1. Functional Behavioral Assessments and Behavioral Intervention Plans
All children engage in behaviors that are sometimes disruptive to either their own learning or that of their peers. When children exhibit these behaviors on a reoccurring basis, schools, parents, and the student can work together to help reduce the unwanted conduct and increase desirable behaviors. Functional Behavioral Analyses (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs) are important tools to help students with
reoccurring difficult behaviors learn new, more positive coping strategies and skills.
The Wisconsin Department of Instruction (Special Education in Plain Language, 2007) does a nice job highlighting the IEP Team's role in addressing problem behavior in children identified with special needs. They assert that if a child has a good IEP that addresses his or her individual needs and provides the needed assistance for the child to be successful in the classroom, many undesirable behaviors can be avoided. If a child exhibits ongoing behavioral issues then the Team should ask the following questions:
o Is the IEP being implemented?
o Does the current IEP effectively identify all of the child's special needs?
o Is the child receiving all the services needed to learn?
o Is the child's placement a good fit?
o Is it appropriate to conduct a FBA in an effort to help the Team better understand the behavior and develop an appropriate BIP?
The key component to devising an effective Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) for your child is having a quality Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) conducted to gain insight into your child’s behaviors. An FBA is a behavioral assessment that helps to identify specific triggers and consequences associated with your child's problematic behaviors.
FBAs collect and analyze data to help determine the frequency of the negative behavior and the circumstances under which the behavior is likely to occur. All of this information is used to determine what function the misbehavior serves for the child and what may help prevent the behavior from occurring.
This information can then be used to help devise an effective intervention plan. A good behavior plan is individualized and data driven. It will set-up a method to address the undesired behavior, ways in which to build skills that will help reduce the negative conduct, and identify how to reinforce the desired, replacement behavior. BIPs should be evaluated and adjusted to maintain effectiveness on a regular basis. The BIP must be incorporated into your child's IEP for behaviors that result from his/her disability that impede learning or may violate the school’s code of conduct. When possible and appropriate, the BIP in place at school should be carried over into the home setting to help reinforce the school's efforts and provide consistency for your child.
2.The IEP, Misconduct, and Your Child's Special Needs
Schools are charged with the responsibility of keeping their students, staff, and others safe. Under federal law, children with special needs can be held to the same disciplinary standards and consequences as those of their peers with the exception of long-term
exclusion from education as a result of behaviors caused by the child's identified
disability. When developing an IEP, the Team should discuss the problem behaviors that are likely to occur due to their child's disability. Once these behaviors are identified, it should be predetermined whether or not the typical consequences associated with the misconduct are appropriate for your child. All of this information should be written into your child's IEP in order to avoid potentially serious problems in the future. Please remember, if school staff do not raise this issue in the IEP Meeting, you as the parent/guardian, should bring it up for discussion.
Following a student's tenth day of suspension in a single academic year, or when the student's conduct results in a change of placement, the school is required to provide the special education services laid out within the IEP outside the school setting so that the student may continue working toward their IEP goals and receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
3. Manifest Determination Team Meeting
A Manifest Determination Team meeting must be held before a student can be suspended for more than ten school days in a single academic year. The district, the parent(s), and relevant members of the IEP team participate in the Hearing. The Hearing must be held within ten days with a minimum of five days written notice to the parents. A parent may waive the five-day notification requirement, if they’d like to meet sooner. At the Manifest Determination Hearing, two questions must be answered:
1. Is the student's misconduct a direct result of the district's failure to fully implement the IEP?
2. Does the student's misconduct have a direct and substantial relationship to his/her disability?
If the answer is "yes" to either question then the student’s behavior is determined to be a direct manifestation of his/her disability and the following steps must be taken
immediately.
a. If the IEP has not been appropriately implemented the district must take immediate steps to remediate this.
b. An FBA must be conducted and a BIP created. Or, if a plan already exists, appropriate modifications should be made to that plan.
c. The student should be immediately returned to their regular placement unless (1) the parent(s) and district agree to an alternative placement, (2) a hearing officer orders a change of placement, or (3) the student has been removed due to "special circumstances" as reviewed in the following section.
If the answer is "no" to both questions then the student’s behavior is determined to not be a manifestation of his/her disability and the following steps must be taken.
a. The relevant disciplinary procedures for the student’s specific act of misconduct should be implemented, consistent with the action taken against a peer engaging in similar acts of misbehavior.
b. FAPE must be reviewed in order to ensure that the student is able to continue with the general education curriculum and progress toward his/her IEP goals for the duration of the disciplinary action.
c. Appropriate FBA, BIP, or modifications to existing plans should be conducted.
d. The student should return to his/her placement at completion of the disciplinary action unless (1) the parent(s) and district agree to an alternative placement or (2) the student has been expelled.
4. Removal from Current Placement Due to Certain Conduct
A student may have a change in placement due to behavioral difficulties at any time when agreed upon by the IEP Team and parents; however, when a student's conduct falls within the category of "special circumstances" (i.e., involving weapons, drugs, illegal substances, or serious bodily harm), he or she may be moved to an Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) for a period of up to forty-five days, regardless of the Manifest Determination. The IEP Team will determine what Interim Alternative Educational Setting is appropriate for the student.
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