Re: Re: Behavior Intervention Plan - Tina

[Guest guest]

Tina,

Hopefully you can find someone independent who is very good at the task.

Angie Delvin-Brown, Ed.D. is an Educational Consultant and also has a minor in

Special Education Law and is the person who wrote the explanation of FBA's and

BIP's that I shared. She also helped write some of the special ed laws in our

state and has worked in many levels of education. She cares very much about

children, has been a teacher and having seen these issues from school, state,

parental and advocacy angles really understands where changes should be made and

how to best advise parents and staff.

I am sharing her name with her permission because I know some of the

members are also on our list. Don't shy away from using a

former educator. Most of the really tough advocates that I know used to be

teachers and got fed up with the system and being unable to do what is " right " .

Find some good local support lists for special ed and ask who those members

would recommend to do this sort of eval for you (someone PRO child). Most

people do not do as thorough an eval as Angie does and evals can be done very

poorly if you aren't careful. I agree with you, I would shy away from using the

school staff because it would be difficult for them to view things from an

objective perspective. Make sure you know the credentials of the person doing

the eval. It is easier to reject a person before an eval than to shoot down a

bad eval later.

Many times these evals do show that the teacher is not effectively managing

their class, although I wouldn't mention that when you broach the topic with

them. Another reason you might want to find a local list is to find out what

your laws are in regard to these evals. As you read in the states these evals

are by federal law " supposed " to be a consideration of every IEP. Perhaps this

will be the case where you are. Here you would submit a written (email) request

for an eval and state the understood timeline by which the eval must legally be

completed. I don't know what Canada's timelines are.

BIP's are the types of safeguards that keep schools from calling the police on

8 year old kids with severe sensory issues who are not having those needs

remediated properly through their schools (and of course have meltdowns as a

consequence) or 14 year old kids with Aspberger's or Bipolar disorder.

I always advise parents to seek this safeguard sooner than later - before they

have set a written history of your child as a " problem " . Failure for a school

to comply with a BIP can be reason for due process in court and compensatory

services as well.

Let us know how things work out!

Brigett

laviedesenfants <laviedesenfants@...> wrote:

Thank you so much, this is so very helpful to me. I know my son has 2

behavior issues - due to language impairment

1- loud

2- can get too active

I would love to know what to do with these behaviors .

he isn't at all aggressive or mean... he's kindhearted to a fault

Thanks for the information, I will look into it in the New Year. I

will go for outside evals only though , to obtain unbiased opinions.

Tina

>

> Tina,

>

> The below information is in regard to the states, but I am sure

there is something comparable to this in Canada. I have put an

explanation of FBA's and BIP's. The person who wrote this is very

respected in the industry for her evals and recommendations. I asked

her to write an explanation of the process for a list I moderate so

other parents could make use of this often unpursued area of their

child's rights. The FBA is the assessment/observation portion. The

BIP is the document which encompasses the recomendations and

strategies to be made a part of the IEP document.

>

> " Brigett,

> A BIP is tremendously helpful for many students with disabilities.

In order to get to that point of positive interventions for a

student, it is absolutely necessary to understand the nature of the

behavior, the function it serves and the conditions surrounding the

behavior.

>

> The same behavior in several different children may result from

many , varied reasons.

> Having said that, the approach I both advocate and use includes

examining the behavior, its antecedent and consequence, but is more

of an ecological approach. I look at the school day---over several

days. I examine not just the behavior in isolation, looking for what

preceded it and what followed it, but the atmosphere in the class,

the expectations,

> communication, the task demands, teacher(s) input, parent input,

directions, noise, engagement, level of support, and more. So many

kids with disabilities are either blamed for things that are a

function of their disability or they are ignored and considered to

be " rude, unengaged, disrespectful, etc " . If we don't understand

the NATURE of the disability, we cannot be successful helping to

shape positive, successful behavior. That is where we

> must begin.

>

> After that, we put the pieces together of the classroom matched

with the nature of the disability and begin a plan that will need to

be consistently implemented, with data collection in order to

continually adjust as necessary. Some people think that once the BIP

is in place, everything should be fixed. Nothing could be farther

from the truth. It is the tweaking and adjusting that helps us learn

from the student's responses whether we are on the right track or not.

>

> The other huge piece is the implementation. In defense of

classroom teachers, if they neither understand the nature of the

student's disability and its effect on learning and behavior, and

then do not understand the why's of the behavior intervention plan,

the whole process will be flawed and doomed to failure. We MUST do a

better job of helping

> classroom teachers with these things. More often than not, I see

classroom

> teachers, when provided adequate understanding and support, use

many of the

> positive behavioral supports in their classroom with all students,

not just

> students with disabilities. That's when you know someone " got it " .

>

> Functional behavioral assessments have been required under IDEA.

An examination of behavior when it is inconsistent with school

expectations has always been good practice and continues to be such.

When parents see a pattern of a student's behavior that is resulting

in lack of academic or social progress, they should request that a

functional behavioral assessment be conducted if standard / other

intervention procedures to intervene have not been successful. This

request can be to the special education teacher or more formally in

writing to the special education director, with or without an IEP

meeting. If you are dissatisfied with the school's evaluation, you

can request an independent evaluation As

> much as it is unpleasant to admit, an outside, objective source can

often observe things that school personnel may not see of feel

comfortable reporting. As a parent, you may also ask to observe in

the classroom and if things don't appear to be conducted as they

should, after conference with the teacher, that can also give more

credence to your request. Just remember, getting a thorough and

detailed evaluation is just the beginning. It's the

> plan and its implementation that will make the difference---if the

premise behind it is on the right track.

