Transcript Slide 1

PBSIS
NJ
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Function-Driven Problem Solving:
Tools & Process for Teachers to Address Emerging
and Repeated Behavior Issues in the Classroom
NJ PBSIS is a collaboration between the New Jersey Department
of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and The
Boggs Center, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. NJ
PBSIS is funded through the I.D.E.A. 2004, Part B Funds.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
• PBSIS is a collaboration between the New Jersey Department
of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and the
Boggs Center, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
Department of Pediatrics.
State Training Team:
•
•
•
Sharon Lohrmann, Ph.D •
Bill Davis, M.Ed
•
Scott McMahon, MSW
NJ DOE – OSEP Coordinator:
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Paula Raigoza, M.Ed
Blair Rosenthal, Ph.D
Purpose
• The purpose of this session is to provide
teachers with tools and a process for
planning function-based supports at the
classroom level for students engaging in
patterns of problem behavior not
responsive to classroom interventions. A
case example and practice activities will
illustrate application of the session
content.
At the end of this session
participants will…
1. …know how to operationally define a target behavior
2. …know the parts of a behavior pattern [setting
events- antecedent-behavior-consequence]
3. …develop a When-What-In Order To-Because
statement
4. …use the Intervention Planner to select functiondriven interventions
Guiding Principle to this Session
• How can we use function driven problem solving to
select interventions that have the greatest possibility
of success?
– Using a systematic process to gather information
– Applying a behavior pattern framework to interpret the
information collected
– Selecting interventions based on a hypothesis that
explains why behavior is occurring
Beyond Class Management Strategies
• When a student is engaging in behavior over
time and inconsistently responding to typical
class level strategies:
1. Define the behavior operationally
2. Document a baseline
3. Reflect on recent occurrences to identify the variables most
typically associated
4. Construct a hypothesis statement to explain function
5. Select interventions based on function
6. Implement interventions
7. Document response to intervention
8. Adjust intervention strategies as needed
Behavior
Pattern
Vocabulary
Explanation
Setting Event
(Before, During &
After)
A broad range of environmental and personal circumstances
that undermine our ability to cope and self manage
emotional responses by altering reinforcement value
Antecedent
(Before)
Events that immediately precede an occurrence of behavior
(referred to as a trigger)
Behavior
What the student says and does (Verbs)
Consequence
(During & After)
What adults say & do:
• Immediate responses
• Delayed responses
Reinforcement
The effect the consequence has on future occurrences of
behavior by getting the student something they want or
getting out of something unpleasant. Often referred to as
the ‘payoff’ for the behavior
Hypothesis or
Function
Statement
A succinct ‘when’ ‘what’ ‘in order’ statement that explains the
behavior pattern in context
Setting Events: A broad range of environmental and personal
circumstances that undermine our ability to cope and self manage emotional
responses by altering reinforcement value
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reinforcement history with people or settings
Medical-physiological Issues
Structure & organization of the environment
Relationships & social support with adults
Peer networks
Social & cultural influences
Antecedent
Trigger
What happens
right before the
behavior
Behavior
What the
student
says & does
Verbs not
adjectives
Immediate
Response
Delayed
Response
What adults &
peers say & do
in the moment
in response to
the student’s
behavior
What adults &
peers say & do
as a result of the
behavior at a
temporally
delayed time
Function: what the student is trying to ‘get’ or ‘get out of’ and explains8
why that outcome is important or relevant to the student
NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Operationally Define
the Target Behavior
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Operational Define
the Target Behavior
• The first and most important step to
intervention planning is to have an operational
definition of behavior:
– Allows you to more accurately document baseline and
progress
– Allows you to convey concerns using precise and judgment
free language
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Operational Define
the Target Behavior
• What does the student say & do that is a
concern?
• Characteristics of a measurable target behavior
definition:
– Verb-driven
– Smallest possible action
– Quantifiable
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Operational Define
the Target Behavior
• It often helps to write out one or two recent
occurrences of behavior using a ‘step by step’
approach to flush out the nuances of what is
happening.
• Think through step by step what happened.
–
–
–
–
What was the context?
