Positive Behavioral Guidance Strategies and Interventions

Dear Colleagues,

Behavioral Sciences is pleased to announce a forthcoming Special Issue dedicated to advancing research, practice, and policy in the context of positive behavioral guidance strategies and interventions that support young children exhibiting challenging behaviors. We invite scholars, practitioners, and researchers from diverse disciplines—including psychology, education, early childhood development, and behavioral science—to contribute original research articles, reviews, case studies, and practice-based insights that deepen our understanding of effective, compassionate approaches to behavioral guidance.

Challenging behaviors in early childhood—such as aggression, noncompliance, and social withdrawal—can have long-lasting impacts on children’s development and classroom dynamics. Therefore, there is a growing need to move beyond punitive or exclusionary disciplinary practices toward strengths-based, culturally responsive strategies that support children’s social–emotional competence and resilience.

This Special Issue will highlight evidence-based frameworks, innovative practices, and policy-relevant insights that promote positive behavioral outcomes through developmentally appropriate guidance.

The main inspiration for this Special Issue comes from the groundbreaking work of Dr. Sascha Longstreth, an Associate Professor at San Diego State University, and Dr. Sarah Garrity, a Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Education. They developed the Teaching and Guidance Policy Essentials Checklist (TAGPEC), a tool used to evaluate the quality of guidance policies in early childhood education settings. It helps administrators and educators assess whether their policies meet best practices for promoting positive behavior, social–emotional development, and academic success in children. This tool has guided early childhood programs in designing and assessing behavioral guidance policies that align with best practices in child development and social–emotional learning. Contributions that examine the implementation, adaptation, or outcomes of TAGPEC-informed practices are especially welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Preventive and strengths-based behavioral guidance strategies in early childhood settings;
• Family-centered and culturally responsive approaches to challenging behavior;
• The role of teacher preparation and professional development in behavioral guidance;
• Classroom environments and routines that promote positive behavior;
• Assessment tools and frameworks, including applications of the TAGPEC;
• Intervention models that integrate behavioral science with equity and inclusion principles;
• Policy analysis related to behavioral guidance in early learning systems.

Dr. Sascha Longstreth
Prof. Dr. Sarah Garrity
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• positive behavioral guidance
• challenging behavior
• early childhood education
• social–emotional development
• behavior intervention