How to Develop Behaviour Support Plans

Our Goals Create plans that will work  Plans with high technical adequacy  Plans with high contextual fit Acceptable Doable Ensure plans are implemented

Fidelity of Implementation The extent to which the intervention/plan is implemented as designed/intended (Elliott et al., 2002; Gresham, 1991) Katherine Wickstrom et al. (1996) Masters-level students provided behavioural consultation to 29 elementary general education teachers

Fidelity of Implementation (Wickstrom et al., 1996) Each teacher referred a student with behaviour difficulties Interviews to determine behaviour Simple interventions recommended:  Punch-out card, conduct countdown, smiley face chart, response cost lottery, daily behaviour chart Teacher self-report sheet Direct observations

Fidelity of Implementation (cont.) RESULTS IN PERCENTAGES: Intervention materials present Teacher report of fidelity Direct observation results 62% 54% 4%

What is the timeline in improving fidelity of implementation? Before selection  During the support plan design process  Address contextual fit After selection  During the implementation process  Address treatment integrity

Contextual Fit The extent to which the intervention plan (or components) is consistent with the:  Values  Goals  Environment  Skills  Resources …of the implementers and stakeholders.

Contextual Fit Two parts:  Acceptability Values Goals  Feasibility Teacher/implementer skills Resources available Environmental variables

Contextual Fit Activity For the following strategies:  Rate on a scale of 1 to 5: 1. How acceptable you feel it is 2. How feasible you feel it is

Strategies 1. Allowing a student to take a break from difficult academic work 2. Withholding recess 3. Using an individual point system to earn small tangible rewards (stickers, supplies) 4. Using an individual point system to earn small tangible rewards (candy) 5. Physically escorting a student to a timeout room 6. Providing lunch with you (as an incentive)

Strategies 7. Public apology

Activity Share your answers with your table and discuss similarities and differences in answers What were some points of learning?

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) Teams and behaviour specialists were provided FBA summaries and were asked to design BSPs Three methods of creating plans:  Behaviour specialist only  School behaviour team only  Behaviour specialist leading school teams

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) Three ratings of plans:  Technical adequacy by school team  Technical adequacy by experts in the field  Contextual fit by school team

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) Behaviour specialist only  Technical adequacy: High  Contextual fit: Low School team only  Technical adequacy: Low  Contextual fit: High Specialist facilitating school team  Technical adequacy: Moderate to High  Contextual fit: Moderate to High

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) Behaviour specialist only  Technical adequacy (school team) High  Technical adequacy (expert) High  Contextual fit (school team) Low

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) School team only  Technical adequacy (school team) High  Technical adequacy (expert) Low  Contextual fit (school) High

How to design acceptable plans (Benazzi et al., 2006) Behaviour specialist leading school team  Technical adequacy (school team) Moderate to High  Technical adequacy (expert) Moderate to High  Contextual fit (school) Moderate to High

So who do you need on a behaviour support team? Someone with:  Knowledge about the student  Knowledge about the context  Knowledge about behaviour theory

Albin, Lucyshyn, Horner, & Flannery (1996, p. 85) “If a plan is not technically sound, the concept of good contextual fit becomes meaningless.”

A Process for Developing Effective, Acceptable BSPs 1. Design a preliminary plan (“rough draft”) with multiple options for strategies 2. Gather a team that includes at least one person:  Knowledgeable about FBA-BSP  Knowledgeable about the student  Knowledgeable about the context and resources 3. Draw in the Competing Pathways 4. Brainstorm BSP strategies for the four columns 5. Select strategies based on technical adequacy and contextual fit 6. Assess and provide necessary training/support 7. Make a plan for evaluation and followup

What motivates people to implement plans?

Functional Behaviour Assessment of Adults – what motivates us? Improved student performance? Chocolate? Specialist help? Escape from uncomfortable situations?  Disrespect, aberrant behaviour  Inattention  Student academic failure  The stress of too much work!

Providing Negative Reinforcement Psycho-Educational Assessment  Label  Pullout instruction  Responsibility to another Removal of student or… Improved student performance Providing effective skills Asking them to do more?

Suggested FBA adult interventions Attention  Reduce attention for complaints  Meetings over data  Performance feedback Escape  Provide some immediate help  Focus on efficient support  Emphasize payoff: reduced work

The Typical Progression of Consultation – “Consult and Hope” 1. Teacher refers student with problem (academic or behaviour) 2. Consultant performs assessment 3. Consultant recommends intervention (or a choice of interventions) 4. Consultant crosses fingers and moves on

Alternatives to the “Consult and Hope” Strategy 1. DIRECT CONSULTATION (Noell et al., 2002, 2005; Watson & Robinson, 1997) You (the consultant):  Model, lead, test  Set up the systems  Start it off  Hand it off  Coach

Alternatives to the “Consult and Hope” Strategy 2. DETAILED PROCEDURES and scripts for implementation Simply telling people what to do is not sufficient If procedural components are not applied fully and correctly, student outcomes may be compromised

Alternatives to the “Consult and Hope” Strategy 3. PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK (Martin, 2001; Millen, 2004; Reinke, 2005; Their, 2003) Periodically review the plan  Review prompts the treatment agent to implement with greater integrity  Review serves to correct implementation of treatment plan

Using data to guide decision making

Using CICO data for decision making A D C B Decisions to make: 1.Is the student experiencing more success? 2. CONTINUE – REVISE – FADE ?

Creating IEP Goals and Objectives using Daily Point Cards Collect present level of performance by rating student without training student to use card Set initial objective as 10% of points above baseline Revise based on data

Tracking Sheet Used as a quick monitoring tool at monthly/biweekly individual student support meetings Sample in Appendix

Troubleshooting Behaviour Support

Problem: “The BSP didn’t work!” A Solution: Abandon! Abandon! Abandon! A Better Solution: Assess the situation and adjust the plan

Four possible reasons why the BSP isn’t currently working… 1. Fidelity of implementation We didn’t implement the plan as we said we would IMPLEMENT AND SEE CHECK CONTEXTUAL FIT DO WE HAVE THE SKILLS?

Four possible reasons why the BSP isn’t currently working… 2. The alternative behaviour doesn’t work Too hard to do in real contexts It doesn’t get the student the maintaining consequence PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE IS IT SOCIALLY APPROPRIATE? ENSURE IT GETS THE CONSEQUENCE EVERY TIME ADD OR UP THE REWARD (value or frequency)

Four possible reasons why the BSP isn’t currently working… 3. The problem behaviour is still being rewarded Are we inadvertently reinforcing problem behaviour (attention, escape)? DON’T DO IT!!! CONSIDER ADDING A PUNISHMENT COMPONENT (only if all other parts are in place)

Four possible reasons why the BSP isn’t currently working… 4. BSP is based on the wrong summary statement We got it wrong The statement changed REASSESS AND CHANGE THE PLAN

Team Meeting Time

Choose a focus student and develop a behaviour support plan  Complete the competing pathways analysis  Brainstorm strategies to address behaviour  Choose the final elements  Evaluate and revise the plan using the Critical Features Checklist Create an action plan to implement and collect data