Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention And Support

Positive behaviour support (PBS) is an approach to providing services to individuals who exhibit challenging behaviour. Since the early 1990s, PBS has received increasing attention from the behaviour-analytic community. Some behaviour analysts have embraced this approach, but others have voiced questions and concerns. Over the past dozen years, an approach to delivery of behavioral services known as positive behavior support has emerged as a highly visible movement. Although PBS has been substantially influenced by applied behavior analysis, other factors are also part of its

The main thing the readers should know about this book is that the authors assume that the readers are parents who are seeking for help to resolve their children’s difficult behavior. For those who do not know, Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a system to manage behavior and to understand what exactly the reasons that maintains an individuals’ challenging behavior (Hieneman et. al., 2006, p. 1). PBS stress that it is important to being proactive than reactive, respect one’s right to make their own choices, individualizing approaches based on the person’s needs and also making plans that works in a variety of settings (Hieneman et. al., 2006, p. 11). The authors always highlight that PBS is a highly effective tools that being used in schools and community programs across the

Using the results of the Scale of Effective School Discipline and Safety (SEDS) Questionnaire given to Lacy Elementary School participants, an analysis of the readiness of their teachers to implement a Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS) will be examined. The SEDS questionnaire consists of 58 items, which are organized into five areas of attention by scale: Scale 1: Teachers’ Effective Classroom Management Skills (24 items), Scale 2: Teachers’ Positive Behavioral Interactions and Respect (11 items), Scale 3: Holding Students Accountable for Their Behavior: Administration and Staff (7 items), Scale 4: Teachers’ Contribution to a Positive School Climate (9 items), and Scale 5: School Safety and

The PBIS framework provides behavior supports through essential strategies that enhance academics and social outcomes in schools, (Responsive Classroom and PBIS Can Schools Use Them Together, n.d). According to the Office of Special Education Programs Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, OSEP TA Center on PBIS (2013) it is reported that school-wide PBIS has been implemented in 50 states and over 19,000 schools across the United States. Hence, the PBIS framework is a structure that provides a strong foundation in positive discipline. Using positive discipline and positive reinforcement centers the attention on desired outcomes and redirection. Some of the strategies include a focus on skill teaching, the use of positive statements through respectful practices, data-based decision making and the implementation of three tiers of positive behavior support to meet the variety of student needs. Tier one is intended to support all students in all situations (Responsive Classroom and PBIS Can Schools Use Them Together, n.d). This is done through the use of common language, positive reinforcements, frequent verbal connections of behavior to expectation, morning and closing classroom meetings, logical consequences and problem-solving

Evanovich & Scott give a general overview of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), describing it as a three tiered framework with the goal of encouraging positive behaviors and preventing misbehaviors in a school setting. Each tier has specific strategies for meeting the needs of the students where they are. The article then goes on to describe the logic behind the approach

As educators is it important for us to teach necessary skills for our students to thrive in society and our curriculum should be based on these skills. In my current position I implement Positive Behavior Support Plans (PBIS) in schools, by having PBIS I feel we are teaching student’s the specific skills they need to be successful and helping teachers reflect on the positives. We have to strive to provide our students with skills that will not only enable them to obtain a career but also develop the skill in maintaining their career; we must also instill a sense of human decency, compassion, acceptance, respect, and global awareness. PBIS will help students know specific expectations and learn and understand that in life we have specific guidelines that we need to learn in order to receive the rewards of success.

On the wall, an observer would find a “Classroom Constitution.” This lays the foundation of behavioral expectations. Liberty High School also participates in a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports system which is a system to encourage and reward positive behaviors as well as provide systematic consequences for poor behaviors. The classroom management in the classroom is a four step approach that begins with verbal redirection, then proceeds with a warning to cease inappropriate activity, followed by removal from activity and parent contact, then an office discipline referral if all other measures fail to end negative behaviors. Overall, students show respect to the instructor, and work on assignments and activities with only minor behavioral issues.

