Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Name and Student Number: Koh Jia Min (2169812)

Assignment 2: Behaviour Support Plan

Address Proactive Antecedent Strategy Measures

Based on the analysis of the “Student-Centred Functional Behaviour Assessment

Profile” for targeted student, Sara, detailed improvements on ways to mitigate the

challenging behaviour in different areas are stated in the following paragraphs.

a) Classroom Climate

The ratings for “Physical Space”, “Classroom Procedures and Routines” are well

established and used consistently. Hence, improvements would be made in other

factors. The following are detailed enhancement that the classroom teachers can

adapt:

Supervision/Monitoring

Improvements to be made Details

Provide an overt signal as a Harris & Goldberg (2013) highlighted that when

technique to gain student’s choosing an attention signal, the age and ability level

attention of the students have to be considered. Hence,

classroom teachers can pick a simple “Give me 5”

where teacher raises her hand and verbally asks and

waits for student for attention. This method is not

only developmentally appropriate for Sara and her

classmates (who are between 4-5 years old); it is

also easily maintained across teachers.

Use active supervision Active supervision involves teachers walking around

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

procedures the classroom, scanning and using proximity to

support appropriate student behaviour with frequent

interactions with students (Reinke, Herman & Sprick,

2011; Sailor, Dunlap, Sugai & Horner, 2009).

Hence, teachers should move around different areas

in the classroom actively and provide feedback to

individuals or as a group in relation to the nature of

tasks they are working on. At the same time, with

teachers at close proximity, it can serve classroom

management technique to prevent inappropriate

behaviour from occuring/escalating.

Predicting problems with One intervention that the classroom can initiate is

appropriate strategy “Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA)”, an

evidenced-based practice that has been proven to be

effective especially for students from 0 to 22 years

who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

(ASD) (Wong et al., 2014) as a process of collecting

data to determine functions of problem behaviour.

Teachers will thereby be able to predict problems

and respond accordingly.

For example, one method to prevent problem

behaviour from occurring after FBA is that teachers

may redirect an individual’s behaviour by first gaining

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

his or her attention then encourage the child to

engage in appropriate behaviour; such “Redirection”

strategy is preferred as it does not draw attention to

the misbehaviour (Shepherd & Linn, 2015).

Classwide system of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

Improvement to be made Details

 “Teach, Model, Even though classroom rules and expectations are

Practice and Praise” reminded verbally everyday, it is not sufficient to

classroom rules develop appropriate student’s behaviour. It is

 Corrective feedback to significant that teachers actively teach and reteach

be given rules. Reinke, Herman & Sprick (2011) noted the

steps in doing and that is to “Teach, model, practice

and praise”. After teaching the rules, teachers can

model positive and negative examples of the rules.

Opportunities should be provided for students to

practice executing them and lastly, teachers should

acknowledge when students are able to follow. It is

mentioned by Stormont, Lewis & Beckner (2005) that

when teachers highlight the occurrence of behaviour

in context i.e. specific label of appropriate behaviour,

it serves as positive reinforcement of their behaviour

and increases the possibility of wanting to engage in

it again.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Corrective feedback can be given to students when

they are not following the behaviour expectations.

Effective feedback should point out what behaviour

to be displayed and catered to the individual’s

developmental level needs (Kolbert & Crothers,

2013). Teachers should aim to provide one corrective

feedback to every three praise statements (Kolbert &

Crothers, 2013).

The rating for “Active Engagement” received a “Fair” where most of the indicators

are in place though requiring teachers to implement and practice it consistently.

Teachers however, have to note on the indicator: “Precorrects are given before

transitions”; which is in line with classroom wide PBS. Teachers are reminded to

state the expectations of behaviour before transiting to the next activity.

b) Academics and Communication

Academics

With reference to assignment 1, it has been noted that the curriculum content to be

taught for the semester are individualised based on student’s needs and discussions

with their respective Individualised Educational Program (IEP) team members. The

curriculum goals are deemed to be age and developmentally appropriate for Sara

with the input from parents and professionals’ advises.

For Sara, she is knowledgeable with letters names and sounds as well as simple

matching and categorising. There is no major concern except for the struggles she

has with pre-writing demands.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

As pre-writing skills are the fundamental skills that children require to develop before

they start to write (Kid Sense Child Development, 2013), it becomes necessary to

educate the child to successfully tolerate the activity that she is attempting to escape

so that it will not result in a compromised curriculum (Behnke, 2006). Furthermore,

her IEP members feel that she is ready for simple tracing and imitation of

lines/shape, as she has demonstrated her knowledge in identifying different

categories like shapes and letters.

