Behavior Intervention Plan for Emotionally Disturbed Students

Introduction

Recognizing the increase in school violence across most educational institutions, it is important to enact policies that require positive behavioral intervention plans for individuals with exceptional needs. Although special education teachers are required to develop such plans, many have not been trained in the skills necessary to develop or implement appropriate goals and objectives. This paper describes how to build a positive behavioral plan to bring about lasting, positive changes in an individual's behavior while ensuring that individual's success. The students addressed in this discussion are those who are emotionally disturbed and display passive-aggressive traits.

According to this paper, the steps to building a plan are: first, describe the learner; second, define the behaviors of concern; third, conduct a functional assessment; and finally, develop positive replacement behaviors. The paper argues that teachers who create plans without the collaborative efforts of a counselor may address the short-term needs of students without teaching lifelong coping and social skills. The skills that teach a child to interact positively at school are the same skills that can prepare him or her for success in all settings.

Defining passive-aggressive behavior is an important starting point because it clarifies the type of students being discussed. The common traits displayed by such individuals include fear of dependency, fear of intimacy, fear of competition, obstructionism, fostering chaos, feeling victimized, making excuses and lying, procrastination, chronic lateness and forgetfulness, ambiguity, and sulking.

Legislative action can become necessary when incidents of school violence increase to the point of causing deaths. The intention of such legislation is to mandate positive behavioral interventions. This positive behavioral intervention plan is required for individuals with exceptional needs who present a "serious behavior problem." A "serious behavior problem" is defined as behaviors that are self-injurious, assaultive, or cause property damage sufficient to lead to suspension or expulsion, as well as other severe, pervasive, and maladaptive behaviors that require the systematic and frequent application of behavioral interventions (Peterson, 1988).

"Behavioral intervention" is defined as the systematic implementation of procedures that result in lasting, positive changes in an individual's behavior. Behavioral interventions are designed to provide the individual with greater access to a variety of community settings, social contacts, and public events, and to ensure the individual's right to placement in the least restrictive environment. Behavioral interventions do not include procedures that cause pain or trauma. They respect the individual's human dignity and personal privacy (Peterson, 1988). Such interventions must ensure the individual's physical freedom, social interaction, and individual choice.

It should be noted that even when legislation is passed, it does not automatically provide a plan for implementing positive behavioral interventions. Schools are expected to develop their own methods of implementation to comply with the law. Although special education teachers are required to develop plans that address the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students, most have not been adequately trained in the skills necessary to develop or implement meaningful goals and objectives.

Teachers react to student behavior in varying ways — some productive, some not. For example, when a teacher sends a student out of the room, what does that action actually teach? It is common for teachers to respond to a crisis by restraining or removing a child without teaching a positive replacement behavior. A child who refuses to take a test or complete an assignment may not be defiant; more likely, he or she is not prepared, or an emotional crisis is interfering. The child's underlying communicative intent is ignored. Removing the child may be temporarily successful — it removes the child from a stressful situation and relieves the teacher's immediate perception of the problem — but the root cause of the behavior remains unresolved. The tragedy is that whatever triggered the problem behavior remains unsolved within the child.

Counselors must serve as team leaders, training or providing trainers to address the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of children across all settings. They must educate teachers, parents, administrators, and support services personnel in developing positive behavioral intervention plans that teach: understanding another's perspective, communication skills, consequences, conflict resolution, and concern for the rights of others.

Philosophy of Positive Interventions

Counselors must assist all team members in learning — and continually revisiting — the essential components of positive behavioral intervention plans, which include: the philosophy of positive interventions; prevention as best practice; building a positive behavioral plan; developing goals and objectives; and assessing and modifying the plan. An examination of these critical components reveals a heavy reliance on theoretical principles drawn from learning and behaviorist theory, social learning theory, and the philosophy and teaching practices of Maria Montessori. An understanding of the philosophy underlying positive interventions should serve as the foundation for many educational and counseling practices, not just behavioral interventions. Montessori's concepts of the prepared environment, individualized educational plans, setting up the child for success, and the teacher facilitating the child's link with the environment all support this philosophy. For seriously emotionally disturbed students, it is absolutely critical that positive intervention plans include the teaching of new behaviors that meet the communicative needs driving the disruptive behaviors.

This philosophy advances several core elements. It holds that behavior is communicative and goal-directed, and it aims to encourage communication between teacher and student. It further asserts that settings and environments should be capable of meeting the student's needs before behavioral interventions are introduced. Behavioral interventions should not be used to force conformity in inappropriate settings. The primary goal of any classroom is to educate and teach effective interpersonal skills — not to manage or suppress behavior.

Prevention as Best Practice

It is also important that behavioral interventions consider the developmental level and chronological age of the student, and that interventions be developed collaboratively. This philosophy further holds that behavioral intervention plans should be efficient and minimally intrusive in terms of time, labor, and complexity. Finally, such interventions should focus on teaching appropriate behavior to replace maladaptive behavior (Wright et al., 1994).

Any changes required to provide a meaningful, accessible, and appropriate curriculum and environment should be made before an attempt is made to directly modify a student's behavior. Behavioral goals must be reasonable and attainable for the student, and they should be implemented within the context of meaningful instructional activities. In formulating interventions, the primary beneficiary must always be the student. The student should be taught effective personal skills that can be applied across settings. An intervention that focuses solely on eliminating a maladaptive behavior without regard to the function it serves for the student does not constitute a positive behavioral intervention.