Pyramid of Interventions for Behavior

1. Pyramid of Interventions for Behavior Cathy McKenzie, Ed.S.

2. “Givens”

3. “Givens”

4. Tier 1 - Foundations • Things to look for: • Physical setting • Posting of rules and routines • Commands / directions specific • Rate of positives to negatives • Students actively engaged (limit downtime) • Consistency

5. Tier 1 – Physical Setting • Plan ahead to prevent problems – • Arrange the classroom so it is easy to move around • Limit the number of students you or other students must walk by to get anywhere in the room • Make the environment happy but watch out for clutter which can be over-stimulating

6. Procedures Develop classroom procedures for things such as: • going to the restroom • sharpening pencils • getting tissue • asking for help • turning in completed work • lining up TEACH and REVIEW the procedures frequently Remember to have only a few people up and moving at once

7. Develop Classroom Rules • Limit the number of rules – about 3 to 5 rules for each classroom • Keep the wording of the rules simple – use pictures or icons to depict the rules as the elementary level • Have the rules logically represent your basic expectation for student behavior in your classroom • Keep the wording POSITIVE – state what they SHOULD do • Make your rules specific – the more ambiguous the more difficult they are to understand

8. Develop Classroom Rules (cont.) • Make your rules describe behavior that is OBSERVABLE and MEASURABLE • Publicly post the rules in a prominent place in the classroom • Number the rules to make it easy to reference the rules (e.g., Remember rule #1) • Always include a compliance rule. * source The Tough Kid Book by Ginger Rhode, William Jenson and H. Kenton Reavis

9. Exercise 1 • Reword these rules so they follow the guidelines provided: • Be responsible • Don’t blurt out in class • Be good • Respect others • No hairbrushes, lipstick, phones, iPods, or playing cards in class

10. Sample Rules • Bring only necessary items to class (paper, pencils, book, notebook) • Walk inside the building • Raise your hand and wait to be called on to speak • Remain in seat until given permission to get up • Follow directions the first time • Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself (KHFOTY – pronounced K-Phooty)

11. TEACH and REFER to the Rules • The first few weeks of school review the rules daily • Throughout the year review the rules, perhaps every Monday • Refer to the rules when praising students or when correcting students (e.g. Great job following rule #1! Or Remember rule #3). This helps to make the connection between the student’s behavior and the rules. This also reinforces the rules.

12. Actively Engaged Time & Consistency • Look to see that the students are actively engaged: • Good instruction that keeps students engaged also helps to prevent behavioral difficulties. • The more “downtime” the students have the more time they have to engage in inappropriate behaviors • Look to see that rules, praise and consequences are applied with consistency.

13. Alpha (Effective) Commands vsBeta Commands • Alpha commands – concise instructions that elicit a distinct outcome, are precise and temporally isolated, are specific and direct, are given one at a time, include a quiet tone of voice, are directive, are stated positively and are descriptive (e.g. “Please sit down.” or “Turn to page 22.”) • Beta commands – commands that do not include the qualities of Alpha commands - such as using a questioning format, are not specific or are multiple steps (e.g. “Will you sit down?” or “Don’t run in the hall.” or “Behave.”)

14. Praise / Reinforce Positive Behavior • Focus on the Positives • Reinforce behavior (not just academics) • Try for 4 positives to every 1 negative • Reinforcement should be specific • Move from frequent & tangible to intermittent & intrinsic

15. Data on Positive vs. Negatives • Positives for Behavior – any praise or reinforcement for appropriate behavior (e.g. “Thanks you Sally for raising your hand” or “Timmy is doing a good job standing in line.”) This includes giving tokens, check marks, stickers, candy, etc. • Positives for Academics – any praise or reinforcement for correct responses to academics, praise or reinforcement for attempting to answer an academic task (e.g. “Great answer!” or “Good thinking.”)

16. Data on Positive vs. Negatives • Negatives for Behavior – any correction, consequence or feedback indicating a behavior was inappropriate (e.g. “Move your clip” or “Tina is not being responsible.”) This includes taking away points or other items that result in loss of privileges, placement in time-out, or removal from the class. • Negatives for Academics – any feedback indicating the response to academics was incorrect (e.g. “No that’s wrong” or “No you are not listening”).