One support that the classroom teacher can do is to make pre-writing tasks

meaningful and enjoyable for her. Jong (2005) highlighted that a relevant and

engaging curriculum is one of the best practices to address student behaviour

issues. Since Sara’s interest revolves around the theme of animals, teachers can:

 Make pre-writing relevant by demonstrating to her that the ability to hold and

move a pencil fluently can enable you to create drawings of animals.

 Make it engaging by getting her to trace dotted lines that lead to the

completion of animals’ pictures.

Communication

Sara is diagnosed with ASD, which is characterized by impairments in social

interaction, communication and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviours

(American Psychiatric Association, 2000). As discussed in the previous paper, Sara

speaks in 2-4 words phrases and/or sentences though sometimes it may be

unintelligible because of the difficulties in articulation of some sounds. However, it is

noted that she is clear when verbalising, “Teacher, help me.”

Even though Sara knows how to ask for help, she is usually not spontaneous in

doing so unless when prompted with the visual cue of sentence strip, “Teacher xx,

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

help me.” This skill has to be taught in different contexts, activities and with different

adults before she acquires that she can ask for help in that particular situation.

Individuals with ASD demonstrated issues associated with spontaneity of

communication (Chiang & Carter, 2008). The lack of this skill may be a contributing

factor to her problem behaviour; i.e. does not know how to seek help when needed.

Since it is one of the deficits associated with the traits of ASD and it has been proven

to be an effective method to use visual prompt to help her in verbalising her wants

and needs, classroom teachers should be consistent in teaching her how to request

for help with the aid of visual cue. Fading of prompt should only be done after she

has mastered the skill.

Medical, Health and Sensory Concerns

Sara has delayed gross and fine motor skills resulting in low muscle tone and

strength on top of lack of exposure in motor activities. After parents were informed of

the concerns by the occupational therapist (OT) in the early intervention centre, they

have then enrolled her in private OT sessions. Other than enhancing her gross

motor skills during the therapy sessions, graphomotor skills and handwriting

readiness are another focus.

Both therapists and teachers will incorporate activities targeted on improving isolated

finger movements and motor strength. Below are examples of what were

recommended by the OTs:

 Fine motor activities such as pushing fingers into play dough or putty, clipping

pegs, threading and finger plays can be done to improve on her

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

proprioceptive input, finger coordination and strength (Hooper & Umansky,

2008, Flora, 2006).

 Provide opportunities to experience gross motor activities in the gym such as

crawling in order to promote her shoulder stability. Improved shoulder stability

can provide her with better control in writing tools (Hooper & Umansky, 2008).

Behaviour Objective

Based on the FBA data collected, an intervention program based on the following

behaviour objective is developed:

When Sara is presented with activity sheets that require her to use a writing tool

during independent seat work and 1:1 work with teacher, she will be able to remain

seated while seeking for teacher’s assistance verbally when prompted with a visual

cue, “Teacher xx, help me,” and thereby completing her tasks, by the end of 3 weeks

(9 sessions).

Preference Assessment

Motivation is the key to organising learning of various skills. To get the child

motivated to learn, a reinforcer can be rewarded to encourage him or her. According

to Miller (2006), a reinforcer is any activity or stimulus that follows after a desired

behaviour to increase the probability of that behaviour to be repeated under similar

conditions. A three-step process is used to determine what a student likes (Frost &

Bondy, 2002):

1. Interview parents and significant others who have worked with student to find

out what she likes.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

2. Observes student in an unstructured environment, i.e. assess student’s

preferences when given free access to various items. The items that student

picks most frequently or spends most of her time with is probably the most

reinforcing.

3. Conduct a reinforcer assessment to find out which items are the most

preferred reinforcers. The observations that teachers will be looking out for

include how the child reacts when offered an item, what the child does with it,

what happens when it is removed and what the response when item is offered

again.

The three-step process is conducted for Sara and is found in Appendix A, B and C.

A includes forms (Frost & Bondy, 2002) that are completed by parents and class

teachers based on their observations in unstructured situations.

B includes reinforcer assessment (Frost & Bondy, 2002) based on the information

gathered in A.

C includes Reinforcer hierarchy to determine the most preferred reinforcer when

presented with a pool of 2-3 items that have been determined to be the “most

preferred”.

