"Students who receive special education as a result of behavior problems must have individualized education programs that include behavior goals, objectives, and intervention plans. While current laws driving special education do not require specific procedures and plans for these students, it is recommended that their IEPs be based on functional behavioral assessments and include proactive positive behavioral interventions and supports." (pbis.org)
When I heard and read about this after IDEA was passed in 1997, I shouted for joy. Now, that's a very good idea! But, what is it?
I did my master's degree work at Johns Hopkins University graduating in 1978. My training focused on the medical model: assess, diagnose, remediate. The field of learning disabilities was in its infancy. B. F. Skinner's behavior modification was the key to behavior management. I didn't ask why a student was behaving the way he was. I observed, reinforced with M&M's, and punished by withdrawing the reinforcer. I was very good at ignoring attention getting behaviors that did not jeopardize safety or the teaching-learning process in my classroom. That's what I was trained to do. And, it worked, for some.
But the longer I taught, the more I knew that why a student was behaving or misbehaving was important. If I could understand the "why" or the antecedent to the behavior, I could make interventions to prevent the behavior, and I could choose appropriate reinforcers or consequences to affect behavior change. And, it was extremely important to teach the expected positive behaviors. Misbehavior is a teaching opportunity. Some "won't dos" are really "can't dos."
So, I became very interested in this idea. I researched and read and attended conferences.
Historically, PBS grew out of applied behavior analysis, and many of the intervention procedures are derived from this discipline. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) was used to work with people with serious challenging behaviors like hitting, biting, kicking, behaviors harmful to self or others. Many were institutionalized folks with severe mental retardation, mental illness, or autism which limited their verbal communication skills.
Applying the concepts of ABA in a classroom setting has been a challenge. The student population in a public school is different than the previous populations that ABA had been used with. While the concepts were important, the application needed to be implemented differently.
A federal grant has supported research shared on a website that offers technical assistance on PBIS. The focus has grown from using functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) with individuals, to school-wide, district-wide, and state-wide programs. New research is currently being done on how to implement PBIS at the high school level.
A good beginning resource for teachers is a book written by a few gurus at the U. of Oregon:
FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT FOR PROBLEM BEHAVIOR: A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK, O'Neill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, & Newton
This paperback book gives the history, explains the concepts, and provides practical forms for functional behavioral assessments (FBA) and developing positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS).
The basic concept of FBA-PBIS is that problem behaviors are context-related. They are responses to an environmental event and they serve a function: to get something or to escape or avoid something. Some general interventions are to change the environment, provide opportunities for choice, adapt or modify the curriculum or provide accommodations to support success in the curriculum, reinforce positive behaviors, teach appropriate replacement behaviors or skills, and develop crisis intervention plans as needed. To me, these sound like common sense, effective teaching techniques.
Teaching problem-solving skills is an important component of FBA-PBIS. Define the problem, explore options, choose one, try it, evaluate it. Did you get what you wanted?
Using planned interventions is another important component of FBA-PBIS: ignoring, cueing, using proximity control, using humor, using nonverbal warnings, disciplining privately and respectfully, using I messages, "catch 'em being good and reinforcing those behaviors," and others. Again, these are effective teaching techniques.
Here are a few of many online resources:
Association for Positive Behavior Support
Center for Austism and Related Disabilities, CARD Fact Sheet 6
Functional Behavioral Assessment, Parts I, II, III are available now at CECP site; Part IV is in the works.
NICHCY Connections ... to Behavior Assessment, Plans, and Positive Supports
NJ Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, Inc., Positive Behavior Supports
Positive Behavior Support and Functional Assessment (ERIC.OSEP Digest #E580)
Positive Behavior Support At School
Positive Behavioral Supports, Information for Educators, Andrea Cohn, NASP Center
As I review the research available, I realize again that FBA-PBIS is really a teaching-learning process. The more we learn about the student, or person, with the challenging behaviors, the more information we have to help us change the environment in which this behavior occurs. But this is a very complicated issue in a classroom, especially an over-crowded classroom with a poorly trained teacher who is being forced by politics to focus on school test scores instead of the individual students.
Something to ponder ... What if test stress in the classroom is causing misbehaviors? My decades of experience teaching at the secondary level taught me that adolescents will choose to be "bad" over "dumb" most times in front of their peers. So, the current test craziness may contribute to some misbehaviors in today's classrooms. How do we change that environment to affect positive change in student behavior without getting rid of those tests mandated for graduation? If the tests are causing misbehaviors, perhaps they should not be administered to some students.
We must get back to the key word in IEP: INDIVIDUALIZED Educational Plan. Only then can we provide a free appropriate public education for students who have special needs in both academics and behavior.
