One of the roles of school psychologists is to consult with teachers on behavior in the classroom and write behavior plans.  My role has included writing formal FBA’s to writing behavior plans for students to use in the classroom.  I’m always trying to work to improve mine, so please, share your suggestions!

General Tips

• Work with the classroom teacher to design the plan, and to implement it.  This is something I learned was important early on.  Teachers have a large group of students to teach and support every day, so let’s face it, giving 1:1 attention for a student with a behavior plan isn’t always the easiest thing to do.  THIS IS SO IMPORTANT.
  • Consult with the teacher on the behaviors they are most concerned about and what to address (more below).
  • Don’t just hand the teacher the plan itself-give them a “cheat sheet” about how to run it, that they can refer back to.
  • Model how to use it for them.  Sometimes we forget that addressing behavior in this form is natural to us, but might not be to everyone.  This can be teacher dependent, but for newer teachers, or any that I know might have questions, I make sure to have a conversation with them as I give them the plan about how to use it.  I’ve even spent the first 30 minutes/hour of implementation of it with the student doing it myself so that the classroom teacher or paraprofessional can see.  I think it’s really helpful!
• Pick the most impactful behavior(s) to address.  I honestly think 2 is enough, maximum 3 for higher functioning/older students.  What I mean by this is that this can often be a conversation we have with teachers…
  “Okay so what are the biggest issues with Abby in the classroom?”  “Well she’s never listens, she’s always touching other kids, she gets out of her seat, she interrupts me all the time during class lessons and…”  I get it, there is a lot.  But the thing is, we need to tackle one behavior at a time.  Then, when we have mastered that one, we can move on to the next.  So, work with the teacher/staff to understand what is the most impactful behavior, one that’s a safety concern, etc., and start with that one.

Designing the plan

• Once you have decided the behavior you are going to address, decide on the behavior you are expecting from the student, and ensure it is phrased in a positive, measurable way.  For example, you want to work on “using walking feet” rather than “stop running in the hallway” or “raise your hand or put your thought in the parking lot” rather than “no interrupting”.  This is important for our kiddos to have that visual of the expected behavior.  You also want to make sure that the behavior is measurable so that staff can know when the student is earning.  “Being a good friend” is positive, but how will the student (and you!) know when they are being a good friend versus not?
• Outline the specifics of when and where to use the plan.  Just like you start off focusing on one behavior, you want to make it clear for everyone when the student is working towards their goal.  At first, maybe it makes sense to only target one time during the day.  Or, maybe the student starts over the behavior plan every subject.  If they are using it throughout the day, think about lunch/recess and specials.
• Have a menu of reinforcements and get the student’s input. A plan isn’t going to work if the reinforcement isn’t motivating to a student, it just isn’t.  I have used this one and this one with success.  For some kiddos, 5 minutes of Lego play is the ultimate reward, while others would love to help an adult in the school with a “special job”.  I typically like to give the teachers/staff 3 things that motivate the student so that each time, they can ask “Okay, what are you working for today?” and offer those 3.
• Decide on your initial goal for a reward.  Behavior plans are not going to fix a problem behavior in a day.  Even two days.  EVEN A WEEK.  So, starting out, you want to make your reward attainable for the student.  They aren’t going to be motivating my something they feel is “impossible to earn”.  So, maybe their goal is earning 3 tokens during rug time for the first week, then 4 the second, and 5 two weeks after that.
• Teach the skill you want the child to demonstrate.   Ik now I am using a lot of bold and capitalization in this post but this is also SO IMPORTANT.  We cannot expect a child to demonstrate a skill that we haven’t taught them, and are constantly reinforcing.  If their goal is using whole body listening on the rug, you need to teach them what that looks like BEFORE you start this plan.  If you are teaching them to raise their hand or “put it in the parking lot” instead of interrupting, you need to role play with them that looks like.  Then, keep reinforcing it throughout the use of the plan.
• Make it fun.  You want your students to be motivated by these, so make them fun.  I kid you not, I have at least 2 kids a year ask to be on a behavior plan (that do not need one).  For younger students and simple behavior plans, I like to find out what motivates the student and design the plan around that.  Students work toward earning pictures of footballs, Minecraft characters, and Lego men on their charts.  

Implementing the Plan

• Check in the day after the plan is implemented to see if there are any questions or concerns, then make sure to check in with the teacher every few weeks or so.  Change the number of tokens, mix up reinforcements, and once the student has mastered the goal and can do it consistently and independently, move on to your next goal, or put the plan aside for now.