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POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT AND FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT
By Cynthia Warger

School-wide Positive Behavioral Support
Research studies have demonstrated that when PBS strategies are implemented school-wide, children with and without disabilities benefit by having an environment that is conducive to learning. They learn more about their own behavior, learn to work together, and support each other as a community of learners. One PBS model, Effective Behavioral Support (Sugai, 1996), emphasizes a school-wide system that defines, teaches, and encourages appropriate behavior in children in elementary and middle schools. This model is based on the fact that about 85 percent of students have the social skills to do quite well if placed in a reasonable environment.

To address the behavioral support needs of all students within a school context, this model considers support from four major perspectives:

  • School-wide support-procedures and processes that are intended for all students, all staff, and all settings. The most important element of support is a building-wide team that oversees all development, implementation, modification, and evaluation activities.

  • Specific setting support-a team-based mechanism for monitoring specific settings that exist within the school environment. In settings where problem behaviors occur, teams should develop strategies that prevent or minimize their occurrence.

  • Classroom support-processes and procedures of the individual classrooms where teachers structure learning opportunities. Classroom support should parallel the PBS features and procedures that are used school-wide.

  • Individual student support-immediate, relevant, effective, and efficient responses to those students who present the most significant behavioral challenges. There must be processes and procedures for high-intensity, specially designed and individualized interventions for the estimated 3-7 percent of students who present the most challenging behavior.

Strategies for the school-wide, specific setting, and classroom levels include having:

  • A clearly stated, positive purpose.

  • A set of positively stated expectations for behavior.

  • Procedures for teaching school-wide expectations.

  • A continuum of procedures for encouraging students to display expected behaviors.

  • A continuum of procedures for discouraging violations of school-wide expectations.

  • A method for monitoring implementation and effectiveness.

At the student level, procedures include functional assessment strategies, social skills instruction, self-management training, and direct instruction. For implementation of the procedures at the individual student level to be effective, the school-wide PBS system must be in place and functioning efficiently. Fern Ridge Middle School in Elmira, Oregon, experienced a 42 percent drop in office referrals in one year's time after implementing Effective Behavioral Support (see Taylor-Greene et al., 1997). Three levels of PBS were implemented:

  • Level 1: This preventive level provided the necessary supports to 80-90 percent of the student population. Staff defined their expectations for student behavior-called "High Five." At the beginning of the year, staff directly taught the skills underlying these expectations. Students then practiced the appropriate behaviors with reinforcement and feedback. A school-wide token economy system was put into place to reinforce students throughout the year.

  • Level 2: Some students needed more structure to help them solve problems and set goals. These students attended daily morning check-in and afternoon check-out sessions with counseling staff. Students carried a point card on which teachers awarded points when the youngster demonstrated the High Five expectations. The card is brought to the counselor at the end of each day and sent home to families. An individualized behavioral education plan (BEP) also was developed for these students.

  • Level 3: Intensive support and additional structure were provided to students who were not succeeding. To support these students, a more intensive BEP was developed.


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