Implementing an Incentive Program

When a school is dealing with challenging students and they are finding that the tactics they are using, such as social skills training, friendship groups, or behavior plans are not working, then it may be time to implement an incentive program. We have to be careful though, as obtaining incentives too easily or frequently may cause children to only perform a function for a reward. On the flip side, not being consistent when delivering the incentives may result in the student maintaining the same lack of motivation that may have been the root cause in the first place. So, it is important that the student have a role in creating the plan, helping to choose meaningful incentives and creating a sense of buy-in. As the children get better at using their appropriate social, emotional, and behavioral skills throughout the year, the rewards should become harder to obtain and self-management should increase. “This allows students to grow and mature and to not have to receive a reward every time they do a positive behavior. This personal growth allows you to develop different incentives that continue you to challenge students” (Hamlett, 2018, p.1). 

References

Hamlett, T. (2018). Module 4: Incentives, peers, and the educative time-out process, Part 1 transcript: Incentives [Lecture notes]. Retrieved from https://ace.instructure.com/courses/1652445/files/100071763?module_item_id=22985953&fd_cookie_set=1

The Interview Process

Think for a minute about a child you have encountered who displayed challenging behavior(s). Did this child seem happy? Did the people around him/her enjoy the way this person displayed misbehavior? In my opinion, children want to be liked by their peers and loved by their caretakers and teachers. We, as parents and teachers, need to investigate the reasons for the behavior. Once we do, “we will be better equipped to plan ways a child can meet his need(s) in more positive ways, as well as altering aspects of the environment to help the child be more successful” (Cairone, 2016, p. 34). One way to achieve this is through an interview process where we can ask questions to determine if the behavior has an underlying cause. For example, if a child is quick to react with inappropriate amounts of anger to classroom situations, we might look for recent changes in their life. We could converse with them through questioning or conversation:

1. Has anything new or different been happening at home?

2. Tell me about this past weekend.

3. What is your favorite and least favorite part about you day?

Inquiring about the aspects of their life might lead us to discover ways in which we could help them and hopefully lead to developing an appropriate intervention plan.

References

Cairone, K. (2016). Helping teachers take the challenge out of behavior. Exchange, 229, 32-37.

Developing a Behavioral Intervention Plan

“The Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) is an individualized student plan that includes interventions and supports to address problem behaviors that are interfering with the learning of the student or the learning of others” (Indiana IEP Resource Center, n.d., p. 13). It is crucial that a teacher create a plan specifically tailored to meet the social, emotional, and/or behavioral needs of a student displaying challenging behaviors. The process to create the BIP starts with administering a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) to determine specific behavior and why the behavior is being displayed. Then, a school team made up of a teacher, counselor, psychologist, administrator, and other related service professionals, can develop a plan that describes the problem behavior, replacement behavior ideas, methods of teaching the new behaviors or skills, methods of measuring progress through data tracking, positive reinforcements for practice the replacement behaviors, and consequences for negative behaviors. Finally, the plan should be evaluated for its effectiveness and recommendations for continuing with the behavior plan, and how to phase out upon full success, should be made. However, if needed, modifications for the BIP should occur if the plan was not successful.

Reference

Indiana IEP Resocuce Center. (n.d.). Developing an effective behavior intervention plan. Retrieved from Indiana IEP Resource Center: https://www.indianaieprc.org/images/lcmats/iepprocess/S11-1DevelopingEffectiveBehaviorInterventionPlan.pdf

Evaluation of a School’s RtI2 System

Schools have a responsibility to ensure that the academic needs of our students are met with a highly qualified teacher who is methodical in his/her approach to teaching and assessing academics and behavior. In addition, the school needs to consider the challenging behaviors that students may present and be prepared with a research-bases system to address and combat the issue. One such system, Response to Instruction and Interventions (RtI²), is a multi-tiered system set up to identify both the academic and behavioral needs present within the school in order to address students who are at-risk with both academics and social, emotional, and behavioral progress (Knoff, 2011). 

Tier 1 -  All students receive high-quality, scientifically based instruction from a classroom teacher.

Tier 2 - Students not making adequate progress in Tier 1 receive increasingly intensive instruction based on their needs.

Tier 3 - Students receive individualized, intensive interventions based on their deficit. ("rtinetwork.org," 2014)

Don’t be afraid to reach out to your school and community to assure that the needs of the students are being met with this type of data-driven, scientifically-based intervention.

References

Knoff, H. M. (2011). Integrating the School Prevention, Review, and Intervention Team (SPRINT) and Response-to-Instruction/Intervention (RtI²) process: A model implementation guidebook for schools and districts. Little Rock, AR: Project ACHIEVE Press.

What is RtI? (2014). Retrieved from http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti