Final paper
FCS 3180
Positive Behavior Support (PBS)
To address the unusually high rates of violence in US schools, the federal government has recently funded an external, national assistance center whose job it is to help schools implement the Positive Behavior Support (PBS) system. This “Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
PBS is a theory-based approach to practical, in-school intervention. In this article you will be introduced to how to use positive behavior support at each of the three levels of intervention: 1) primary, 2) secondary and 3) tertiary.
Why is it so important to focus on teaching positive social behaviors?
In the past, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Research has shown that the implementation of punishment, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective. Introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm.
What is School-wide PBS?
1. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What is Primary Prevention?
Primary Prevention involves system-wide efforts to prevent new cases of a condition or disorder. For example, giving children vaccinations against common diseases such as measles and chicken pox is done to prevent initial occurrences of these diseases. As a system-wide Primary Prevention effort in schools, positive behavior support consists of rules, routines, and physical arrangements that are developed and taught by school staff to prevent initial occurrences of problem behavior. For example, to prevent injuries to students caused by running in hallways, schools may develop Primary Preventions by 1) establishing and teaching the rule, “walk in the hallways;” 2) creating a routine in which staff station themselves in the hallways during transition times to supervise the movement of pupils; or 3) altering the physical arrangement, such as making sure that an adult is with any group of students when they are in the hallways.
A. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What are we trying to prevent?
It goes without saying that we want to prevent the major “behavioral earthquakes” that we hear about in the news: violent acts against teachers or other students, theft, bullying behavior, drug use, and the like. However, research has taught us that efforts to prevent these serious problems are more successful if the “host environment”—the school as a whole—supports the adoption and use of evidence-based practices. Practices that meet these criteria include teaching and rewarding students for complying with a small set of basic rules for conduct, such as “be safe,” be responsible,” and “be respectful.” These rules translate into sets of expectations that differ according to various settings in the school. Thus, on the playground “be safe” means stay within boundaries and follow the rules of the game. In hallways and on stairs, it means to keep your hands and feet to yourself and to walk on the right side. Some parents and educators believe that students come to school knowing these rules of conduct, and that those who don’t follow them simply should be punished. However, research and experience has taught us that systematically teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. It also establishes a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm. Finally, the use of Primary Prevention strategies has been shown to result in dramatic reductions in the number of students being sent to the office for discipline in elementary and middle schools across the United States and Canada. In effect, by teaching and encouraging positive student behavior (i.e., positive behavior support), we reduce the “white noise” of common but constant student disruption that distracts us from focusing intervention expertise on the more serious problems mentioned above.
B. PRIMARY PREVENTION - How is Primary Prevention implemented in schools?
As with any effort to create change in an organization, the first step is to gain consensus on several issues:
1) Is there a problem that we need and want to address? 2) What is the nature of this problem? 3) What are we going to do about it?
The most efficient way to establish consensus is to arrange a meeting of the entire school staff (teachers and aides, administrators, office and cafeteria workers, custodians, counselors, etc.) to discuss these questions. If the majority of staff respond proactively to these questions (e.g., “Yes, student behavior is a problem and we want to do something about it;” “The rates of office disciplinary referrals from classrooms and the cafeteria have increased 50% since the last quarter;” “We will implement a school-wide disciplinary plan based on positive behavior support”), the next step is to conduct further assessments, as necessary, and then to agree on a set of strategies to address the problem(s). Typically, all of this can be accomplished in a facilitated one-day meeting of the entire school staff. An important rule for establishing consensus is that at least 80% of all staff must agree on the problems and the strategies to address them, and make a commitment to implement the strategies as planned. Obviously, some Primary Prevention strategies will be easier to implement than others. This is why it is important for all staff in the school to have input and to agree on which strategies will be implemented and commit to use these.
C. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What if Primary Prevention doesn’t work?