The summary of Sara’s preferred reinforcers is as followed:

1. Animal figurine toys Highly preferred reinforcer

2. Animal stickers

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

3. Play-dough

4. Storybooks (with animals)

5. Song (ipad) Least preferred reinforcer

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 Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Completing Behaviour Model and Behaviour Support Plan

Behaviour Objective:
When Sara is presented with activity
(O’Neil, Horner, Albin, Sprague & Storey 2015)
sheets that require her to use a writing
tool during independent seat work and
1:1 work with teacher, she will be able to
remain seated while seeking for Desired Behaviour: Maintaining
teacher’s assistance verbally when consequences:
prompted with a visual cue, “Teacher xx, Remain seated while
help me,” and thereby completing her completing her pre- Specific praise from
tasks, by the end of 3 weeks (9 writing activity sheet teacher and receive
sessions). reinforcer

Problem Behaviour: Maintaining

Setting Event: Antecedent: Consequences:
Crawl under the table
Delayed fine motor When presented with and remain there Receive support to
skills (low muscle tone pre-writing activity sheet complete work
and strength) and writing tool

Positive Alternate
Behaviour:

Seek for teacher’s

assistance verbally
when prompted with a
visual cue, “Teacher xx,
help me.”
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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812
Irrelevant
Setting Events Strategies
(Home and Intervention
Programme with
occupational therapists) To
Provide opportunities to:
 Refine fine motor skills
and proprioceptive
input such as pushing
fingers into play dough
 Enhance shoulder
stablity to provide
better control when
using writing tools
Topic Code: DSRS3221
List strategies that make problem behaviour
Ineffective Inefficient
Antecedent Strategies Instructional Strategies Consequence Strategies
 Incorporate interests of  (Proximity of teacher
When problem When desired or
animals into activity and student) Teach
behaviour occurs: alternative behaviour
sheets (more alternate behaviour of
 Corrective occurs:
meaningful) seeking for teacher’s
feedback to  Immediately
 Temporarily reduction assistance verbally
be given respond to
of work by breaking when prompted with a
 Redirect student’s use
work into smaller visual cue, “Teacher
Sara to use of skill
chunks or modify xx, help me.” (at the
appropriate  Provide
activity sheets to make first sign of distress)
strategies to specific praise
it less demanding  Teach rules and
ask for help when she
 Provide opportunities expectations
completes her
for choices. Either  Practice expected
work
A. Choose from two behaviour in class
 Provide a
activity sheets (teacher to respond
reinforcer
B: Choose from two immediately to her
(animal figurine
writing tools (pencil or request for help)
toy) to play
marker)
with
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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Rationale

Setting Events

One possibility that Sara engages in the challenging behaviour could be because of

her delayed fine motor skills that result in low muscle tone and strength. She may

find it challenging to control writing tool. Thus, strategies that revolve around

enhancing her fine motor skills and proprioceptive input are developed which are

explained earlier in this paper under “Medical, Health and Sensory Concerns”.

Antecedent

Prevention through Curriculum Change

One type of antecedent interventions involves modifying a task associated with the

problem behaviour so that it incorporates student interests or preferences (Bambara,

Janney & Snell, 2015). The objective of such type of intervention is to reduce the

aversive characteristics of the task (Special Connections, n.d.). Further explanation

on how to include Sara’s interests has been explained under “Academics and

Communication”.

Prevention through Altering Antecedents

Antecedent adjustments can be used as temporary interventions in a behaviour

support plan where changes are made until student learns how to manage things

themselves (Bambara, Janney & Snell, 2015). To adjust task that student may view

as complex, teacher may reduce the effort by temporarily break Sara’s activity sheet

into smaller chunks; making it (appears) less demanding. For example:

 From an A4 size activity sheet, adjust it into A5 paper.

 From tracing 3 tasks into 1-2 tasks.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Prevention through Choice Making

Boutot & Tincani (2009) highlighted that some academic situations can be

challenging for children with ASD and providing choices in such situations are

effective in increasing on-task responding and reducing escape-motivated behaviour.

Special Connection (n.d.) also noted that providing a student several choices at the

onset of an activity could increase academic responding, even when the student

does not prefer the choices between the tasks. The strategies that are used in this

behaviour model are to provide Sara access choice of 1) materials to use such as

pencils and makers 2) specific activity sheets.

Instructional

The next step of the intervention is to teach an effective and socially appropriate

behaviour. However, it is unlikely that the student will simply begin to exhibit the

desired behaviour; hence, replacement behaviour is identified. The replacement

behaviour is described as small steps towards the desired behaviour, which is a

response that is more acceptable than the problem behaviour (Sailor, Dunlap, Sugai

& Horner, 2009). In addition, the replacement behaviour should work and function as

easily as the problem behaviour.