What did the student do – how did you respond
What did the student do next – how did you respond
Continue until the incident reaches a conclusion
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Context
The bell rang
I was
instructing the
class to take
out their
notebooks
when Jason
walked into
class
What Jason did
How people responded
1. As he entered class he yelled “Yo! What’s up?”
to another student
1. The student smiled and nodded an
acknowledgement to Jason
2. Jason did not acknowledge my instructions and
continued walking to his seat
2. I asked Jason why he was late and told him to
take off his hat and put in on his desk
3. When he arrived at his seat, he dropped his bag 3a. The girl rolled her eyes and turned away
on the floor and leaned over and said something to
the girl next to him.
3b. I started the class on an assignment and
walked over to Jason. I told him to put his hat away
and instructed him to begin the assignment.
4. Jason made a noise, rolled his eyes, and shook
his head.
4. I prompted again to get started and walked
away checking on other students.
5. Jason did not begin working, he was looking
around and periodically made comments to other
students. He looked my way several times.
5. I returned to Jason and once again prompted
him to begin working
6. Jason began arguing with me, commenting that
the work was a waste of time, he made several
rude comments
6. Other students stopped working and were
looking over. I instructed Jason to make a “good
choice” about participating and that if he wasn’t
going to work he needed to sit quietly.
7. He said ‘You be quiet’, rolled his eyes, folded his 7. I told him to gather up his things and sent him to
arms, kicked the desk in front of him
the VP’s office
Definition for Jason

Signals that there may 
be a problem


Has a look of disquiet on his face
Fidgets with objects
Arrives late to class
Does not follow prompts or directions to the class











Stops working
Puts head down
Does not initiate following a personalized prompt
Makes comments during instruction
Blames others
Cursing or rude comments
Continually calling out
Making noises with mouth or objects
Persistent with trying to have the last word
Leaves assigned area/wander
Confrontational when actions are addressed
Initial occurrence
looks like:
Peak occurrence
looks like
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Self Check: Critique the
Definition for Jason
• Review the definition for Jason:
• Are you able to get a mental picture of what Jason is
doing?
• Did we use verbs?
– If not, make a suggestion
• Did we use the smallest possible action?
– If not, make a suggestion
• Could we keep a tally of these behaviors?
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NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Strategies for
Documenting a Baseline
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Document a Baseline
• Document baseline over a two week period
(minimum)
• Representative Sample: Vary when data is
collected to sample across routines, activities,
locations, time of day, and days of the week,
etc.
• Use peer comparisons: what is the frequency
of this behavior in comparison to other students
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in the class
Recording Baseline
Type
• Event
Recording
How many
times does
the behavior
occur?
Characteristics
• You can count the number of times
• Has a distinguishable start and end
• Smallest possible action
Example
• Michael called out
comments 6 times
during a 15 minute
whole group
instruction lesson
Considerations for Use:
• Use rubber bands, paperclips, post it notes, white board tally mark during
instruction
• Focus on 1 behavior (or behavior group) at a time
• Keep length of ‘recording time’ balanced across days (e.g., 20 minutes of math, 20
minutes of language arts, etc.)
• Summarize with an average
• On average out of seat occurred 3 times per class (range of 0-5)
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Teacher Tally Recording Example
Student: Jason
Instructions: Please use the calendar below to record the number of times the target behavior
occurred in your class. The behavior definition and clarifications for recording an occurrence are on
the reverse of this form.
Monday
3/31
Tuesday
4/1
Wednesday
4/2
Thursday
4/3
Friday
4/4
///*R
NDC
0
NDC
//
Monday
4/7
Tuesday
4/8
Wednesday
4/9
Thursday
4/10
Friday
4/11
NDC
//
NDC
//
//
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Looking for Patterns
• Scatterplots, tables, graphs and charts are
great ways to look for patterns in collected
data.
