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Behavior Intervention: Definition, Strategies, and Resources

Date
December 6, 2024
Image
A therapist watches as a child draws pictures.

When faced with difficult situations, children may occasionally lose their temper or experience emotional outbursts. Behavior issues, such as uncontrolled tantrums, aggressive physical behavior, and repetitive emotional outbursts, may interfere with children’s ability to function in school and may cause turmoil at home.

Targeted behavior interventions tailored to meet each child’s needs can prevent these challenging behaviors and teach children to use communication through positive behaviors in response to challenges. Effective behavior intervention plans can effectively minimize negative behaviors and ensure a healthy educational environment that optimizes learning and can improve family interactions.

This article presents examples of positive behavior intervention plans and strategies. It describes applied behavior analytic assessment and intervention, including the ABC model of behavior assessment. It also outlines the benefits of earning a masters in Behavior Analysis online to prepare for a career in applied behavior analysis.

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What Is a Behavior Intervention Plan?

A child who struggles in school may require an individualized education program (IEP) that describes the goals that a team of educators have established for the child during a school year. Key to the IEP’s success is identifying any special support required to reach specific goals. The plan’s special support needs often include a behavior intervention plan that is designed to teach and reinforce positive behaviors.

What is a behavior intervention plan? BIPs, which are also called positive intervention plans, are customized to the needs, abilities, and skills of the child:

The BIP has many distinct components:

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Types of Behaviors the Intervention Plan Aims to Minimize

Teachers understand the importance of setting classroom rules and expectations. The rules and expectations must be clearly communicated to students and enforced when necessary. The intervention plan is intended to guarantee that all children benefit from a safe, nurturing learning environment. The behaviors that an intervention plan addresses may include some of the following:

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Preventive Strategies: Encouraging Positive Behaviors

To manage their classrooms, many teachers tend to focus on problem behaviors. Another way to prevent and reduce challenging behaviors is by acknowledging correct behaviors and praising small successes.

Vermont-NEA (The Union of Vermont Educators) describes strategies for effective behavior management in educational settings:

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The Personalized Nature of Behavior Intervention Plans

The success of a BIP depends on the participation of the students in crafting plans that address their unique situation, character, and personality. Encouraging the student to participate in planning may help build rapport and motivate the student to agree to pursue the plan’s goals. The right plan will be something the student looks forward to rather than something seen as a chore or an embarrassment.

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How Applied Behavior Analysts Collaborate to Devise Individualized Strategies

In a paper published in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice, researchers Collin Shepley and Jennifer Grisham-Brown identify gaps between research and practice in the application of behavioral analysis in schools. The researchers point out that more than 25% of applied behavior analysts work in schools, which is the second-largest employment sector for applied behavior analysts after health care.

However, the emphasis on blended practices that individualize education for all students requires the participation of many different parties, including educators, behavior analysts, and parents. A curriculum framework that supports blended practices combines data-driven decision making; professional development; and a leadership plan involving teachers, children, and families.

The role of behavior analysts in such team settings entails several activities:

The researchers emphasize the importance of collaborative working relationships to the long-term success of positive behavioral interventions. Elements of success include agreeing on roles and responsibilities, understanding the goals of the interventions, and establishing criteria for terminating or reevaluating the relationship.

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Applying Strategies at Home in Extraordinary Circumstances

A key to the success of positive behavior interventions is consistency. Disruptions in students’ routines, such as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, make it even more difficult to implement and maintain intervention plans. In addition to requiring drastic changes in children’s daily routines, the pandemic creates anxiety and uncertainty that can discourage positive behaviors.

The Texas Education Agency provides a checklist that parents and educators can use to support challenging behaviors at home:

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What Is a Positive Behavior Intervention System?

A positive behavior intervention system integrates data, support systems, and intervention practices with the goal of improving social and academic outcomes for individuals with behavior issues. This proactive, systematic framework drives the success of the intervention.

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Integrating Data, Support Systems, and Intervention Practices

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) describes the three-tiered evidence-based framework designed to ensure the social and academic success of all students:

All three tiers combine three components to achieve their desired outcomes:

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Improving Social and Academic Outcomes

Just as IEPs are geared to individual students, the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) involves the entire school community in improving behavioral and academic outcomes. The goal of the MTSS process is to provide every student with early access to individualized academic and behavior interventions based on the student’s specific needs.

Ensuring effective social and emotional functioning requires positive behavioral supports to increase academic engagement, minimize problem behaviors, and improve academic outcomes. Achieving this goal requires strong leadership and collaboration among educators and behavior interventionists as part of teams that include principals, classroom teachers, school psychologists, social workers, and guidance counselors.

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Examples of Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies

Positive behavior intervention strategies include designing routines, implementing silent signals, assigning tasks, and setting expectations. These strategies help encourage positive behaviors from individuals while simultaneously suppressing negative behaviors.

The goal of intervention strategies is to understand that the problem behaviors are a means of communicating and to respond with compassion. This establishes a trusting relationship between students, families, teachers, and behavior analysts that shifts from fixing students to understanding them.

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Designing Routines

Routines are a component of every successful classroom, but they’re also effective in addressing inappropriate behaviors in home settings. Routines provide students with more time to spend on learning by reducing the time required to transition from one task or activity to another.

