carol quirk: positive behavior supports

Positive Behavior Supports

School-WideClass-Wide

Individual Student

Professional Development in Autism CenterMaryland Coalition for Inclusive

Education

Behavior = Communication

and is influenced by:Unmet emotional needs (basic/long term)

Biological issues (e.g., depression, anxiety)

Unmet needs or desires (immediate)

Difficult demands/challenges

Fears


Education

Behavior is Communication

A person may have a need for:Attention

Avoidance/escape

All behavior is about:Power and control

Jamie Burke, StudentSyracuse, NY

“Bad behavior, my friends,

is just violent speech”


Education

What is problem behavior?

• Results in exclusion– Classes– Social groups– Community settings

• Impedes social relationships• Results in reduced quality of life (person/family)

• Requires a plan to resolve!

When behavior interferes with personal relationships and endangers inclusion:

We need to figure out: • WHY the person uses the behavior,

• WHAT they get out of it, and

• How they can communicate the same thing in an acceptable way

Functions of Behavior

Get/Obtain(I want)

Escape/Avoid

(I don’t want)

Object/ActivitySocial/Attention

Sensory

Setting Events Triggers Behavior Consequence

Behavior Sequence


Education

When behavior interferes with personal relationships and endangers inclusion:

We need to analyze the function of and influences on the behavior to:

• design support strategies to prevent the behavior,

• develop an response plan for when the behavior does occur, and

• teach the student “replacement” behavior or alternative behavior to use in the same situation

Functional Behavior Assessment

A team processFor gathering informationTo design a behavior plan


• Who is this Student

• Define the Behavior of Concern

• Gather Information About the Behavior of Concern

• Identify the Setting Events and the Triggers

• Develop a Hypothesis

• Make a Plan

• Use the Plan

• Reconsider the PlanTHE TEAM


It enables us to understand

• why the person uses the behavior,

• what influences the need to use the behavior,

• how to decrease this need and

• how to increase the person’s use of alternatives when the need does occur.


Education

Start with the Student

• What is valued in the Student’s life• What about the student is valued by others?• Clarify the behavior:

– Individual behaviors– Behavior sequences– Response classes

Antecedent events

Stimuli that precede & “trigger” or occasion behavioral events

Occurs before response & signals or occasions response

• When told to be quiet, Talia yells• When a peer teases the way she walks, Nadia is

may throw her books• When sitting next to Malia, Alexander hits her

Setting Events

Unique situations that make problem behavior more intense or more likely to occur (e.g., illness, fatigue, hunger, social conflict).

– Work completion is less important to Anton after he has had an argument with her friend before class, or

– Raisa yells when she hasn’t had enough sleep night before, or

– Peer attention and talking is distracting when Yulia isn’t feeling well

Triggers

• Setting events may be considered “slow” triggers – things that are going on in the background of the person’s life.– Environmental (light, noise, heat, proximity)

– Physical (tiredness, medication, illness)

– Instructional (task difficulty, content, materials)

– Interpersonal (type of interaction from others)

– Control (extent of choices and predictability of routine)

• Fast triggers are those things that seem to cause the behavior to happen NOW.

Peer provocation

Triggers

Triggers

Being yelled at by adults

Triggers

Work that is too difficult

Consequence events

Stimuli that follow & maintain or increase likelihood of a behavioral event.

Presented contingent upon performance of a response– Whenever Yolanda raises her hand & smiles, her

teachers call on her.– When Irinia uses refuses to do her work, her teacher

gives her more attention.– When Alek destroys his homework, his mother asks

the teacher to help him the next day.

COLLECT DATA!

• When the behavior is likely to occur

• When the behavior is NOT likely to occur

• Continue looking at setting events and triggers as part of the assessment

Good FBA Questions

• When is the behavior likely to occur?

• What specific events or factors seem to contribute to the student’s behavior?

• What function(s) does the behavior serve for the student?

• What might the student be communicating with the behavior?

• When is the student most successful, and therefore less likely to engage in the behavior?

• What other factors might be contributing to the student’s behavior?

Behavior Analysis

• A-B-C data (anecdotal charting about what happens each time the behavior occur)

• Frequency counts (counting each time the behavior occurs during a specific period)

• Duration (how long does the behavior go on when it does occur)

• Level of independence (how many & what kind of cues does the person need before they display the behavior)


Education

Sample chartSetting:

When, where, who, what activity?

What happened before the behavior?

What exactly did the student

do and say

What did staff, students do;

what changed?

Event SamplingFrequency or duration of behavior is recorded during a specific period of time. The specific interval could be a classroom period or a specific time of day. It is appropriate for measuring behaviors that are discreet; that is, they begin and end in a clearly observable way. The events could be tabulated by marking the frequency during the targeted time or a yes/no occurrence during the targeted time.

Mark each time behavior occurs in class

Date: Date: Date:

Math

Science

Time Sampling

For frequent/multiple behaviors. For example, if a student made disruptive noises with his/her voice and hands during classes, a particular time period could be divided into short intervals (10 or 20 seconds for example). The recorder indicates whether or not the behavior occurred during that time interval at all (yes or no).

