What do the best plans contain?
When developing a BIP it is important to....
- Creative positive behavioral support intervention (Behavior, 2014).
- Focus on the student's strengths (Behavior, 2014).
- Look at the whole child and take all strengths, weaknesses, and interests into account (Behavior, 2014).
- Teach the child coping strategies, desired behaviors, and self management skills (Behavior, 2014).
- Collect data from student's records, interviews with parents, observations of student in multiple environments, data from general education teachers,and completing relevant checklists/behavior-rating scales (Buck et. al, 2000) (Behavior, 2014).
- The data collected based off of teacher observations, should be based off of frequency of occurrence. This way it will be easy to tell if the "behavior is serious enough to warrant an intervention." (Savage, 1999, p. 202).
Data Collection Examples:
(Riffel, 2007)
Behavior Intervention Plans must be:
- Proactive
-Allow for the child to be independent and successful
-Create a supportive environment that reduces the child's behavior
*Examples: Clarifying rules and expectations, visual charts, modifications/accommodations to the curriculum - Educative
-Teach coping strategies and replacement skills
-Build student's independence level - Effective
-Implement consequences and reinforcers for desired behavior
(Riffel, 2007)
IEP Team members are ready to create a Behavior Plan... Now what?
- Brainstorm potential interventions
- Discuss how practical it would be to implement the interventions (both classroom and schoolwide)
- Discuss supports required for interventions
- Determine how and when BIP will be measured, documented, and evaluated
(Behavior, 2014)
Behavior Intervention Plan Example:
6 Step Behavior Intervention Plan Approach
(Mayer & Bouck)
1) Understand the function of the behavior (conducted through a Functional Behavior Assessment) (Mayer & Bouck)
"Guiding questions to ask when determining the function:
2) Determine the student's replacement behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
3) Determine a plan to teach the student the newly desired behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
4) Alter the student's environment (Mayer & Bouck)
"Guiding questions to ask when determining environment:
5) Consequences and reinforcers for behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
"Guiding questions to ask when determining consequences:
6) Write behavioral objectives (Mayer & Bouck)
- Functional Behavior Assessments help IEP Team Members determine the function and cause student's problem behavior . Click here for an additional detailed explanation of how to carry out Functional Behavior Assessments (Mayer & Bouck).
- Describe the student's behaviors in depth. The behaviors should be measurable and observable. For example, if the student demonstrates off task behaviors be SPECIFIC in the exact behaviors the student displays (plays with materials, talks to peers, plays with objects in desk, kicks feet against the desk, etc.). (Mayer & Bouck). The information from a FBA "enables teachers and others to identify specific changes in the classroom that will influence patterns of behavior" (Larrivee, 1999, p. 213). It is important to be specific because the interpretation of behaviors could vary from educator to educator. For example, if a child is "aggressive," specify what specific behaviors he demonstrates which displays "aggressive" behaviors (Killu, 2008, p.143).
- It should also touch on "difficult situations" where problematic behaviors might be escalated due to minimal structure and supervision (Maag, Katsiyannis, 2006, p. 352).
"Guiding questions to ask when determining the function:
- What does the student get by behaving this way?
- What might the student be avoiding or getting out of?
- Does the behavior help the student reduce frustration experienced with the task at hand?
- What is so important for the student that he or she risks that he or she risks the consequences of the challenging behavior?" (Larrivee, 1999, p. 212).
2) Determine the student's replacement behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
- Identify the replacement behavior(s), describe how they will be taught and develop an intervention to reinforce students when they perform them" (Larrivee, 1999, p.213).
- Must have both "social and functional validity. In order to have social validity the behavior must meet the expectation of others, including parents, teachers, and peers. The behavior has functional validity if it results in the same outcome as the target behavior" (Etscheidt & Clopton, 2008, p.374).
3) Determine a plan to teach the student the newly desired behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
- It is important these interventions are clearly outlined within the BIP. A BIP "must indicate the necessary resources and support along with the expectations of carrying out the outlined procedures" (Killu, 2008, p. 143). In addition, it is also important to teach students self-management and social skills during this stage (Larrivee, 1999, p.215).
- "Without a clear definition of the BIPs focus, it is very likely that the plan will be inconsistently implemented thereby minimizing its overall effectiveness and relevance" (Killu, 2008, p.143).
4) Alter the student's environment (Mayer & Bouck)
- Reflect on the student's behavior and determine what materials are missing from the current classroom environment or what needs to be removed. For example, a student may demonstrate off task behaviors (talking to their peers) and requires a seat change. Or if a student is placed by the door and easily distracted by environmental stimuli, they might require preferential seating facing the board or close to the teacher (Mayer & Bouck).
"Guiding questions to ask when determining environment:
- What effect does the student's specific disability have?
- Does the student have an effective communication system?
- Have there been significant changes in the family system?
- Are there any health-related issues that increase the likelihood of the challenging behavior?" (Larrivee, 1999, p.212).
5) Consequences and reinforcers for behavior (Mayer & Bouck)
- It is important for the student to want the reinforcer. If the behavior plan is going to incorporate rewards, teachers can either create a list of rewards for the student to pick from, or they can have the student list their top desirable rewards. (Mayer & Bouck).
- Reinforcer examples: positive verbal praise, activities (specific amount of time on the computer, "free time", free homework pass) (Mayer & Bouck).
- Determine frequency: Specify how often the child has to display the replacement behavior (2x/week, every 30 minutes, etc.) (Mayer & Bouck).
"Guiding questions to ask when determining consequences:
- How does the teacher (or aide) respond to the challenging behavior?
- How do peers respond to the behavior?
- What happens to the task or activity at hand?
- What happens immediately after the challenging behavior?" (Larrivee, 1999, p.212).
6) Write behavioral objectives (Mayer & Bouck)
- When creating goals, they must be monitored on a routine basis to ensure effectiveness (Etscheidt & Clopton, 2008).
- Click here for behavior goal and objective examples.
Watch the video below from Autism Live to gain additional information about Behavior Intervention Plans: