Question #1: This seems to require a great deal of time, how do people do it?

Answer: This approach does require a considerable investment of time and other resources. Whether it requires more resources or not depends on how much your program is currently investing in response to negative behaviors, including: crisis intervention, additional personnel, other training, more restrictive class placements, other forms of planning, parent/teacher conferences, additional CSE meetings and other activities. Often, much of the time necessary for this type of assessment and intervention can be obtained from using time already spent dealing with the problematic behavior in other ways. While this approach often requires more time and effort up front, the long-range cost can be substantially less if the behavior is dealt with effectively. Even when the overall cost in resources is greater, this needs to be weighed against benefits like better educational performance, improved behavior and enhanced quality of life.

Question #2: How can this be done in a school by a teacher with 30 children in the class?

Answer: We don't recommend that teachers take on this type of assessment and planning for a difficult child, on their own, until they are well-versed in the approach. The assessment procedures and support planning approaches reviewed at the conference have been most effectively applied by teams of staff including regular and special education teachers, parents, related service providers (e.g. speech or occupational therapists), social worker or psychologist, crisis intervention personnel and an administrator.

Question 3: Do you have examples of a positive support plan for different students in a range of settings?

Answer: Yes! The attached plan was developed for a child with autism in a segregated special education class. This was originally presented as a case study in the Positive Strategies: Training Teams in Positive Behavior Support Handbook, and was recently adapted to the outline format included in your conference packet. Other examples will be available in the coming weeks.