Choosing Effective Behavioral Supports

1

• Choosing Effective Behavioral Supports
• for Students with Disabilities
• Darren Woodruff, Stephanie Jackson, Muna Shami

2
EMSTAC has 64 Local District Partners across 28
States
3
Our Goal Positive Outcomes For All Children

• Identify and Team with Local Advocates
• Maintain Effective Communication Networks
• Promote Research-based Practices

Outcomes for Students with disabilities
4
EMSTAC Operating Principles

• Form Complementary Partnerships
• Promote Research-Based Practices in Schools
• Focus on Helping and Learning
• Develop School District Capacity
• Use Research-Based TA Methods

5
EMSTAC ModelInsider Outsider Approach
Linking Agent inside the district
TA Liaison outside the district
TA Support
School District
6
EMSTACs Conceptual Model
Extend
Try
Renew
Acquire
Care
Relate
Examine
Cycle of Change
7
EMSTAC Provides Training to Local School Staff

• Ten Training Modules
• Online Discussion Boards
• Resource Product Library
• Access to Support from EMSTAC TA Liaisons

8
EMSTAC Supports Schools Across Multiple Topics

• Academic Instructional Topics
• Student Behavior, Discipline Social Skills
• Minority Student Disproportionality
• Inclusion in the General Curriculum
• Low Incidence Disabilities

9
Common School Problems in Addressing Behavior

• Lack of Classroom Consistency
• No Teacher and Administrative Support
• Reactionary Policies

• No Support for Positive Student Behavior
• Lack of Parent/Family Involvement
• No School-Wide Strategy

10
Implementing Positive Behavioral Supports
11
Elements of Effective Programs

• Every child in the school is the responsibility
  of every adult in the school
• Assumes that many children need to be taught
  appropriate behaviors for success in school
• Provides building staff with strategic plan for
  meeting academic and behavioral needs of all
  students
• Reinforcement consistently provided for positive
  behavior
• Grade level and building committees formed to
  decide on specific behaviors to be taught and
  reinforced

12
Elements of Effective Programs

• Teachers and other staff provide direct
  instruction, modeling, and reinforcement to
  students
• Implementation across classrooms and throughout
  building leads to consistency in student
  behaviors
• The school discipline process should be linked to
  parent training and involvement groups
• Data should be collected to continually monitor
  effectiveness
• Popular skills for Instruction Listening, Asking
  for help, Following Instructions, Ignoring
  Distractions, Responding to
  Teasing

13
Factors to ConsiderAgreement on the Problem

• Needs identified by central administration are
  not always the same as those identified by
  principals, teachers, and families
• Hot topics are often identified locally and
  confirmed nationally

14
Factors to ConsiderAgreement on the Solution

• Choosing an Intervention
• Solutions identified by central administration
  should be agreed upon by all other stakeholders.
• All stakeholders should be able to effectively
  represent and advocate for the chosen solution,
  strategy, or intervention.

15
Factors to ConsiderStrong Leadership Needed

• Effective Collaborations Need
• Dept. Level Leadership
• Central Office Leadership
• Building Level Leadership
• Consistency in Leadership
• Flexibility and Creativity

16
Factors to Consider Attitudes and Beliefs

• Special and general education staff should accept
  shared responsibility for the learning outcomes
  of children and adolescents with disabilities.
• School staff, family members and students should
  be prepared to receive assistance from outside
  sources.
• Parents should be fully informed of all program
  goals and activities.

17
Factors to Consider School Support

• The principal (and other leaders) understands the
  needs of students with disabilities.
• Adequate numbers of personnel, including aides
  and support staff, are available.
• Appropriate procedures for monitoring individual
  student progress, including grading and testing,
  are in place.

18
Factors to ConsiderCollaboration

• General education teachers, special education
  teachers, and other specialists should
  collaborate (e.g. co-teaching, team teaching,
  teacher assistance teams). These teaming
  approaches should be used for problem-solving and
  program implementation.

19
Effective Behavioral SupportsCharacter
Education

• Character education encompasses various aspects
  of moral education, civic education, and
  character development. Character education seeks
  to foster in students a commitment to living and
  acting in accordance with core ethical values
  such as caring, honesty, fairness,
  responsibility, and respect.
• Implementation of character education programs
  encourages positive student interactions,
  increased academic success, reduced incidents of
  violence, and improved teacher communications.
• Contact Information
• The Character Education Partnership
• 1-800- 988-8081 www.character.org
• National Character Education Center
• www.ethicsusa.com

20
Effective Behavioral SupportsPBIS

• Schoolwide approach to addressing student
  behavior challenges and to increasing the
  development and display of pro-social behaviors.
• All school personnel must be aware of schools
  behavioral expectations.
• All students need to know behavioral
  expectations.
• Contact Information
• Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support
  (PBIS) Technical Assistance Center
• www.pbis.org/english/index.html
• [phone]

