You look at your ringing phone to see the school calling, which you dread. The school’s assistant principal is calling about your son or daughter having another behavior problem in the classroom. She wants to discuss adding a behavior intervention plan to your child’s individualized education plan. You ask what is a behavior intervention plan and how can it help your child with autism and ADHD?
What is a behavior intervention plan?
A behavior intervention plan, or BIP, (also referred to as positive behavior support plan in some states) is exactly what it sounds like. It is a plan put in place by a school that helps change your child’s unwanted behaviors that are interfering with their learning. It is part of an individualized education plan (IEP), and parents need to agree and sign off on it.
How does the school determine what should be in the plan? They begin with your permission to conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA).
What does a Functional Behavior Assessment evaluate?
The person conducting the FBA will observe several aspects of your child’s behavior. Those may include:
- What are the problematic behaviors?
- How frequently do they occur?
- When and why do these behavior happen?
- Which students, teachers or other faculty are present when they occur?
- How does the child react to the consequences for their behavior(s)?
The findings from the FBA are shared with you to ensure you are aligned before a BIP is drafted. If you do not agree with the findings, you can request an independent educational evaluation. In most cases, the school will agree to fund the independent evaluation.
The team develops the BIP based on the FBA findings. The plan will include techniques to isolate the problematic behaviors, reduce them and positively reinforce acceptable behaviors. It also will include a crisis plan in case the situation becomes worse. The BIP will help teachers and other staff at the schoolwork with your child on their behavior as well as the child’s parents in a home setting.
When our son J was in middle school, he had some behaviors that were really interfering with school. His resource teacher conducted an FBA, and it was really helpful. The plan developed did help J improve his behavior and receive rewards for positive behaviors.
Ways a behavior intervention plan helps your child with autism
While many parents don’t want to hear their child requires a BIP, it can help in the following ways:
1. Better understand underlying causes of the behavior
Our kids do not intentionally want to misbehave. Misbehavior usually is rooted in a problem or issue. A positive aspect about conducting an FBA is better understanding the cause for certain behaviors. Once you understand the cause, finding a solution is easier. That can really help your child in the long term.
2. Reinforce good behavior positively
A BIP proactively helps teachers and you find ways to identify alternate good behaviors and reinforce those. The special education teacher or school psychologist can help find ways to reward your child for acceptable behaviors and help reduce the unwanted ones.
3. Encourage better school performance
If your child is behaving better at school, they most likely will do better academically too.
4. Improve behavior at home
If the BIP is developed to address unwanted behaviors at school and home, then your child will benefit from consistency between the two. Unfortunately, many autistic children have a difficult time generalizing learning from one setting to another. I know our son J had a hard time with it. Once we became consistent with some of the reward system at school while he was at home, things got better.
5. Increase your child’s self-esteem and self-confidence
Being in trouble so much really affects a child’s self-esteem and self-confidence negatively. Yet, receiving praise and rewards for good behavior can help your child feel better about themselves.
Partner with your child’s therapist on behavior changes
The school will do their part to help your child improve their behavior and performance. However, many behavior problems may be caused by anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
Therefore, the FBA may dig up some issues that really are best handled through cognitive behavior and other therapy. Be sure to share the FBA results and BIP with your child’s therapist. They may determine what else may need to be done through regular therapy appointments. Your child’s therapist also may have better insights into the cause(s) of the unwanted behavior, so asking for their input will be essential.
Resources
Are you looking for more information about how to help your child improve or eliminate unwanted behaviors? Check out these resources.
Behavior Management Skills Guide: Practical Activities & Interventions for Ages 3-18 (affiliate link)
The Survival Guide for Kids With Behavior Challenges: How to Make Good Choices and Stay Out of Trouble (affiliate link)
Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges (affiliate link)
Have you been through the FBA and behavior intervention plan process for your child with autism and/or ADHD? If so, what learning can you share with others? Let’s encourage and support one another through this journey.
