BEHAVIORAL PLANNING The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act makes

it clear that serious behavioral issues for students with

MEETINGS disabilities require a behavioral assessment. All
Information for Families interventions must be documented, including which
ones worked and which were not successful. This
Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice approach pinpoints common problems and starts a
child on the road to behavioral competency. By
HOW CAN PARENTS AND SCHOOLS WORK documenting and systematically addressing behavioral
TOGETHER TO DEVELOP GOOD BEHAVIORAL issues, the IEP team can develop a relevant and useful
INTERVENTION PLANS? plan to help the student achieve more competence
with behaviors.
Jeff has been getting into trouble in school lately. He
received in-school suspension twice last month and WHAT SHOULD BE DONE PRIOR TO A
numerous discipline referrals. His teachers are BEHAVIORAL PLANNING MEETING?
getting frustrated with his repeated behavioral
problem. His parents are getting frustrated with the All members of the IEP team should be aware of the
school. Jeff usually gets into trouble in the hallway current state of the student’s behavior, the specific
between classes. This has been going on for about two problems with the behavior, and the issues the
months. Everyone seems to be trying to get Jeff to meeting will address. The reasons for the discipline
understand that his behavior needs to improve, but referrals should be presented in objective terms before
nobody has been able to clearly define what is possible interventions are discussed. Parents are often
happening and what is expected of Jeff. His parents shocked to find the number and magnitude of their
have been to the school to discuss the behavior, but he child’s problems.
is still having problems following the rules in the
hallway. WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN IN A BEHAVIORAL
PLANNING MEETING?
WHAT IS A POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL PLAN?
During the behavioral planning meeting, team
After collecting and analyzing enough information to members should share information gathered from
identify the likely function of a student’s behavior, the observations and from the functional behavioral
IEP team, of which parents are extremely important assessment. Parents play an important role on the IEP
members, must develop a positive behavioral team during this process. Parents know their child and
intervention plan. The behavioral plan will include, can offer invaluable information as the team develops
when appropriate, (1) strategies, including positive the intervention plans.
behavioral interventions and supports; (2) program
modifications; and (3) supplementary aids and During the behavioral planning meeting, the IEP team
services that may be required to address the problem should consider the student’s behavioral strengths and
behavior. deficits. This meeting is not designed to blame the
student. Rather, it is an opportunity for all team
When danger signals arise — for example, a child members to take responsibility for designing a
receives in-school suspensions, is sent out of the remediation plan. Parents and educators should bring
classroom frequently because of behaviors, or runs the to this planning meeting as much information about
risk of being punished in school — the student’s the student as possible, including his or her likes and
behavior should be addressed with an in-depth dislikes and any other information that will help the
behavioral assess-ment, known as a functional team design a plan that will support the student in
behavioral assessment (FBA). The FBA should yield choosing more appropriate behaviors.
a number of recommendations for the IEP team to
study and act on. From this assessment, the team During the meeting, the team should address the
determines, on a very individual basis, when the setting events or antecedents. These are the things that
behaviors happen, what triggers the behaviors, how to happen before the behavior occurs. For example, the
reduce the triggers, and what strategies will be used to problem behavior may occur only in the hallways but
help the student use more productive behaviors. This not in other places in the school. In addition, the IEP
plan is the behavioral intervention plan (BIP). team should determine the consequences that are
maintaining the problem behaviors and the possible
reasons for (functions of) the behavior. After sharing
this information, the team makes a “best guess” about the IEP team. A well thought out plan includes
what the function of the behavior is. teaching new behaviors and positively reinforcing
appropriate behaviors and other similar supports.
After identifying the reason for the behavior, the team
should develop a plan to intervene. This plan should WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION
include positive supports to encourage the student to ABOUT POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL SUPPORTS?
use more appropriate behaviors to meet the same
need. For example, if the student is having problems Contact the Technical Assistance Center on Positive
only in the hallways and the team has determined that Behavioral Interventions and Supports at
the reason for this behavior is an attempt to get www.pbis.org
attention from a certain teacher, then the intervention
plan may include providing some of that teacher’s Addressing Student Problem Behavior: An IEP
time when the student displays appropriate behaviors. Team’s Introduction to Functional Behavioral
Team members must develop a very specific Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plans
definition of the behaviors they want the student to
perform and what the specific consequences are for Addressing Student Problem Behavior Part II:
the performance of these behaviors. Conducting a Functional Behavior Assessment
Team members need to keep in mind that a behavioral
planning meeting is designed to implement supports to Addressing Student Problem Behavior-Part III:
reduce the negative behaviors, not to place blame. Creating Positive Behavioral Intervention Plans and
Educators and parents should discuss the behaviors Supports
that have been observed, such as yelling or running in
the hallways, in objective terms. That is, how often or Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice
how long does the behavior occur and in what 1000 Thomas Jefferson St N.W. Suite 400
context? The expected behaviors should be defined in Washington D.C. 20007
clear and precise terms. Phrases such as “has to learn
responsibility” or “does not act responsibly” do not
describe behavior. Descriptions such as “turns in
homework every morning” and “walks quietly in the
halls without coming in contact with others” are more
appropriate terms to use when discussing behaviors.

The team members should share all the information

gathered and use that information to develop a plan.
Each component of the plan should be discussed in
detail, along with such questions as “what happens if
he walks without touching others but is still yelling?”
The plan should be very clear about what supports are
offered to the student, what exactly is expected of the
student and adults, and who is responsible for
implementing the plan. This will ensure that all
members of the team understand the expectations and
the appropriate responses.

The functional behavioral assessment and the

development of behavioral intervention plans involve
a systematic problem-solving process that can be used
at home or school. Sometimes the process is simple
and quickly leads to a solution. At other times, the
process is more involved, and developing a plan that
works takes longer. The idea behind a behavioral
intervention plan is to support the student by
examining the reasons for his or her behaviors and
supporting the student in choosing more appropriate
behaviors. This responsibility falls to all members of