Some of the outcomes from the study involved improved view of school as a caring environment which led to better learning in core subjects. This program lowered overall depression symptoms for the fourth through sixth grade students, but was significant especially for the students in sixth grade that were reported victims of bullying. Lowering depression symptoms also improved self-esteem among the sixth-grade victims as well. Not only were significant improvements seen following the study, but these improvements were seen to have long lasting effects six months after the completion of the program. Results like this suggest that these children will possibly carry what they have learned into future school environments and on to post school or career fields. The only down side I saw to this program is that it has yet to have been replicated using other cultures, but I have hope that the University of Kansas students are in the process of completing this

Using the traditional behavior management I don’t think it will be the best approach to positive behavior support. When looking into figure 12.1 on page 216, is very hard to try to fix an individual without understanding the problem behind the individual behavior. Behavior at times is implemented by a behavioral specialist that often is outside the general classroom, at times it might not be the ultimate resolution. I am not implying that behavioral specialist input is not important, but is hard to have someone come into the classroom just one day and already have a behavior plan, which sometimes doesn’t work for the student. A one-day observation is not the same as actually really knowing the student and their up and down on an everyday living.

In putting together a team which is not an easy task when one really does not have students to work with constantly. Our team agreed to use the School Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) approach. This approach uses “a broad range of systematic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behaviors with all students.”(Northampton Area School District) It is also based on a three-tiered model that addresses student behavior at each of the three tiers. The ultimate goal is student achievement.

This project targeted elementary school aged children. The program worked to develop a “caring school environment” to increase children’s success in school behaviorally. This program also helped prevent drug use, violence, and delinquency. Emphasized aspects of this program are “buddies” programs, “home side” activities, classroom lessons, and creating a school wide community for children. This has been concluded to be an evidence-based program proven to positively affect children’s behavior (Miles et al.,

According to Reinke, Herman and Stormont’s article, Classroom-Level Positive Behavior Supports in Schools Implementing SW-PBIS: Identifying Areas for Enhancement, classroom “rules need to be developmentally appropriate, stated positively and systemically taught.” The article also suggest that classroom rules should be written in terms and on the level that is age appropriate; the rules should be written in a positive manner; wording should be easy to read and understandable; rules should be enforceable and finally written where they are specific and observable. When referring to this guideline and comparing the three different classroom expectations, Mrs. O’Shea’s classroom expectations seems to align itself the best out of the three teachers. Her rules are stated in easy to read language; short and to the point. All of her rules are specific and can be observable. Her language complements the language that is used in the school’s matrix.

According to Sugai, et al. (2000), saying that positive behavior support is “optimizing the capacity of schools to address schoolwide, classroom, and individual problem behavior is possible in the face of current challenges but only if working policies, structures, and routines emphasize the identification, adoption, and sustained use of research-validated practices” (p. 133). This relates with the Greene (2014) because if everyone in the school is not on the same track, they would not be able to assist and help the child with their behavioral challenges. In order for this to work everyone has to work together as a

Gresham, F. M. (2004). Current status and future directions of school-based behavioral interventions. School Psychology Review, 33(3), 326–343.

46). Standard 4 (a) of the NC Professional School Social Work Standards 2004, informs you that as a professional school social worker you must be knowledgeable of strength-based interventions. The school social worker must also include the support of other stake holders within the educational process of the student. For instance, principals, administrators, counselors and other support personnel may be solicited by the school social worker to implement Positive Behavior Support (PBS) which is an intervention used to deter negative behavior of a student demonstrating signs of behavior disorder even before it becomes a problem (Merchant, Anderson, Caldarelli, Young, & Young, 2009 as cited in Jarolmen, 2014).In addition, NC Standard 4 (a) elaborates that school social workers must exercise assessments to correctly establish the need of the student as well as identify service gaps within the school setting. Authors Scott, Nelson, & Zabala, (2003), explains the process of using assessments such as the “Functional Behavior Assessment”. The Functional Behavior Assessment is used to develop a “behavioral intervention plan” for the student as needed. This assessment is just one of many assessments utilized within the school setting (Scott,