17. Data on Compliance • Based on 75 Classroom Observations from Pre-K through High School • Average 78% compliance with Alpha Commands • Average of 40% compliance with Beta Commands • Teachers that averaged over 80% compliance used Alpha commands an average of 87% of the time • Teachers that had at least 80% of commands being Alpha Commands AND had at least 3 positives for every negative (ratio of 3:1 positives to negative) had an average of 93% compliance (range 88% to 100%)

18. So what does this mean? • Teaching staff to use Alpha (effective commands) and to provide ratio of 4 positives to every negative sets a good foundation for classroom management. • This involves a change in communication style of the adults (change in their behavior). • This does not cost anything and involves no additional time (no loss of instructional time). • For a handout – go to www.interventioncentral.org and look at handout on Effective Commands

19. ActivityClassroom Observation Data • Are rules posted and clear? • What is the overall compliance ratio? • Alpha commands are used what percentage of the time? • What is the ratio of positives to negatives? • What recommendations would we provide to the teacher?

20. Data to Consider for moving from TIER 1 to Tier 2 or 3 • Time-Out / Opportunity Room referrals • Office Discipline referrals (ODR) • Attendance records (tardies and absences) • Class work / Homework Completion rates • # of visits to the counselor • Lack of participation in class discussion (# of times student raises hand to ask question or make comment) • Average # of points in class wide discipline plan

21. School wide Considerations • Do we have a system to analyze school wide ODR’s? • Can our system provide the following information? • Average number of ODR’s per day • Average number of ODR’s by time of day • Average number of ODR’s by location (classroom, bathroom, hallway, cafeteria, bus, etc.) • Average number of ODR’s by teacher • List of students with # of ODR’s in descending order

22. Remember • Telling is not teaching…. • …. And being told is not the same as being taught

23. Section 2Data Collection for Tiers 2 & 3 • Why Collect data? • Identify if the behavior / problem is student specific, class specific, grade level or school specific • Determine current frequency, intensity, duration and if this is different from behavior of other students • Track changes over time (response to intervention) • Identify antecedents / triggers to assist with functional behavior assessment • Georgia regulations

24. Data on 5 year old

25. Types of Data Collection • Frequency / Tally – count / tally the number of times the target behavior occurs within a defined time period. This is best for behaviors such as hitting, work completion, noises / calling out, tantrums, yelling • Duration – measures the length of time a student engages in a specific behavior. Record when the behavior begins and when it ends using a timing device. This is best for behaviors such as crying, on-task/off-task, completion time, tantrum, head down on desk, sleeping.

26. Types of Data Collection • Interval – the indication that a behavior occurred during an interval of time. This is used for high frequency behaviors. Choose a length of time interval, observe the student at the end of time interval and record the behavior. Repeat at least 10 times. This is best for behaviors that are very high frequency such as out of seat, talking, making noise, blurting out. • Latency – measures how long it takes to begin a behavior once a request / direction has been given. Time when request or prompt it given and the time until the student begins the requested behavior. This is good for things such as beginning an assignment or following a request

27. Behavior Calendar • Behavior Calendar – used for frequency data collection (not for long term data collection) • Be sure to write the student’s daily schedule down the left hand column prior to giving it to the classroom teacher • For MS and HS, use one that has just that class period and then combine all data later • Be sure to define the behaviors in concrete, observable terms

28. Child’s Name: Suzy Q Teacher: Mr. Jones

30. Behavior Codes - Data • A = Blurts out in class without permission = • 21+5+19+2+0+7+18+0 = 72 / 5 = about 14 times per day  • B = Gets out of seat without permission = • 17+1+5+2+0+14+4+3 = 46 / 5 = about 9 times per day • C = Calls another student a name such as “Fat head” or “Ugly face” = 9+5+4+3+12+0+0+9 = 42 / 5= about 8 times per day  • D = Completes class assignment without assistance = • 0+5+1+5+5+3 = 19/5 = average 3.8 per day (out of possible 6 per day or completes about 63% of work)

31. Behavior Calendar • Use for behavior that is somewhat frequent but not too frequent ( usually between 5 to 20 times per day) • Use for collection for baseline and to identify patterns of times of day • After establishing baseline, may only collect data once per week (randomly) or only during a specific time of day (10 – 10:50)

32. ABC Checklist • ABC Checklist – use for behaviors that are not high frequency (behaviors that are less than 10 times per day) • This form is easier for teachers to use as compared to anecdotal records or blank ABC charts • This form is not for in-depth FBA but may useful in the future if one is needed

