Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

Lindsay Fallon

Second Advisor

Mel Collier-Meek

Third Advisor

Ann Marie Mumm

Abstract

Decades of empirical research has demonstrated that exclusionary discipline is a racialized mechanism through which schools systematically remove Black and brown children from the learning environment. Although development of Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and linked behavior support plans has been identified as a solution to exclusionary practices, school psychologists do not ask questions about the cultural and contextual factors that may influence student’s behavior during FBA interviews with caregivers. As a result, FBAs conducted in schools privilege the perspective and voices of (often White) school staff, while dismissing the perspectives of (often Black or brown) students and families. FBA procedures must be altered to disrupt the influence of bias and structural racism on the way “problem behaviors” are identified and addressed in schools. One way to engage in this work is to train school psychologists to explicitly ask questions related to culture and context during FBA interviews with caregivers. Unfortunately, practicing v school psychologists often have limited time and resources to devote to professional development; therefore, it is critical to ensure that training procedures that require higher investment of time, staff, and effort produce significant positive effects on professional practice, over those that require fewer resources. The current study compared the effectiveness of a low vs. high intensity training procedure on school psychologists’ ability to facilitate FBA interviews grounded in cultural humility with caregivers. Participating school psychologists were asked to conduct simulated interviews before and after exposure to one of two training conditions: self-training (low intensity) or Behavioral Skills Training (high intensity). Regression analyses were conducted to describe the relationships between type of training and school psychologists’ interviewing skills. Results indicated that (1) prior to training, school psychologists did not ask questions about culture and context during interviews and (2) school psychologists are able to train themselves to deliver an interview protocol, but participation in BST improved the clinical quality of their delivery. Implications for future research and training are discussed.

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