Crossing a limen is about making change.  Entering new spaces. Transitioning.  Growing and reaching new levels

Photo by Rowan Freeman on Unsplash

What’s a limen, anyway?

It’s a threshold.  A transition.  A doorway, where we pass from one thing to the next.  A limen can be obvious.  Like passing through a door, or going up a set of stairs.  Or it can be subtle and nearly imperceptible, or even abstract.  Like going from anxious thoughts to a calm state of mind. 

Crossing a limen is about making change.  Entering new spaces. Transitioning.  Growing and reaching new levels.

Limened (lim·en·ed) is a resource for supporting educators to address a range of challenges faced by students every day to cross the threshold from student struggle to student success.  Limened provides guides, resources, and other information for a variety of needs, such as behavior, school safety, social emotional learning, mental wellbeing and trauma-informed schools.

When we’re facing big challenges in schools, we need approaches and practices that work.  We can’t afford to spend our precious time and resources on things that are ineffective, or even harmful.  So Limened prioritizes practices that are more likely to work for us.  Practices with sound evidence behind them.

Evidence-based Practice Guides

Limened practice guides include a simple scale to rate the evidence in support of a practice:

Image of a rotten lemon

SOUR LEMON

Peer-reviewed research shows this practice does not work or has harmful effects

Yellow lemon

LEMON

Peer-reviewed study or studies show positive outcomes, but no systematic review or meta-analysis is available

Lemon being squeezed into empty glass

HINT OF LEMON

A meta-analysis, systematic review, or evidence-based practice review shows the practice is promising

Full glass of lemonade

LEMONADE

An evidence-based practice review that considers the nature of evidence identifies it as an evidence-based practice

Note: the evidence rating is a simplification to give an idea of the evidence available for a practice.  It’s based on my opinion of the current published peer-reviewed research available to me at the time.  For a deeper dive into how to identify evidence-based practices, see the Limened Guide to Evidence-based Practice (pending).

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Dr. Chris Sweigart

Chris A. Sweigart, Ph.D., has an extensive background of work with at-risk youth facing serious challenges from mental health and behavior disorders and academic failure to homelessness and involvement with the criminal justice system. Chris currently trains, coaches, and supports educators across 15 Kentucky school districts to address a range of challenges faced by students.

Chris has served previously as a director of outreach for a community youth center for at-risk youth, program coordinator for a housing and mentoring program for homeless young adults and youth with disabilities, teacher of adolescent students with emotional and behavioral disorders, and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Louisville where he previously received his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction and Special Education.  Chris has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses around special education, behavior intervention, and research for the University of Louisville, University of Kansas, and Asbury University.

SPECIAL ISSUES

Collins, L., Landrum, T.K., & Sweigart, C.A. (Special issue; under review). Gun violence in schools: Common misperceptions, realistic challenges, and practical solutions.  Preventing School Failure.

Sweigart, C.A., & Collins, L. (Guest Eds.). (2017). What do beginning special educators need to know? Tips, tools, and resources. Teaching Exceptional Children, 49, 209-293.

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Collins, L., Landrum, T.K., & Sweigart, C.A. (under review). Getting ahead of school shootings: A call for action, advocacy and research. Preventing School Failure.

Hardy, J.K., McLeod, R.H., Sweigart, C.A., & Landrum, T.J. (accepted). Comparing and contrasting quality frameworks using research on high-probability requests. Manuscript awaiting publication in Infants & Young Children.

Collins, L. W., Landrum, T. J., & Sweigart, C. A. (2020). Extreme school violence and students with emotional and behavioral disorders: (How) do they intersect? Education and Treatment of Children, 43, 313-322.

Landrum, T.J., Sweigart, C.A., & Collins, L.W. (2019). School shootings: What we know, what we can do. Educational Leadership, 77(2), 36-41.

Collins, L.W., Cook, S.C., Sweigart, C.A., & Evanovich, L.E. (2018). Using performance feedback to increase special education teachers’ use of effective practices. Teaching Exceptional Children, 51, 125-133.

Collins, L., Sweigart, C.A., Landrum, T.J., & Cook, B.G. (2017). Navigating common challenges and pitfalls in the first years of special education: Strategies for professional growth and success. Teaching Exceptional Children, 49, 213-222.

Collins, L.W., & Sweigart, C.A. (2017). Supporting the needs of beginning special education teachers and their students. Teaching Exceptional Children, 49, 209-212.

Sweigart, C.A., Collins, L., Evanovich, L.L., & Cook, S.C. (2016). An evaluation of the evidence base for performance feedback to improve teacher praise using CEC’s quality indicators.  Education and Treatment of Children, 39, 419-444.

Sweigart, C.A., Landrum, T.J., & Pennington, R. (2015). The effect of real-time visual performance feedback on teacher feedback: A preliminary investigation.  Education and Treatment of Children, 38, 429-450.

Landrum, T.J., & Sweigart, C.A. (2015). Simple, evidence-based interventions for classic problems of emotional and behavioral disorders. Beyond Behavior, 23(3), 3-9.

Sweigart, C.A., & Landrum, T.J. (2015). The impact of number of adults on instruction: Implications for co-teaching. Preventing School Failure, 59, 22-29.

Harbour, K.E., Evanovich, L.L., Sweigart, C.A., & Hughes, L.E. (2015). A brief review of effective teaching practices that maximize student engagement. Preventing School Failure, 59, 5-13.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Collins, L.W., Landrum, T.J., & Sweigart, C.A. (2020). Direct instruction reading for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. In Boon, Burke, & Bowman-Perrot (Eds.), Literacy Instruction for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Research-Based Interventions for Classroom Practice.

Landrum, T.J., Collins, L.W., & Sweigart, C.A. (2019). Teacher shortages and teacher attrition in special education: Issues and trends. In Bateman, Cline, & Yell (Eds.), Current Trends and Legal Issues in Special Education.

Sweigart, C.A., & Evanovich, L.L. (2015). Transition assessment for students with learning and behavioral disabilities: Best practices and future directions. In B.G. Cook, M. Tankersley, & T.J. Landrum (Eds.), Advances in learning and behavioral disabilities, (Vol. 28). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

OTHER

Sweigart, C.A. (2017). Instructor’s Manual to Accompany: J.M. Kauffman and T.J. Landrum: Characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Sweigart, C.A., & Landrum, T. (2015). Praise and encouragement.  In W. George Scarlett (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Classroom Management.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Landrum, T.J., Sweigart, C.A., & Hughes, L.E. (2015). Disabilities and classroom management.  In W. George Scarlett (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Classroom Management.  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION

Sweigart, C.A. (in preparation). The effect of real-time visual performance feedback on teachers’ positive feedback delivery.