ABSTRACT
The term 'evidence-based practice', increasingly used in education, means adopting methods based on sound theoretical principles and supported by empirical research. The cognitive-behavioural approaches (CBA), models and methods that follow are housed in empirical evidence drawn from educational, psychological and neuroscientific research about behaviour management and wider aspects of human behaviour. CBA focus on promoting positive feelings through using language to alter cognitive processes which in turn change behaviour. Distorted cognitive processes, such as faulty social information processing, contribute to the maintenance of behavioural problems. Individuals at any age, with limited language skills are more likely to have a limited linguistic and behavioural repertoire, so they resort to physical aggression when under pressure. Executive functioning (EF) plays an important role in the development of behaviour disorders. Teachers should adopt approaches which have the strongest level of empirical evidence to support target pupils. CBA have received solid and consistent support for many decades.