Primary Prevention, through positive behavior support, does work for over 80% of all students in a given school (based on a criterion of the number of students who have one or fewer office discipline referrals per month). But obviously, it will not work for everyone. For a variety of reasons, some students do not respond to the kinds of efforts that make up Primary Prevention, just as some children are not completely protected by vaccinations. Putting into place systematic Primary Prevention strategies offers two advantages: First,it reduces the “white noise” caused by large numbers of office discipline referrals for minor problems. As we suggested earlier, this volume of referrals obscures and distracts our attention from more serious problems. Second, having a system for documenting the occurrence of problem behaviors (e.g., office discipline referrals) provides a way to determine which students need more intensive intervention. For example, the criterion for considering the need for moving into secondary prevention for a student or group of students might be 4 or more office discipline referrals in a month. Without Primary Prevention, of course, the number of students meeting this criteria and needing additional help will be much larger.
2. SECONDARY PREVENTION - What is Secondary Prevention?
Secondary Prevention is designed to provide intensive or targeted interventions to support students who are not responding to Primary Prevention efforts. Interventions within Secondary Prevention are more intensive since a smaller number of students within the yellow part of the triangle are at risk for engaging in more serious problem behavior and need a little more support. Common Secondary Prevention practices involve small groups of students or simple individualized intervention strategies. Secondary Prevention is designed for use in schools where there are more students needing behavior support than can be supported via intensive and individual tertiary support, and for students who are at risk of chronic problem behavior, but for whom high intensity interventions are not essential. Secondary prevention often involves targeted group interventions with ten or more students participating. Targeted interventions are an important part of the continuum of behavior support needed in schools, and there is a growing literature documenting that targeted interventions can be implemented by typical school personnel, with positive effects on up to 67% of referred students. Targeted interventions also are recommended as an approach for identifying students in need of more intensive, individualized interventions. Specific Secondary Prevention interventions include practices such as “social skills club,” “check in/check out” and the Behavior Education Plan.
Individual PBS plans at the Secondary Prevention level involve a simple assessment to identify the function a problem behavior serves (Functional Behavioral Assessment or FBA) and a support plan comprised of individualized, assessment-based intervention strategies that include a range of options such as: (1) teaching the student to use new skills as a replacement for problem behaviors, (2) rearranging the environment so that problems can be prevented and desirable behaviors can be encouraged, and (3) monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing this simple plan over time.
A. SECONDARY PREVENTION - What differentiates Secondary Prevention from other systems of positive behavior support?
The main difference between secondary and other levels of positive behavior support is the focus on supporting students at risk for more serious problem behavior. Secondary Prevention addresses the needs of students who require more support than is available for all students (i.e., Primary Prevention) and less support than is available for individual students who need flexible, focused, personalized interventions (tertiary prevention). This means that Secondary Prevention allows teams to select features of the process (e.g., types of programs or interventions, data collection tools used, information gathered, and degree of monitoring) to provide more focused behavior support to students with behavior needs that do not require intensive, individualized plans.
B. SECONDARY PREVENTION - When should a program of Secondary Prevention be implemented and who should be involved?
Decisions to implement Secondary Prevention interventions are usually grounded in records of student behavior compiled by classroom teachers or other professionals. In some schools, students with two or more office referrals are considered eligible for secondary, targeted behavior support. The decision to use Secondary Prevention is typically made by the school’s planning team and behavior support team. Secondary Prevention is most effective when approached as a collaborative (rather than expert-driven) process. With individual plans, support teams including the student’s family, educators, and/or other direct service providers should be involved in assessment and intervention. It is also helpful to include people who have specific expertise in intervention programs being considered. In general, support teams should include people who know the student best, have a vested interest in positive outcomes, represent the range of environments in which the student participates, and have access to resources needed for support.
C. SECONDARY PREVENTION - How can we effectively address the needs of individuals within group environments?
Individual systems and other levels of positive behavior support are complementary in that well-structured group applications (e.g., classroom management systems) provide a foundation for effective individualized support. Often, the need for individual systems is minimized by these broader systems; however, some students require a greater degree of individualization and support. It may be necessary to adapt features of group applications (e.g., physical arrangement, routines, types of rewards) to meet the needs of individual students within certain settings.
