“Teaching is more than instruction of academics,” says Dr. Melissa Stormont, an associate professor in the college’s Department of Special Education. She believes at an early age that social behaviors need to be taught just like academic behaviors to help students succeed.

Stormont’s primary areas of interest include young children who are at risk for developing serious behavior problems and children with ADHD. This year Stormont will publish Fostering Resilience in Young Children at Risk for Failure: Strategies for Grades K-3, which aims to support teachers in the field. In her research, Stormont has found “hyperactivity and aggression combined in preschoolers are a predictor of future problems in elementary grades.”

“Starting in preschool, teachers should be able to identify which children may be headed towards trouble,” Stormont says. “This informal assessment will figure out who needs extra positive attention and support. To enable teachers to understand risk characteristics and support needs of young children, teachers need education.” A recent study by Stormont found some preschool teachers did not have quality education about ADHD and their most common knowledge was read in a magazine. “Teachers can help students at risk, or they can further contribute to their risk by not understanding their role as a teacher and that all children have unique characteristics,” Stormont says.

To support student success, certain school districts have already implemented systems of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Support (SW-PBS), a system Stormont believes to be effective. The public schools in Columbia, Mo., among others, have begun using SW-PBS, which offers a completely different way to support appropriate behavior.

In a representative research project, Stormont found positive change occurred after SW-PBS was implemented with 13 teachers in Missouri’s Head Start Association, which serves income-eligible children from birth to age 5. By sharing expectations with students up front and praising positive student behavior, teachers caused a dramatic shift towards improved, appropriate behavior.

“Behavioral patterns are typically stable for children by 3rd grade,” Stormont says, “and the years prior to that are critical for helping children develop appropriate behavioral responses.” Stormont is motivated by the authentic, real-life examples of the SW-PBS’s success. The most rewarding part of this research for Stormont is that through her role in higher education, she is able to provide a richer context for developing teachers to understand and then apply research-based practices in the field.