When developing a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), it’s crucial to integrate instructional strategies that are designed to help the student succeed by promoting positive behaviors, teaching alternative skills, and providing clear expectations. However, the significant challenge is finding the right instructional strategies to support teaching the new skills and expectations. Here are some instructional strategies that can be included in a BIP to teach appropriate, positive behaviors:
1.) Behavior Shaping: so often when working with challenging behavior we can become overwhelmed with how challenging the behavior is and the goal we need the student to achieve. When we think about breaking down the behavior into smaller, more manageable goals and steps to focus on we can start to shape the behavior for longer term success. Let's look at a real-world example of this:
Reinforce partial success to help the students find success. Ex: if a student is eloping 3 times a day from their classroom, set up a system where if they don't elope in the morning they receive a preferred incentive and if they don't elope in the afternoon they receive the preferred incentive.
As the student elopes less, you can increase the rigor of the goal and reduce the frequency of the reinforcement. Ex: they get reinforcement just once a day for not eloping.
Reinforce the proximity to the behavior you want. It is ok for you to reinforce partial engagement in the desired behavior. Ex: if a student is supposed to take a break in a bean bag whey they are dysregulated, and it takes them 32 minutes to move to the bean bag. As soon as they head to the bean bag, reinforce it! Even if it is not in the time limit you expected.
2.) Visual Supports: let the visuals do the talking! If we are teaching a new skill, replacement behavior or positive pathway, it's important we provide students with visuals to support that new behavior we want to see. Humans encode and process visuals nearly 60,000 times faster than verbal language. Visuals not only are quicker to process, but helps us to avoid using too much verbal language and getting into the power struggle with students. Here are examples:
For students with ASD, taking real photos of themselves engaging in the positive behaviors to use as the visual reminder can be an impactful strategy.
Print visuals of the expected behaviors you want to see. Put them on the student's desk, or on your lanyard to redirect the student in the moment.
Ensure you are using the same visual with all other resources (ex: social stories, token board, etc.). This way the student will connect the visual with the expected behavior in the moment.
3.) Common language: this is often an instructional strategy that is so impactful, but so often missed when creating behavior plans. Developing common language for the expected behaviors you want to see, pairing it to the visual and having all staff utilize the common language can further teach and reinforce the expected behaviors. Here is how it looks in practice:
If you have a student who is engaging in physical aggression, utilize the common language of 'safe body' and pair it with a visual.
Create a social story and introduce the visual and the new language as a part of the social story. Give examples of how the student engages in the expected behavior in the social story.
Communicate with all staff working with the student what the common language is when redirecting or engaging with the student.
4.) Opportunities for break and regulatory activities: for many of our students with regulation deficits, it is important that we are proactive in providing breaks and time away from the environment, social interactions or demands that may be overstimulating. Many of our students will often use negative or maladaptive behavior to remove themselves from the environment. Providing proactive breaks that students don't need to earn can help them to find a balance of needing less stimulation from the environment and not having to engage in the negative behaviors to get out of the environment. Ideas to implement this strategy:
Cue students when their breaks are during the day with a visual schedule. As negative behavior starts to escalate, you can use that to remind students they have a break or time away from the class coming up.
Have students have buy in into their breaks. Give them the opportunities to make the power of choice over their activities, break options or who they want to take the break with!
5.) Functional Communication: challenging behavior for many students is often the only solution they know. They are using the behavior as a form of communication to attempt to communicate their wants, needs or problems. Providing students with the appropriate communication methods to get their needs met can help to support increasing positive communication skills and using that instead of the negative behavior. Functional communication can be used verbally (ex: giving students the language) or nonverbally (ex: using a break card, non-verbal cue). Ways I would teach and honor functional communication:
Teach students the phrases or strategies you want them to communicate! This can be done through social stories, modeling or providing visuals.
Honor that communication! It is important that when first introducing this skill that we attempt to honor the communication as much as we can. This lets the student know that we see their communication and we want them to keep communicating to us.
