Children's Medical Services (CMS) Program
The Children's Medical Services Program is a joint federal/state/local program which assists families in planning and obtaining specialty medical and rehabilitative care for children who have chronic illnesses or disabling conditions which interfere with normal growth and development. The program has both medical and financial eligibility requirements.

The Family Tree Services
The mission of The Family Tree is to build stronger, healthier families and prevent maltreatment of children. Services include: Family Education and Support, Family Stress Line 1-800-243-7337, Home Visitation, School-based services, Family Focused After School Programs, Family Focused Programs for Youth and Young Adults and Parent Anonymous Groups. Offers services in 40 communities throughout Maryland.

Friends of the Family, Inc./Family Support Centers
Located in 30 Maryland neighborhoods, Family Support Centers provide free services to parents with young children birth through age three to help them raise healthy children and build productive families. Core services, offered both in-home and center-based include: parent education; self-sufficiency programming (adult education, family literacy and job readiness); health, education, and referral services; quality developmental child care while the parents are on-site, developmental infant/toddler assessment and referral, and more.

Kennedy Krieger Institute Behavioral Psychology Department
KKI offers a variety of inpatient and outpatient clinics that help children attain and sustain adaptive, healthy, positive behaviors using the principles of applied behavior analysis (interventions are not based solely on the principles of positive approaches). They provide assessment and treatment on an outpatient basis at their facilities, at schools, in-home, as well as consultation services to hospitals and other community based programs.

Maryland Waiver Programs
The Medicaid Program is responsible for the implementation and ongoing administration of home and community-based services waivers and targeted case management programs for special population groups.

Maryland Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports System
MSDE and The Sheppard Pratt Health System sponsor this project. You will find links to other sites and a list of local school system contacts.

National Resources

Association for Positive Behavior Support (APBS)
The Association for Positive Behavior Support is an international organization dedicated to the advancement of positive behavior support. APBS strives to expand application of this approach with children, adolescents, and adults with problem behavior.

Bridges4kids
This website includes a wealth of information on Positive Behavioral Support on a variety of topics. Fact Sheets and Research

Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior
There is a growing database on the effectiveness of PBS for young children. A synthesis of the research has been conducted by the Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior. In addition, we have provided several case studies to share the specific details of the success of PBS with young children and their families.

Council for Children with Behavior Disorders
This site offers numerous publications and advocacy information

Early, Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT)
The Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) is the child health component of Medicaid.

Positive Approaches to Challenging Behavior for Young Children with Disabilities
Positive Approaches to Challenging Behavior is designed to be used by and to assist parents, regular and special education classrooms, Head Start programs, childcare centers, and other community-based programs. The website blends technology with technical assistance to help educators and families.

OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
The OSEP-funded National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports was established to address the behavioral and discipline systems needed for successful learning and social development of students. The Center provides capacity-building information and technical support about behavioral systems to assist states and districts in the design of effective schools.

UCSB Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Positive Behavioral Support
A Journal that deals exclusively with principles of positive behavior support in school, home, and community settings for people with challenges in behavioral adaptation.

Publications

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, ERIC/OSEP Digest #E580, Author: Cynthia Warger - September 1999 Fighting, biting, hitting, scratching, kicking, screaming-as well as extreme withdrawal-are behaviors that challenge even the best educators and families. For years, researchers and practitioners alike have asked the question: Why does a particular child act that way?

SOS Help for Parents, A Practical Guide For Handling Common Everyday Behavior Problems, by Lynn Clark, Ph.D.