Identifying and Serving Students with Behavior Problems

Chapter One Identifying and Serving Students with Behavior Problems

Objectives Describe the process of determining students’ needs for behavioral support and educational services, including the assessment data that should be collected and the decisions that should be made. Describe the continuum of positive behavior support for students and indicate how it fits within a response to intervention framework, including deciding when students require increasing levels of intervention. Explain the importance of using evidence-based practices to address student behavior, and the basis for determining that practices are based on research evidence. Describe litigation affecting the education of students with emotional or behavioral disorders, including the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004), that affect school disciplinary practices for students with disabilities. Indicate what a definition of behavioral disorders should accomplish and indicate weaknesses of the current federal definition. Discuss the role of school-based teams in addressing the needs of students for positive behavior support and for reducing the need to identify, label, and serve students in special education programs. Give a rationale for creating systemic changes in schools as a basis for preventing and responding more effectively to challenging student behaviors.

SWPBS and RtI The 1997 and 2004 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 encourage schools to match the services that a student receives with the student’s level of need (Sandomierski, Kincaid, & Algozzine, 2007). Two recent national initiatives embody this approach: SWPBS, a school-wide process that focuses on preventing problem behavior through teaching and reinforcing appropriate student behaviors. RtI , the practice of applying high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring student progress frequently to adjust interventions or goals, and basing educational decisions on student response data (Batsche et al., 2005) What do SWPBS and RtI stand for?

Let’s Review Figure 1–1 Circa means approximately. Notice where most students fit in. Why would intensive interventions be for only a few students?

Primary prevention is universal.

Secondary prevention (targeted intervention) supports students at risk.

Tertiary prevention (intensive intervention)

Response to intervention models typically include: a continuum of evidence-based services that are available to all students, from universal interventions and procedures to highly intensive and individualized interventions, decision points to determine if students are performing significantly below the level of their peers in academic and social behavior domains ongoing monitoring of student progress employment of more intensive or different intervention when students do not improve in response to other interventions; and evaluation for special education services if students do not respond to intervention instruction Like SWPBS, RtI typically is facilitated by school-wide and individual-level multidisciplinary teams.

Evidence-Based Practices The terms “evidence-based” and “research-validated” practices are used interchangeably to designate educational and clinical practices that have been documented as effective through empirical research.

Implementing PBIS requires Administrator agreement of active support and participation. Self assessment of the current school-wide discipline system. Data collection on a regular basis. School-wide leadership team to guide and direct the process. Commitment from at least 80% of the staff for active support and participation. Implementation action plan based on data.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) an individualized intervention typically developed for students who continue to experience social and academic failure even when targeted interventions have been employed.

Legislation Affecting Student Behavior Let’s review Table 1–1, Legislation affecting students with behavior problems.

Problem Behavior or Emotional and Behavioral Disorder? What does this question mean? How is this question reflected in the federal definition? Do referral sources (e.g., teachers, parents) contribute to problem behavior sometimes?

The federal definition Students with emotional disturbance (ED) exhibit one or more of the following characteristics that adversely affect educational performance over a long period of time and to a marked degree: 1. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors 2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships 3. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances 4. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression 5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems Students “who are socially maladjusted” are specifically excluded from eligibility unless they have an emotional disturbance according to the above definition.

Why do you think there is such a controversy over this definition? What are its limitations? Whom does it exclude? How would you change it?

Identifying and Serving Students with Behavior Disorders Systematic screening Assessment for identification Determining eligibility

Let’s review the process Table 1–2 Pupil identification assessment process

Behavior Problems and Educational Placement

What We Know About Educational Placement ✔ what goes on in a place, not the place itself, is what makes a difference ✔ you learn what you spend time on, and most students with disabilities will not learn if they are not explicitly taught ✔ some instructional practices are easier to implement and more likely to occur in some settings than in others (Zigmond, 2003)

Identifying and Serving Students with Behavior Problems

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Identifying and Serving Students with Behavior Problems

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