Use behavior contingency maps to map out positive choices of using the functional communication and negative choices of not using the communication method.
6.) Check in and check out: a check in and check out system is an evidence-based practice that includes checking in with a student when they arrive to school and then meeting with a student before they leave for the day. This system fosters positive relationships, creates intentional touch points and allows staff to set goals and provide an intentional reflection conversation with students.
Plan a check point location every morning where a student meets you as well as at the end of the day. This creates a regulating routine and shows students you will continue to show up for them!
Help students set daily goals at the check in. Daily goals help to develop regulation and self-monitoring skills for students.
Provide students a reflection sheet at the end of the day. Reflect on personal goals, things they were proud of for the day and ways they advocate for their needs.
7.) Social skills instruction: for many students with behavioral needs, having a dedicated part of their day to join a social skills group with other peers can help students to understand they are not alone with their behavioral challenges as well as provide an intentional group that is working on like skills. All good behavioring isn't just about a decrease in negative behavior, but what is the replacement behavior or skill we want students to engage in?
Start your day running a social skills group! This allows students to start their day with a fresh mind engaging in intentional skills to fill skill gaps that impact their behavior.
Plan weekly or monthly skill units that build on each other to give students the skills they need to engage positively.
Let your general education teachers know what skills, strategies and common language you are working on in social skills! This allows for skill generalization across multiple environments.
8.) Modify the environment: too often we focus on getting students to comply to the environment, as opposed to thinking about what accommodations we can provide the student in the environment. From sensory supports, adaptive seating, visual boundary areas, placement of desk, scoop chairs, etc. This strategy really resonates with our students who struggle staying in their area, are up and around the classroom or distracting instruction.
Visual boundaries around student areas can help to keep them in a particular part of the classroom and provide them the reminder that doesn't involve a teacher redirection. This can be done putting velcro or tape on the floor around their desk.
Allowing students to have alternative seating gives them the power of choice over their seating as well as provides additional sensory support to keep them more engaged.
Often times sitting students in a particular area of the classroom (ex: near the teacher, at the back of the room, farthest from the point of exit, etc.) can impact student learning and engagement positively. Think intentionally about what placement in the classroom would provide them the most benefit.
9.) Build classroom belonging: a part of challenging behavior out of students is often times their way of telling us that they don't feel a sense of belonging, connection or community in the classroom. Finding intentional ways for students to be able to have a say in their classroom, feel like they are contributing or foster relationships with those around them helps to create the belonging they need. When they feel connected and safe, they don't need to act out to communicate their feelings. Ways to help students develop belonging:
Give students a classroom job that they contribute to each day!
Have students meet with various other professionals in the building (ex: secretary, janitor, other teacher, etc.) to perform tasks or jobs for them.
Sit down 1:1 with the student and allow them to have a voice in things they want to see in their classroom!
Allow students to sit by preferred friends in class to make them feel connected.
Have students go and help younger classes as a role model so they develop a sense of being needed and supporting other students.
Provide students a mentor in the building that is their safe person.
10.) Make students a part of the plan: so often we make behavior plans for students as opposed to making plans with students. For many of our students with challenging needs, they want to establish a sense of control over their environment and choices. We often miss the mark in providing them that sense of control in having a say in their plan. Many students want to have that input as well as say in how staff respond, their reinforcers, when they want to take their breaks, etc. When we make students a part of their plan we invite them into collaborate. Strategies that support collaboration can include:
Sit students down and ask them what are the best parts of their day! What are the highlights of their day, their favorite parts and how can we embed more of those activities or scenarios in.
Ask students for their ideas. Our students are their own experts! Many times they have ideas or suggestions that we can embed into their plan.
Anything we can give students power over, we should attempt to make the effort to do so. Whether that is control over their break activities, making their own break card, a say in their schedule or feedback on their reinforcement plan, providing them that control allows for collaboration.
Behavior intervention plans can be impactful when we build them with the right set of supports and strategies to support the student!