The Good Behavior Game for students with special educational needs in mainstream education settings: A scoping review

Abstract

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classroom management strategy that consistently demonstrates its ability to promote positive behaviors and peer relations among students, with immediate and long-term benefits. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of peer-reviewed research on the GBG specifically focused on students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream education settings. Following a systematic search-and-selection procedure, 30 studies were included, 26 with an experimental design and 4 with a qualitative/mixed-methods design. SEN participants were mainly subgroups of students with baseline assessments of emotional-behavioral difficulties; there was, however, substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity across studies. Integrative findings from quantitative and qualitative studies indicate that the GBG benefits most students with SEN in mainstream settings, while results for students with severe socio-behavioral difficulties are ambiguous. We identified a paucity of research on students with neurodevelopmental diagnoses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder, as well as on the perspectives of students and teachers and challenges associated with the GBG for students with severe difficulties. Schools implementing the GBG should be aware that some students may need individual adaptations to participate in the GBG, and teachers may need support to implement these adaptations.