D. SECONDARY PREVENTION - How are targeted group interventions implemented?
Targeted group interventions are implemented through a flexible, but systematic, process. Key features of Secondary Prevention interventions include:
1. Continuous availability.
2. Rapid access (72 hr).
3. Very low effort by teachers.
4. Consistent with school-wide expectations.
5. Implemented by all staff/faculty in a school.
6. Flexible intervention based on assessment.
7. Functional assessment.
8. Adequate resources (admin, team), weekly meeting, plus 10 hours a week.
9. Student chooses to participate.
10. Continuous monitoring of student behavior for decision-making.
E. SECONDARY PREVENTION - How do we know when a secondary intervention plan is effective?
Effective secondary interventions produce measurable changes in behavior and improvements in a student’s quality of life (e.g., participation in integrated activities, improved social relationships, independence and self-sufficiency). Direct observations and frequent monitoring of progress are widely-used methods for evaluating these outcomes, and determining adjustments that might be warranted when progress does not occur within a reasonable time frame
3. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What is Tertiary Prevention?
Tertiary Prevention was originally designed to focus on the needs of individuals who exhibited patterns of problem behavior. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of PBS in addressing the challenges of behaviors that are dangerous, highly disruptive, and/or impede learning and result in social or educational exclusion. PBS has been used to support the behavioral adaptation of students (and other individuals) with a wide range of characteristics, including developmental disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, and even students with no diagnostic label.
Tertiary Prevention is most effective when there are positive primary (school-wide) and secondary (classroom) systems in place. In addition, the design and implementation of individualized supports are best executed when they are conducted in a comprehensive and collaborative manner. The process should include the individual with behavioral challenges and people who know him/her best all working together to promote positive change all working as a behavioral support team (BST). Support should be tailored to people's specific needs and circumstances. It should involve a comprehensive approach to understanding and intervening with the behavior, and should use multi-element interventions. The goal of Tertiary Prevention is to diminish problem behavior and, also, to increase the student's adaptive skills and opportunities for an enhanced quality of life.
Tertiary Prevention involves a process of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and a support plan comprised of individualized, assessment-based intervention strategies, including a wide range of options such as: (1) guidance or instruction for the student to use new skills as a replacement for problem behaviors, (2) some rearrangement of the antecedent environment so that problems can be prevented and desirable behaviors can be encouraged, and (3) procedures for monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing of the plan as necessary. In some cases, the plan may also include emergency procedures to ensure safety and rapid de-escalation of severe episodes (this is required when the target behavior is dangerous to the student or others), or major ecological changes, such as changes in school placements, in cases where more substantive environmental changes are needed.
A. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What differentiates tertiary (individual) intervention from other systems of positive behavior support?
The main difference between tertiary and other levels of positive behavior support is the focus of the interventions. The defining features of Tertiary Prevention (i.e., identification of goals, data collection and analysis, summary statements, multi-element plans, and a monitoring system) address the needs of individual children. It is support that is focused on meeting individual needs; and the characteristics of individual students and specific circumstances related to them (e.g., differences in the severity of behavior, complexity of environment) dictate a flexible, focused, personalized approach. This means that Tertiary Prevention allows teams to vary features of the process (e.g., data collection tools used, breadth of information gathered, specificity and number of hypotheses generated, extent of the behavioral support plan, and degree of monitoring) to provide the most individualized behavior support possible.
B. TERTIARY PREVENTION - When should a program of Tertiary Prevention be implemented and who should be involved?
Mandates provided by educational and human services agencies define conditions in which individual systems should be used to address concerns related to behavior. For example, IDEA requires that a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) be completed and a behavioral intervention plan (BIP) be implemented when disciplinary sanctions result in extended periods (i.e., the first removal beyond 10 cumulative days and every change in placement) in which a student is removed from an environment or suspended (34 C.F.R. 300.520 (b) (c)). Individual systems of support are warranted in other circumstances as well (e.g., when problem behavior is interfering with educational progress).
C. TERTIARY PREVENTION - Who should be involved in functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention planning?
