Choosing Effective Behavioral Supports for Students with Disabilities

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 Model:Insider – Outsider Approach Linking Agent inside the district TA Liaison outside the district TA Support School District

6. EMSTAC’s 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. 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 Common School Problems in Addressing Behavior

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 Consider:Agreement 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 Consider:Agreement 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 Consider:Strong 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 Consider:Collaboration • 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 Supports:Character 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 Supports:PBIS • 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 school’s 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 • (540) 346-2505

21. Effective Behavioral Supports:The 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 (202) 944-5418

22. Effective Behavioral Supports:Peer 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 Supports:Project 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 • (813) 974-9498

24. Effective Behavioral Supports:Project 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 Supports:Second 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 Supports:Anger 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@gp.as.va.edu

27. Effective Behavioral Supports:First 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 Supports:PACT • 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 Supports:School-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 Supports:School-BasedMental 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 Supports:Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) • Purpose of a FBA is to (1) determine an association between environmental events that either precede or follow a student’s 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