Behavior:Yes or NO?

Date: Date: Date:

Math

Recess


Education

Develop a Hypothesis

When (trigger) happens, this student is does (behavior) in order express (function). This is more likely to occur when (setting event)…

… and test it

Setting Events TriggeringAntecedents

MaintainingConsequences

ProblemBehavior

Following events that

maintain behaviors of

concern

Preceding events that trigger or occasion

Set of related

behaviors of concern

Infrequent events that affect value

of maint. conseq.

“Best guess” about behavior & conditions under which it is observed

Directly guides development of BIP

Testable Hypothesis

Setting Events TriggeringAntecedents


ProblemBehavior

Lack of peercontact in 30

minutes.

Do difficultmath

assignment.

Noncompliance,profanity,physical

aggression,

Avoid task,remove from

class.

DesiredAlternative

TypicalConsequence

Points,grades,

questions,more work.

Do workw/o

complaints.

Summary Statement

AcceptableAlternative

Ask forbreak,ask forhelp.

Why is function important?

Because consequences compete!!

Function


Education

Setting Events

Unstructured social time

TriggeringAntecedents

Peers try to engage Billy

in conversations.


AVOID peer

interactions

ProblemBehavior

Turns eyes away, does not respond

verbally, pulls sweater over his head.

DesiredAlternative

AppropriateVerbal response

And waveWalk away

AcceptableAlternative

Walk away

TypicalConsequence

AVOID peer

interactions

Summary Statement

Making a Behavior PlanIt is necessary to develop prevention support strategies to decrease the likelihood that the behavior will occur.

ANDIt is often helpful to teach students alternative ways to express these needs in more typical ways (replacement behaviors).

ANDIf the behavior does occur, you’ll need a response plan to minimize its negative impact on the student and others.

SUPPORTS

Things that will be done to decrease the likelihood of the behavior occurring. Changing the environment to prevent the

behaviors from occurring and reinforcing other ways to communicate the same function.

Rearranging the environment so that the challenging behavior is no longer effective, efficient, or relevant


Education

Planning Supports:

• Changes to the physical environment – e.g., changing lighting, noise levels

• Curriculum modifications to support the student’s learning style – e.g., use of manipulatives, visual materials, written directions

• Accommodations – e.g., AlphaSmart for writing tasks, visual schedules, graphic organizers, repetition of directions, warnings for changes in routine

• Communication supports – e.g., use of augmentative communication, print supports

The supports will be specific to the situation in which the behavior occurs. Strategies used at school will be different from those used at home.


Education

Increase opportunities for choice-making.

• Within tasks/activities/lessons• With materials to be used• With people to work with• With places• When to do work/activity• When student can stop work/activity

RESPONSE PLAN

• This behavior has been a very effective way for the student to communicate his or her needs, or it wouldn’t be used.

• There are times when the student will exhibit the challenging behavior.

• How will staff respond when the behavior does occur? …to minimizes the behavior and redirects the student to the current task at hand.

Parts of the Response Plan:

Who: General educators, special educator, assistant/para educator, cafeteria staff, etc.

Will do what: (Least intrusive first)

Who will help:

And if that doesn’t work… (what do we do next?)

Fundamental Rule

“You should not propose to reduce a problem behavior

without also identifying alternative, desired behaviors

that the person should perform instead of problem behavior”

TEACHING PLAN

• Replacement behaviors should accomplish the same goal for the student, (but in a more conventional and acceptable way.

• The new behavior MUST serve the same FUNCTION!

Guidelines for Teaching Plans: Provide planned opportunities to practice the new behavior

Reinforce the new behavior immediately when it occurs

Use repetition (repeated practice) in functional, realistic situations

Use cues (visual cues, gestural cues, or verbal cues) to prompt the new response as necessary

Be able to be consistently implemented

Be revisited and adjusted, particularly in the first few weeks of implementation

Team Planning = Success

When a team works together, they are more likely to come up with an accurate plan in a quicker time frame!

Behavior Supports

School-Wide and Class-Wide

1Universal Design for Learning

DifferentiatedInstruction

1

Positive

School-

Wide

Behavior

Supports

Tier 2

Tier

2

33

Individually Designed Behavior Interventions

Individually Designed Academic Interventions

Targeted Group Behavior Interventions

Targeted Group Academic Interventions

Regular Curriculum for ALL StudentsRules, Rewards, and

Consequences

for ALL Students

School-Wide Expectations and Rules

Clear & explicit

Reasonable

Positively worded

Few in number

Posted and Visible

Encourage & Reinforce Expected Behaviors

• Use Positive Reinforcement

• Be Specific • Be consistent • 4:1 Positive to Negative

Interactions

Build a Classroom Community

• Explicit conversations• Celebrations • Games• Ask all students to give and get support

To Conclude

• Work from a person-centered, function-based approach

• Focus on adult behavior

• Utilize data to make decisions

• Give priority to academic success

• Teach & acknowledge behavioral expectations