Tertiary Prevention is most effective when approached as a collaborative (rather than expert-driven) process. Support teams including the student’s family, educators, and/or other direct service providers should be involved in assessment and intervention. It is also helpful to include people who have specific expertise in applied behavior analysis and intervention design. In general, support teams should include people who know the student best, have a vested interest in positive outcomes, represent the range of environments in which the student participates, and have access to resources needed for support.
D. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How can we address the needs of individuals within group environments?
Individual systems and other levels of positive behavior support are complementary in that well-structured group applications (e.g., classroom management systems) provide a foundation for effective individualized support. Often, the need for individual systems is minimized by these broader systems; however, some people require a greater degree of individualization and support. It may be necessary to adapt features of group applications (e.g., physical arrangement, routines, types of rewards) to meet the needs of individuals within certain settings
E. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How is Tertiary Prevention implemented?
Tertiary Prevention interventions are implemented through a flexible, but systematic, process of functional behavioral assessment and behavioral intervention planning. The following outline illustrates the general steps of the process. I. Identify goals of intervention. Based on the available information, the team identifies the specific concerns and goals:
a. what the student is doing that is problematic (observable behaviors).
b. to what extent (e.g., frequency) these behaviors are occurring.
c. what broad goals the team hopes to achieve through intervention.
II. Gather relevant information. Members of the behavioral support team gather information through a variety of sources:
a. review of existing records.
b. interviews of support providers.
c. direct observation of patterns, antecedents, contexts, and consequences.
III. Develop summary statements. The team uses the information to create statements that describe relationships between the student's behaviors of concern and aspects of the environments. These statements include:
a. when, where, and with whom the behavior is most/least likely to occur.
b. what happens following the behavior (what they get or avoid).
c. other variables that appear to be affecting the person's behavior.
IV. Generate behavioral support plan. A plan is developed, based on the summary statements, to address the behavioral concerns and fit within the environments in which it will be used. The behavioral support plan (for students who have IEPs this may also serve as the Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) includes:
a. adjustments to the environment that reduce the likelihood of problem.
b. teaching replacement skills and building general competencies.
c. consequences to promote positive behaviors and deter problems.
d. a crisis management plan (if needed).
V. Implement and monitor outcomes. The team works together to ensure that the plan is implemented with consistency and is effective in achieving the identified goals. The team identifies the training and resources needed, determines who is responsible for monitoring implementation, evaluates outcomes (via continued data collection), and communicates periodically, making adjustments in the plan, as needed.
F. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How should goals for Tertiary Prevention be determined?
Individualized positive behavior support focuses not only on decreasing specific behaviors of concern, but also building adaptive (and replacement) skills, and improving the individual’s overall quality of life. Goals should be based on a positive, long-term vision for the student developed with input from the student, the student’s family, and the support team. An excellent mechanism for determining broad goals for behavioral intervention is person-centered planning. Person-centered planning (PCP) is a process for learning about an student’s preferred lifestyle. It involves creating goals that will assist students in achieving their preferred lifestyle within a collaborative team context. Most PCP plans are created with the goal of:
· increasing participation and presence in the school and community;
· gaining and maintaining significant relationships;
· expressing and making choices;
· experiencing respect and living a dignified life; and
· developing personal skills and areas of expertise.
G. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How do we know when an individual plan is effective?
Effective tertiary interventions produce measurable changes in behavior and improvements in a student’s quality of life (e.g., participation in integrated activities, improved social relationships, independence and self-sufficiency). Individual BIPs include objective methods for evaluating these outcomes, and determining adjustments that might be warranted when progress does not occur within a reasonable time frame.
H. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What should be done when there is a crisis situation?
Tertiary Prevention is a process that takes time to be effective. When severe episodes of problem behavior occur, it is important to provide a rapid response to ensure the safety of all involved and produce a rapid de-escalation of the behavior. To support Tertiary Prevention, therefore, safe crisis management procedures are needed and should be planned thoroughly in advance. It is important to remember that the goals of crisis management procedures are to ensure the safety of the student and all others, and to de-escalate the problem as rapidly as possible.
SOURCE: www.pbis.org