>

> I hope this helps. Thanks for the opportunity to give input. "

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Tina,

Hopefully you can find someone independent who is very good at the task.

Angie Delvin-Brown, Ed.D. is an Educational Consultant and also has a minor in

Special Education Law and is the person who wrote the explanation of FBA's and

BIP's that I shared. She also helped write some of the special ed laws in our

state and has worked in many levels of education. She cares very much about

children, has been a teacher and having seen these issues from school, state,

parental and advocacy angles really understands where changes should be made and

how to best advise parents and staff.

I am sharing her name with her permission because I know some of the

members are also on our list. Don't shy away from using a

former educator. Most of the really tough advocates that I know used to be

teachers and got fed up with the system and being unable to do what is " right " .

Find some good local support lists for special ed and ask who those members

would recommend to do this sort of eval for you (someone PRO child). Most

people do not do as thorough an eval as Angie does and evals can be done very

poorly if you aren't careful. I agree with you, I would shy away from using the

school staff because it would be difficult for them to view things from an

objective perspective. Make sure you know the credentials of the person doing

the eval. It is easier to reject a person before an eval than to shoot down a

bad eval later.

Many times these evals do show that the teacher is not effectively managing

their class, although I wouldn't mention that when you broach the topic with

them. Another reason you might want to find a local list is to find out what

your laws are in regard to these evals. As you read in the states these evals

are by federal law " supposed " to be a consideration of every IEP. Perhaps this

will be the case where you are. Here you would submit a written (email) request

for an eval and state the understood timeline by which the eval must legally be

completed. I don't know what Canada's timelines are.

BIP's are the types of safeguards that keep schools from calling the police on

8 year old kids with severe sensory issues who are not having those needs

remediated properly through their schools (and of course have meltdowns as a

consequence) or 14 year old kids with Aspberger's or Bipolar disorder.

I always advise parents to seek this safeguard sooner than later - before they

have set a written history of your child as a " problem " . Failure for a school

to comply with a BIP can be reason for due process in court and compensatory

services as well.

Let us know how things work out!

Brigett

laviedesenfants <laviedesenfants@...> wrote:

Thank you so much, this is so very helpful to me. I know my son has 2

behavior issues - due to language impairment

1- loud

2- can get too active

I would love to know what to do with these behaviors .

he isn't at all aggressive or mean... he's kindhearted to a fault

Thanks for the information, I will look into it in the New Year. I

will go for outside evals only though , to obtain unbiased opinions.

Tina

>

> Tina,

>

> The below information is in regard to the states, but I am sure

there is something comparable to this in Canada. I have put an

explanation of FBA's and BIP's. The person who wrote this is very

respected in the industry for her evals and recommendations. I asked

her to write an explanation of the process for a list I moderate so

other parents could make use of this often unpursued area of their

child's rights. The FBA is the assessment/observation portion. The

BIP is the document which encompasses the recomendations and

strategies to be made a part of the IEP document.

>

> " Brigett,

> A BIP is tremendously helpful for many students with disabilities.

In order to get to that point of positive interventions for a

student, it is absolutely necessary to understand the nature of the

behavior, the function it serves and the conditions surrounding the

behavior.

>

> The same behavior in several different children may result from

many , varied reasons.

> Having said that, the approach I both advocate and use includes

examining the behavior, its antecedent and consequence, but is more

of an ecological approach. I look at the school day---over several

days. I examine not just the behavior in isolation, looking for what

preceded it and what followed it, but the atmosphere in the class,

the expectations,

> communication, the task demands, teacher(s) input, parent input,

directions, noise, engagement, level of support, and more. So many

kids with disabilities are either blamed for things that are a

function of their disability or they are ignored and considered to

be " rude, unengaged, disrespectful, etc " . If we don't understand

the NATURE of the disability, we cannot be successful helping to

shape positive, successful behavior. That is where we

> must begin.

>

> After that, we put the pieces together of the classroom matched

with the nature of the disability and begin a plan that will need to

be consistently implemented, with data collection in order to

continually adjust as necessary. Some people think that once the BIP

is in place, everything should be fixed. Nothing could be farther

from the truth. It is the tweaking and adjusting that helps us learn

from the student's responses whether we are on the right track or not.

>

> The other huge piece is the implementation. In defense of

classroom teachers, if they neither understand the nature of the

student's disability and its effect on learning and behavior, and

then do not understand the why's of the behavior intervention plan,

the whole process will be flawed and doomed to failure. We MUST do a

better job of helping

> classroom teachers with these things. More often than not, I see

classroom

> teachers, when provided adequate understanding and support, use

many of the

> positive behavioral supports in their classroom with all students,

not just

> students with disabilities. That's when you know someone " got it " .

>

> Functional behavioral assessments have been required under IDEA.

An examination of behavior when it is inconsistent with school

expectations has always been good practice and continues to be such.

When parents see a pattern of a student's behavior that is resulting

in lack of academic or social progress, they should request that a

functional behavioral assessment be conducted if standard / other

intervention procedures to intervene have not been successful. This

request can be to the special education teacher or more formally in

writing to the special education director, with or without an IEP

meeting. If you are dissatisfied with the school's evaluation, you

can request an independent evaluation As

> much as it is unpleasant to admit, an outside, objective source can

often observe things that school personnel may not see of feel

comfortable reporting. As a parent, you may also ask to observe in

the classroom and if things don't appear to be conducted as they

should, after conference with the teacher, that can also give more

credence to your request. Just remember, getting a thorough and

detailed evaluation is just the beginning. It's the

> plan and its implementation that will make the difference---if the

premise behind it is on the right track.

>

> I hope this helps. Thanks for the opportunity to give input. "

>

__________________________________________________