Legal and Ethical Considerations for Providing Behavior Interventions in Schools

Abstract

Practitioners supporting the implementation of behavior interventions must be aware of the relevant legal and ethical considerations pertinent to these services. The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with a review of the ethical and legal issues that must be considered regarding the implementation of school-based behavior interventions. First, the chapter reviews relevant laws governing the use of school-based behavior interventions. Second, it reviews the ethical codes of three professional organizations to highlight considerations for providing behavior interventions. Third, it identifies broad ethical and legal issues that are relevant across several aspects of service delivery. Fourth, it provides a more comprehensive review of the ethical and legal considerations for four issues that may be the most pertinent for practitioners. Fifth, the chapter discusses ethical decision-making and reviews a systematic problem-solving model. Finally, it reviews ethical challenges reported by practitioners in previous empirical work that are related to behavior interventions.