21
Effective Behavioral SupportsThe Good Behavior
Game

• The goal of this game is to reduce general
  classroom disruptions and student aggression. It
  has also been used to reduce shyness in socially
  withdrawn children.
• Game utilizes team format whereby team members
  are dependent on one another to earn privileges.
• Contact Information
• www.bpp.jhu.edu/publish/Manuals/gbg.pdf
• Dr. Sheppard Kellam, American Institutes for
  Research [phone]

22
Effective Behavioral SupportsPeer Tutoring

• Peer tutoring is an organizing learning
  experience in which one student serves as the
  teacher or tutor, and the other student is the
  learner or tutee.
• Peer tutoring is most effective with drill and
  practice activities rather than with the
  introduction of new information.
• Tutors must be trained in Positive verbal
  feedback, corrective feedback, modeling by
  teachers, role-playing between teacher and
  tutors, and role-playing between students.

23
Effective Behavioral SupportsProject ACHIEVE

• Project ACHIEVE focuses on academically and
  socially at-risk underachieving students.
• Model emphasizes prevention, intervention, and
  crisis response.
• Some important components of the program include
  school-wide social skills training,
  individualized behavior intervention and support
  strategies, referral question consultation
  (problem-solving) process.
• Contact Information
• Dr. Howard M. Knoff, Co-Director, Department of
  Psychological Foundations
• www.coedu.usf.edu/projectachieve
• [phone]

24
Effective Behavioral SupportsProject PATHE

• Comprehensive program to improve the school
  environment and thereby enhance students
  experiences and attitudes about school.
• Project PATHE attempts to increase student
  bonding to the school, enhance students
  self-concepts, and improve educational and
  occupational attainment.
• Contact Information
• Dr. Denise Gottfredson, University of Maryland
• www.gottfredson.com/pathe

25
Effective Behavioral SupportsSecond Step

• School-wide violence prevention program aimed at
  decreasing problematic behavior and increasing
  both neutral and positive behaviors.
• Three major skills areas are Empathy, Impulse
  Control, and Anger Management.
• Contact Information
• www.cfchildren.org/resrefs.html
• Committee for Children
• www.cfchildren.org 1-800-643-4449

26
Effective Behavioral SupportsAnger Coping
Program

• School-based intervention that focuses on
  developing anger management skills through group
  intervention.
• Aims to equip students with the social
  processing and behavioral skills needed to reduce
  impulsive and aggressive responses to anger.
• Contact Information
• John Lochman, Ph.D., University of Alabama
• 205-348-5083 jlockman_at_gp.as.va.edu

27
Effective Behavioral SupportsFirst Step to
Success

• Early intervention program designed to address
  the needs of kindergarten students identified as
  having anti-social and/or aggressive behaviors.
• Three components
• Screening process to identify children at risk
• CLASS Classroom-based skills training
• Homebase home-school intervention
• Contact Information
• www.sopriswest.com 1-800-547-6747

28
Effective Behavioral SupportsPACT

• Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT) aims
  to reduce the risk of students exhibiting violent
  behavior or becoming victims of violence by
  teaching adolescents social and anger management
  skills to use in conflict situations (Hammond et
  al, 1990).
• Provides framework for conducting violence
  prevention groups that is specifically designed
  for African-American youth.
• Formal evaluation of PACT found significant
  reduction in the physical aggression displayed at
  schools by students participating intensive
  curriculum (Dwyer and Osher, 2000).
• Contact Information
• Ellis Human Development Institute, Wright State
  University Rodney Hammond and Betty Yung (937)
  775-4300
• www.researchpress.com

29
Effective Behavioral SupportsSchool-Based
Mentoring

• Mentor organization partners with a school to
  pair students with mentors from the community.
• Goals of school-based mentoring
• Increase number of children who have access to
  mentors and supportive adult relationships.
• Forming a safety net for the child with
  collaboration between the mentor and school
  professionals.
• Fostering community-school partnerships by
  bringing mentors into the schools (Jacovy, 2000).
• Contact Information
• Contact local chapter of Big Brother Big Sisters
  National Organization 215-567-7000

30
Effective Behavioral SupportsSchool-BasedMenta
l Health Services

• Goals of school-based mental health programs
  vary, but may include
• Prevention Development of prosocial and
  academic competencies
• Early intervention Addressing risk factors
  through screening procedures and targeted group
  or individualized services
• Tertiary intervention Ongoing management of
  student difficulties and crisis intervention

31
Effective Behavioral SupportsFunctional
Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

• Purpose of a FBA is to (1) determine an
  association between environmental events that
  either precede or follow a students troublesome
  behavior and the troublesome behavior itself, and
  (2) to identify the function that the behavior is
  serving for the child.
• Steps to conducting a FBA
• Define behavior of concern
• Gather initial data
• Develop and test hypotheses
• Generate behavioral support plan
• Implement and monitor outcomes
• Contact Information
• www.pbis.org
• www.air.org/cecp/fba/problembehavior/main.htm