• Scatterplots can make sense of data collected
over time by matrixing occurrence, date and
routine
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Sample Data Form for Jason’s Teacher
Date: Wed 4/2
Class Routine
Number of times the behavior occurred during the
routine
Arrival to class /
Do Now
HW submission ///
Whole group //
Indep. Task //
1
0
3
2
2 R (sent to office)
Group work
R
Debrief R
Wrap Up
0
Daily Total 8 R
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Scatterplot Example for a Class Routine
Mon 3/31
Wed 4/2
Arrival to
class
0
Do Now
1
0
HW
submission
1
1
Whole group
2
Indep. Task
3
Fri 4/4
0
1
2
Tue 4/8
1
Wed 4/9
Totals
0
2
1
0
1
1
1
3
R1
2
3
3
2
1
2
R1
R
R
R
0
0
R
R
0
0
3
5
12
R1
10
R1
Group work
1
Debrief
0
Wrap Up
Daily Total
0
R
0
8
Yellow: 0 occurrence
1
R
6
5
R
R
Green: 1 Occurrence
0
0
0
7
7
35
R2
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Blue: 2 or more occurrences
Example Baseline Statements
• A total of 35 occurrences of behavior were recorded for 5 class
periods over 8 school days. On average Jason engaged in 7
occurrences of behavior per class period (r=5-8)
• On two occasions Jason was sent to the office.
• Target behaviors, most often occurred during the homework
submission, whole group and independent work routines.
– Homework submission: 5 occurrences total; 1x per class period
– Whole group:12 occurrences total; Removed 1x; Average 2x per class
period (r=2-3)
– Independent work: 10 occurrences total; Removed 1x; Average 2x per
class period (r=2-3)
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NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Reflecting on
Recent Occurrences of Behavior
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Function Based Information Tool (FBIT)
• Helps us to reflect on the most typical setting
events, antecedents and consequences that
are occurring
• Organizes our thinking into a succinct WHEN
WHAT IN ORDER TO statement that
provides a working frame for selecting
strategies
• Take out the sample F-BIT for Jason. Let’s
review the different sections and how a
teacher would use this tool
Practice Activity
• Review the antecedent triggers section of
Jason’s F-BIT
• Based on this teacher’s completion pattern,
make a list of the antecedent conditions
she identified a commonly problematic for
Jason
• Next make a list of the most typical
responses the teacher is using
Transition
0
Instruction
Planning
Prompting
Social relations
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Pressure to perform/respond
Situation is socially/emotionally stressful
Student has to share/compromise
Working with a partner in group
The student wants to socialize with preferred peer
The student is excluded from a group of students
Asked to submit homework/project
Asked to explain choice
Performance critique
Told no to request
Asked to cooperate with corrective request
Directed to start work
Student has to manage tasks
Student is faced with problem/dilema
Student does not have materials
Student does not know what to do
Math related tasks
Writing related tasks
Reading related tasks
Sustained effort or attention is needed to complete…
Working on a challenging assignment
Time to do an assignment
Whole group instruction is happening
There is unstructured time or delays in routines
There is a change in routine or personnel
Time to follow class routines
Transitioning between locations
Time to transition between activities
Time to end preferred activity
Entering/exiting class
F-BIT Summary for Jason from 5 Teachers: Problematic
Antecedent Triggers
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Construct a Hypothesis
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Most often,
Problem Behaviors Occur Because:
1. The expectations or routines are unclear or inconsistent “I
don’t know what to do or how to do it”; “It doesn’t matter,
you don’t get in trouble if you…”
2. There is a mismatch between the student’s academic level
and the material/tasks presented “I’m frustrated and
embarrassed”
3. The student has an unmet social-emotional need “I’m
lonely”; “Nobody likes me”
4. The students lack the skills necessary to meet the
expectations “I don’t know how to do it”; “I don’t know how
to express it”
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At this point you should have:
• An operational definition of the behavior
• A baseline summarized into the ‘average’
occurrence (frequency, duration, etc.)
• A list of the most typical antecedent/setting
events
• A list of positives/strengths/what works
The next step:
• Pull the information together to develop a
hypothesis that is organized into a succinct
statement explaining why behavior is
occurring:
– WHEN:
– WHAT:
– In ORDER TO:
– BECAUSE:
Understanding Behavior Patterns
Most behaviors serve one of two functions:
– To get something (obtain)
• Such as: attention, objects, sensory regulation
– To get out/ away from something (escape)
• Such as: tasks, embarrassment, people
• Once we understand the function….we can
come up with interventions
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Setting Events



Large settings, unstructured settings
Transitions that require moving from one
location to another
Appears unmotivated for academics; not
internalizing the benefits of learning;
Learning is a struggle– academics are hard for
him
Most Typical
Ant. Triggers
Whole group listening
Whole group Q & A
Prompt to follow a
direction
Reading tasks
Writing tasks
Challenging tasks
Prompt to start or keep
working
Prompt to turn in work
Asked to account for
behavior
Asked to comply with
school rule



Hard time letting go after incidents (let’s things
brew/stew). The effects of an incident will linger in
his disposition all day
Difficulty managing tasks, projects and assignments
Self-conscious about what other people think of him
Behaviors
Not initiating after personal
prompts;
Stopped working;
Put head down;
Commenting
during instruction;
Talking during work routine;
Cursing/Rude Comments;
Calling out;
Trying to have the last
word,
Arguing or debating;
Left assigned area;
Made noises with mouth or
objects
Immediate
Response
Redirections
Reprimands
Assistance
Work
Modification
Removal from
area
Delayed
Response
Meets with VP
Detention
OSS
Function
What is Jason trying to tell 35
us?
