Behavior Intervention

Behavior intervention refers to actions taken by school personnel, parents, and/or agency personnel to improve the behavior of school children. The focus of the interventions is limited to what are commonly referred to as behavior problems (or challenges) that are social, interpersonal, and emotional in their nature and effects; it does not address behaviors associated with poor achievement, such as reading, math or writing problems.

Developing, conducting, and monitoring behavior interventions with students (and their caretakers) are important activities for (at the very least) the following reasons:

• 1.
  Disruptive behavior is an impediment to the effective management of learning environments.
• 2.
  Student engagement in disruptive, unproductive behaviors often reduces the individual's educational progress and the progress of other students who are affected by these behaviors.
• 3.
  Students who do not learn positive social behaviors while in school tend to continue their inappropriate behavior in their adult years, resulting in immense costs to themselves and all other citizens.

Society in general governs the behavior of its citizens through regulations encoded in each state's guidelines for civil behavior. In the schools, the behavior of students is governed by regulations established in each state's Education Code, as well as in federal regulations pertaining to students with disabilities (Individuals With Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 1997). In addition, all school districts have codes of conduct that specify interventions (usually punitive and restrictive) to be taken in cases of serious behavioral transgressions by students. Finally, at the classroom level, everyone recognizes the need for structure, behavioral expectations (usually established as “classroom rules”), and methods for ensuring a peaceful, harmonious atmosphere in all school environments.

The federal government does not establish any specific guidelines in regard to the management of student behavior problems for students in general education classes. However, in the case of students who have been found or are suspected as being eligible for special education and related services (IDEA, 1997), or for those eligible for accommodations through section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the federal government has specified requirements, although not specific guidance, as to how to carry out these requirements. The final regulations governing IDEA, which were established in 1999, specify very little in terms of assessments or interventions, except to note that district personnel must conduct a “Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)” and, if appropriate, develop a “Positive Behavioral Intervention (PBI) Plan” for students whose behaviors impede their learning or the learning of others. Section 504 also requires accommodations (intervenions), but indicates no specific guidelines as to the nature or intensity of these accommodations.

The FBA is used as the basis for the development of a PBI. The purpose of the FBA is to gather information about the targeted behavior (type of behavior, intensity, duration, antecedents, etc.) and the (presumed) reason(s) the student engages in the behavior. Put briefly, the reasons are to get something (material objects, power, attention, revenge, etc.) or to avoid something (responsibility, blame, expectations, other people who are disliked or feared, etc.). Although IDEA specifies these activities only for students who are identified or suspected of having disabilities, school personnel may choose to use these or other approaches for nonidentified students.

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