Classroom routines describe the procedures for many common activities:

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Using Silent Signals

The use of silent signals to discourage problem behaviors in the classroom provides many benefits:

Examples of silent signals include returning the student’s attention to the current activity or assignment, redirecting misbehavior, helping students who struggle to talk in front of the class, encouraging reluctant students to participate, and praising students when they behave well or succeed at a task.

To use silent signals, teachers should meet with the student individually to explain their tacit communication methods, allow the student to decide the methods whenever possible, set a cue for the student to use when wanting to participate, and use as many positive and encouraging signals as negative ones.

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Applying Task Assignments

The curricula and assignments can be modified in many ways to promote positive behaviors in students:

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Setting Expectations

Before teachers can set expectations for students, they must have a plan for operating the classroom. They must understand the characteristics of their students, and they must know what the school expects students to achieve. The expectations communicate to students how they’re required to act toward other students and school staff. They also let students know the standards they’re expected to live up to and the structure in which their education will be provided.

The expectations should be developed with input from students to increase their sense of ownership and make it more likely they’ll behave as the guidelines describe. The expectations must be appropriate to the grade level and abilities of students. They must be posted prominently and communicated clearly and regularly to students. The consequences for failing to meet the expectations must also be clear to students.

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Resources for Creating a Positive Behavior Intervention System

Here are some resources for developing and implementing PBIS strategies:

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The Three Tiers of Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies

The tiered nature of positive behavior intervention and support strategies is designed to accommodate the education and social needs of all students in school and at home. Particular systems and practices correspond to how the three tiers meet the needs of students in general, students who exhibit skills deficits, and students who need IEPs:

Applied behavior analysts work with educators and parents to implement each of the three support strategies in classroom and home settings as part of comprehensive positive behavior intervention plans.

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Strategies and Goals Between the Three Tiers

Tier 1 serves as the foundation for Tier 2 and Tier 3 by creating a school-wide program that identifies students who need additional support.

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How Applied Behavior Analysts Implement Each Support Strategy in a Classroom

Applied behavior analysis studies the environmental events that are critical to understanding and changing children’s behaviors in the classroom and in the home. It examines behaviors based on the relationship between antecedents and consequences:

For Tier 1 and Tier 2 students, the support strategy can be integrated with standard instruction and may require occasional instruction in small group settings. Tier 3 students in particular are likely to require supplementary aids and services in education settings. The services must be effective in reaching the student’s education and behavior goals without stigmatizing the student.

The skills taught to Tier 3 students focus on adjusting to classroom learning:

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How Applied Behavior Analysts Implement Each Support Strategy in Homes

Applied behavior analytics has proven effective in teaching skills that are useful in the home and community. Instruction may take place one-to-one or in groups using techniques like positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behaviors in various settings.

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What Is a Positive Behavior Intervention System?

Applied behavior analytic intervention strategies are used to treat challenging behaviors that may be displayed by individuals on the autism spectrum. Behavior analysts typically start by assessing these challenging behaviors. The information collected during an Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) assessment is integrated in applied behavior analytic intervention strategies. Once an intervention protocol is designed, targeted and consistent treatment can be implemented. Early intervention is key to successfully reducing such behavior problems.

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Applied Behavior Analytic Intervention to Treat Individuals with Autism

The primary concern of behavior intervention strategies for students on the autism spectrum is to individualize the program to the education and behavior goals of the student. The process begins with a detailed assessment of the student’s abilities, interests, preferences, and family situation. Goals are based on the student’s age and level of ability.

Each skill is reduced to small, specific steps that the analyst teaches one at a time using various techniques. The analyst tracks the student’s progress and communicates with the family and other program team members.

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The Importance of Early Intervention to Address Disruptive Behaviors

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the importance of early intervention to address disruptive behaviors in all children, including neurotypical children and children with ASD. The agency cites studies that link disruptive behavior disorders present in all children to a higher risk of such long-term problems as mental disorders, violence, and delinquency.

The most effective treatment approaches are group parent behavior therapy and individual parent behavior therapy with the child’s participation.

Certain situations increase the likelihood of a child exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Applied behavior analysts, teachers, and parents can prevent and minimize such behaviors by anticipating the times, occasions, and activities that are most likely to precede disruptive behaviors. Similarly, by identifying children who are most likely to have small or occasional behavior problems become more serious, intervention teams can steer the children away from negative behaviors and toward positive alternatives.

Educators and analysts can help parents spot the signs of behavior problems in their children by encouraging parents to perceive situations from the child’s perspective. This helps parents prepare children for future situations and activities that the children may struggle with.

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Integrating the ABC Assessment Tool in Applied Behavior Analytic Intervention

An ABC assessment is used to help intervention teams understand why certain behaviors occur and which consequences are likely to affect whether the behaviors will be repeated.

Children have abundant opportunities throughout the day to learn and practice skills that promote positive behaviors. Parents, family members, and caregivers are trained to support learning and skills practice whenever the opportunity arises. The intervention plan emphasizes positive social interactions and enjoyable learning.

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Striving Toward Positive Behavior

The work of applied behavior analysts helps educators, families, and communities ensure that all children receive the assistance they need to achieve their academic and social goals. Programs such as Regis College’s online Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis prepare applied behavior analysts for careers helping children, families, and educators gain maximum benefit from the educational opportunities that are available to them.

Learn more about how the Regis College online Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis program helps students pursue their professional goals.

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Sources

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