33. Student Name (D.O.B.): ____________________________________ School / Building: _________________________________

34. Behavior Report Card Generator (frequency) • Behavior Report Card Generator (from www.interventioncentral.org ) – gets student involved and also used as part of the intervention • Lists the appropriate / desired behavior • Options for ways to rate the behavior (smiley faces, yes/no, scale of 1 –9, percentage, frequency, etc.) • Limit it to no more than 5 behaviors to be tracked • Has a daily form, weekly data chart and monthly data chart

35. Behavior Report Card Generator • The student traveled independently through the hallway, walking directly to his or her destination and not bothering other students or adults along the route. • The student kept hands to self and did not touch classmates or their property without permission. • The student completed and turned in his or her assigned class work on time. • The student spoke respectfully and complied with adult requests without argument or complaint. • The student used only appropriate language ( kind words, “Yes sir”, etc.) in all settings and did not swear.

37. Direct Student Observation (interval) • Classroom observation by someone else (school psychologist, SST chair, another teacher, para, etc.) • Use this for behaviors that are very frequent (3 to 5 times an hour or more) • At each 30 second or 1 minute interval, check what the student is doing at that exact time • May also wish to choose a typical student as a comparison student

39. Duration and Latency • Duration – use a stopwatch and start it when the behavior begins and stop it when the behavior ends. You should also note the date and time or class period. • Latency – give the command or direction and then start the stopwatch. Once the student complies or begins the requested behavior stop the stopwatch.

40. Tier 2 Interventions

41. Interventions are not . . . (NGa. GLRS, 2007) Change seats More of the same Shortened assignments Retention Parent conference

43. Check-In / Check-Out Program Students who you are concerned about and/or who are starting to act out but ARE NOT currently engaging in dangerous (e.g., extreme aggression, property destruction) or severely disruptive behavior (e.g., extreme noncompliance/defiance) would be good candidates for the CICO Program. Students who have problem behavior across the day and in different settings are good candidates for the program versus students who have trouble only at recess or during math. (check out www.pbis.org for more information or The Behavior Education Program by Leanne Hawken)

44. Check-In / Check-Out Program • Students involved in this program will check in with a staff member in the morning. • At Check In they receive a report card allowing them to have predictable times throughout the day to receive feedback from teachers/ adults. • A rating for the demonstration of the three school rules, being a safe, respectful, and responsible is assigned on the student’s report card. • The staff member and the student talk together, setting a goal of how many points the student will get that day.

45. Check-In / Check-Out Program • As they go through the day, they must periodically check in with their teacher to receive points. • At the end of the day they check out with a staff member who totals the points and discusses how the day went. • Students will bring home a report each day to let the parent know if they met their goal. There is a place for the parent to sign and then your child will bring the form back to school. Students can accumulate points to spend in various ways, like lunch with a teacher or computer time.

46. Good Behavior Game • The Good Behavior Game is an approach to the management of classrooms behaviors that rewards children for displaying appropriate on-task behaviors during instructional times. • The class is divided into two teams and a point is given to a team for any inappropriate behavior displayed by one of its members. • The team with the fewest number of points at the Game‘s conclusion each day wins a group reward. • If both teams keep their points below a preset level, then both teams share in the reward.

47. Good Behavior Game • The program was first tested in 1969; several research articles have confirmed that the Game is an effective means of increasing the rate of on-task behaviors while reducing disruptions in the classroom (Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969; Harris & Sherman, 1973; Medland & Stachnik, 1972). • Good Behavior Game – manual is available at www.interventioncentral.org

48. Doing the Dots (Homework Completion) • Purchase some peel and stick dots at you local office supply store. Cut them apart so you have all single dots. Tell the students they can earn dots for completing homework problems. For example, for each three problems completed the student earns one dot. The students can collect and accumulate the dots or use them as he/she wishes. One any given homework / class work assignment, the student may use a dot to exempt a problem. For example, if the assignment involves answering questions 1 -10, the student may place a dot next to problem 5 and skip that problem.

49. Doing the Dots (cont.) • This strategy helps to increase work completion but also provides the teacher with feedback about areas / information the student has difficulty with and may need more instruction about. • You may consider requiring a minimum item completion per assignment. Have the students complete these and then decide which of the remaining items they do not want to do. For example, all students must complete 1 -5. Items 6 – 10 become dot-able and if the students have 5 dots that may choose not to do any of them. • (Source – The Tough Kid Video Series and Strategies and Tactics for Effective Instruction)

50. Helpful Websites • www.interventioncentral.org • http://behavioradvisor.com/ • www.disciplinehelp.com • www.behaviordoctor.org (check out PIES book)