus crash incidence and characteristics by these route types.

METHODS

School bus crashes were identified from the Iowa Department of Transportation Crash Database from mid-2005 through mid-2010. Crash reports did not identify whether the bus was on a routine or nonroutine route, so a protocol to assign these based on day and time was developed. Bus mileage was provided by the Iowa Department of Education.

RESULTS

The school bus crash rate was 2.1 times higher on nonroutine routes than on routine routes (95% CI = 1.8-2.3). Most crashes involved an improper action by the driver of another vehicle. In crashes attributed to improper actions of school buses, failure to yield the right-of-way and disregarding traffic signs were more common on routine routes, while losing control, speeding, reckless, or aggressive driving were more common on nonroutine routes.

CONCLUSIONS

School bus crashes are more likely to occur on nonroutine routes.

Pupil behaviour on school buses and potential risk factors for injury: an observational study

OBJECTIVE

To observe pupil behaviour on school buses in Israel and identify hazards as a basis for improving school bus safety.

METHODS

Data on student, bus driver and chaperone behaviours and on hazards associated with school buses, bus loading zones and bus stops were collected during an observational study conducted on school buses in rural communities in Israel. This report focuses on observations of student behaviour during school bus rides. Future reports will discuss the other findings. Student behaviours were assessed by means of chi(2) tests and logistic regression models.

FINDINGS

Observations were made on 362 rides on 125 buses on which 11 000 pupils travelled to and from school. Seatbelt use among the pupils was limited: on 23% of the rides all pupils fastened seatbelts, while on 42% none did. Seatbelt use was more frequent among primary school pupils than among older pupils. Pupil behaviours, such as rowdiness, noisiness, conflicts between pupils and not remaining seated were observed. These and other unsafe behaviours were more frequent on afternoon bus rides (odds ratio, OR: 3.2, 95% confidence interval, CI: 2.1-5.3), on routes with 5+ bus stops (OR: 4.1; 95% CI: 2.5-6.5) and on rides with primary school pupils (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.2-2.9).

CONCLUSION

Without enforcement, government regulations and seatbelt availability on school buses are not enough to ensure seatbelt usage among pupils. Bus drivers cannot be expected to enforce seatbelt use and deal with pupil misconduct while also driving safely. Innovative strategies for improving pupil behaviour on school buses are needed to increase pupil safety.

Improving student bus-riding behavior through a whole-school intervention

We describe a multicomponent intervention to improve bus-riding behavior of students attending an urban public school. The intervention was developed with technical assistance consultation that emphasized collaboration among students, school personnel, and bus drivers. The primary intervention procedures were identifying appropriate behaviors during transportation ("bus rules"), training bus drivers to deliver positive reinforcement, and rewarding student performance through a weekly school-based lottery. Disruptive bus behaviors, as measured by discipline referrals and suspensions, decreased with intervention relative to baseline phases in an ABAB reversal design. These positive results were maintained over the long term, with school personnel assuming responsibility for intervention in the absence of ongoing consultation.

The acceptable risk of driving after myocardial infarction: are bus drivers a special case?

BACKGROUND

Bus drivers frequently encounter difficulty in returning to their former employment after recovery from myocardial infarction. The risk that a recurrence of myocardial infarction may cause a personal-injury accident is analyzed.

METHODS

The Cumulative Medical Index and Current Contents was searched systematically from 1980 to date, accepting papers irrespective of language. Relevant earlier material was drawn from the author's published reviews on bus driving and myocardial infarction and vehicle accidents. One hundred twenty-three articles were included in the database, of which 110 were used in the review.

RESULTS

The risk of a personal injury accident or fatality from a sudden cardiovascular incident is calculated as the product of typical driving time per day (Td = 0.167), vehicle characteristics (V) (a low factor of 0.167 for an urban bus because of slow speed and use of reserved curb lanes), the risk of recurrence of a sudden cardiovascular incident (SCI) (.015, somewhat greater in bus drivers than in the general population), and the risk that such an incident will cause a personal-injury accident (Ac) (at 0.005, probably lower than in the general population because of low vehicle speeds and the bus driver's experience in defensive driving).

CONCLUSIONS

The overall risk is 0.00002, 1 in 50,000 driver-years, is lower than accepted for passenger-car operators, and only slightly greater than for the older symptom-free adult. Bus drivers who meet the current standards of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society should be encouraged to return to their former employment.

Reducing disruptive behaviors of elementary physical education students with sit and watch

This study reduced the disruptive behaviors of students in two elementary physical education classes: a regular fourth-grade class comprised of 30 students and an alternative education class containing 14 fourth- and fifth-grade boys with severe behavior problems. Using a multiple baseline design, we introduced a modified time-out procedure called "Sit and Watch." The procedure reduced the frequency of disruptive behaviors by 95%. Sit and Watch proved to be socially acceptable to parents, school personnel, and the physical education teacher.

Behavioral school psychology goes outdoors: the effect of organized games on playground aggression

This research focuses on the inappropriate, largely aggressive, behaviors of 344 K-2 children assigned to a playground prior to the beginning of the school day. Initially, a system for observing large numbers of children freely roaming over a large, open area was developed. This observational method was then used to determine the effectiveness of providing organized games for reducing potentially dangerous playground behaviors. Using a reversal (ABAB) design, it was found that the games, rope jumping, and foot racing, along with an infrequently used time-out procedure, significantly reduced the frequency of inappropriate incidents. It is suggested that when dealing with large groups, antecedent environmental manipulations may be more practical than providing consequences for the behaviors exhibited by identified individuals.

Behavior analysis in consumer affairs: encouraging dental professionals to provide consumers with shielding from unnecessary X-ray exposure

An unobtrusive observation system was developed to determine the extent to which dental professionals in two communities provided lead shielding to patients during X-ray exams. A lengthy baseline revealed low and irregular provision of shielding among half of these professionals. Subsequently, a program was undertaken by a consumer's group in which these professionals were requested to provide shielding and were given confidential feedback regarding its use during the baseline period. The provision of shielding dramatically increased at all offices and was maintained throughout a follow-up period extending to more than 9 months after the program's implementation. Little or no generalized effect was observed in the occurrence of three collateral behaviors that were also assessed throughout the study.