Tips for Writing a Function Statement:
• The function statement provides a working explanation for
why the student is having problems
• Look for persistently re-occurring information or themes
• Consider how pieces of information fit together to explain
what is happening
• Consider what might be the underlying reasons to explain the
function
• Draft the function statement like you are writing a story
Function Statement Should Include
• When [antecedent triggers]:
• What: [student behavior]
• In order to: [consequences + function]
• Because: [setting event explanation]
Explanations with Meaning
• OK:
– The function is to escape work
• Better:
– The function is to escape work that is challenging
and frustrates her
• Now we’re talking:
– The function is to escape work that is challenging
because vision impairments makes it difficult to see
text, adults hovering makes her feel pressured, and
work routines don’t take into consideration her need
for intermittent movement
Let’s Practice:
Function Statement for Jason
• Because: Jason (a) is experience home life
instability, (b) has difficulty managing tasks and
materials, (c) is a struggling reader and (d) is
self conscious of his social image
• When this happens….
• What: he…..
• In order to…
NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
Linking Function to Interventions
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Approaching the
Intervention Selection Process
•
Once a function statement if formulated, we
can begin the process of selecting
interventions
•
Interventions should be thought of as a
‘package of strategies’ that complement each
facet of the behavior pattern
Setting Event Interventions :
•What to do when it is obvious Jason is having a difficult day?
•What academic interventions are needed to address missing skills –
foundation knowledge?
•How can we increase the adult social support he receives?
MODIFY
Antecedent
Triggers
•Modification of
antecedent
triggers we
know are a
problem for
Jason
Skills to:
REINFORCE
Desired
Behaviors
Use
CONSISTENT
Responses
•Handle stressful
situations
•Increase social
praise ratio
•Enhance
academic
performance
•Develop an
incentive
system to
increase
motivation
• Implement a
consistent
redirection
protocol
across staff
TEACH
Replacement
•Help Jason be
prepared for
class
• What is said
• How it is said
Using the Intervention Planner
• Build plans based on combinations of strategies to
address the student’s needs
• Where appropriate, consider using strategies classwide
• Use the Intervention Planner to select strategies that:
– Pass the function test
– Use what you already know works
– Are linked to variables in each feature of the behavior patter
Let’s Practice Using the
Intervention Planner
• The complete Intervention Planner is available on
the flash drive you received with your registration
materials.
• Today we will practice how to select strategies to
use during whole group instruction:
– Strategies to prevent behavior: if we can predict it, we
can prevent it
• What should we modify
• What scaffolds should we add
• What skill can we teach
Using the Intervention Planner
Intervention Planning: The most effective interventions are those that match the function (reason) why the student is engaging
in problem behavior. Use the PBSIS Intervention Planning Tool to select strategies matched (1) specific items you generated in
the planning worksheet (i.e., antecedent and consequences) and (2) your working function statement. Consider the student’s
strengths and preferences in your decision to select specific strategies
Prevent
Behavior By:
Modify:
Scaffold:
Teach:
Reinforce
Positive
Behaviors
Praise
Incentive:
Redirect
Unwanted
behavior by:
Take Away Points
1. Be Solution-focused – focus on those things you
can influence
2. Invest in the information gathering process so
that you are able to understand why the behavior is
occurring and how best to support the student
3. Consistently use the behavior mapping framework
to guide information gathering, discussion, and
intervention development
4. Let function drive the selection of intervention
strategies
NJ
PBSIS
Helping Schools Build Systems of Support
www.njpbs.org
Visit the planning resources tab
for all our function-based problem
solving tools
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