The team has identified that the replacement behaviour would be to seek for

teacher’s assistance verbally when prompted with a visual cue, “Teacher xx, help

me.” As mentioned, even though Sara knows how to ask for help, she is usually not

spontaneous in doing so unless when prompted. This may be because

generalisation of skills in various settings can be challenging for individuals with ASD

(Luiselli, 2011).

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

With various methods for teaching alternative skills provided in (Bambara, Janney &

Snell, 2015), the team has selected three methods to teach both alternate behaviour

and class rules:

1. Modelling of behaviour - to teach Sara’s the expected behaviours (class rules)

she should exhibit during “Independent Seat Work” and “Work with Teacher”.

2. Prompting and shaping – As some students require prompts/cues to help

them remember when to use the skill learnt in a functional manner (Sailor,

Dunlap, Sugai & Horner, 2009), class teachers will continue to make use of

visual prompt to elicit the learnt skill of requesting for help.

3. Behaviour Rehearsal- Practice role playing or rehearsing the alternate skill

under conditions that are controlled by teachers.

Consequence of problem behaviours

Corrective feedback can be given to students when they are not following the

behaviour expectations. Effective feedback should point out what appropriate

behaviour to be displayed and catered to the individual’s developmental level needs

(Kolbert & Crothers, 2013). Teacher can then redirect student to the appropriate

replacement behaviour that she was supposed to exhibit; at the same time provide

opportunities for reinforcement of behaviour (Bambara, Janney & Snell, 2015).

Consequence of desired or replacement behaviour

When Sara displays desired or replacement behaviours, teacher will respond

consistently and immediately to her request for help. When student receives the

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

same outcome of the problem behaviour, the positive behaviour (skill) is being

reinforced (Bambara, Janney & Snell, 2015).

Teacher will also provide specific praises accordingly, for example: 1) “Nice asking

for help!” 2) “I like it when you sit on chair and finish your work.” Bambara, Janney &

Snell (2015) stated that an effective praise is one that communicates what exactly

the student did well and acknowledging the positive behaviour is an effective method

to improve prosocial behaviour.

However, it was noted by Ingersoll & Dvorcsak (2011) that children with ASD may

not be reinforced by praise in the same way as neurotypical children. Hence, praise

statements are often presented along with desired reinforcer so that the social praise

will eventually function as reinforcer (Tarbox, Dixon, Sturmey & Matson, 2014).

Thus, the preferred reinforcers (e.g. animal figurine toys) that were identified in the

section of “Preference Assessment” will be provided for Sara to play with for 5-10

minutes when she displays the above stated behaviours. Teachers may consider

allowing longer playtime when Sara completes work without asking for assistance

(reinforce desired behaviour).

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Evidence of effectiveness

The baseline data collection form reflected in the previous paper will continue to be

used to take down the number of occurrence of behaviours when intervention takes

place. The aim of this support plan is to bring the daily occurrence of behaviour to

zero by 9 sessions. This behaviour plan is effective only when number of occurrence

is completely eliminated as can be seen in figure 2.

Figure 2.

Daily occurrence of behaviour

3.5
3
Baseline Intervention
2.5
2
1.5
1
Daily occurrence of
0.5 behaviour
0
12 October 2016
13 October 2016
14 October 2016
19 October 2016
20 October 2016
21 October 2016
26 October 2016
27 October 2016
28 October 2016

10 November 2016
11 November 2016
16 November 2016
17 November 2016
18 November 2016
2 November 2016
3 November 2016
4 November 2016
9 November 2016

Other than recording data on the occurrence of targeted behaviour, teachers may

consider collecting data on the use of alternative skill that was taught in the

intervention (Bambara, Janney & Snell, 2015).

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disorders. (4th ed. text revision). Washington, DC: Author.

Bambara, L.M., Janney, R., & Snell, M.E. (2015). Behaviour support: Teachers’

guides to inclusive practices. (3rd ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H. Brookes.

Behnke, P. (2006). Brief in -service teacher training in a proactive approach to

classroom behaviour management: Teacher and student outcomes

(Order No. NR21873). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Global. (304931977). Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.flinders.edu.au/docview/30493197

?accountid=10910

Boutot, E.A., & Tincani, M. (2009). The complete guide to autism spectrum

disorders: Autism encyclopedia. USA: Profrock Press Inc.

Chiang, H., & Carter, M. (2008). Spontaneity of communication in individuals with

autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(4), 693 705.

Flora, S.B. (2006). Fine motor fun: Hundreds of developmentally age appropriate

activities designed to improve fine motor skills. Minneapolis, Minnesota:

Key Education.

Frost, L., & Bondy, A. (2002). The picture exchange communication system training

manual. (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc.

Harris, B., & Goldberg, C. (2013). 75 quick and easy solutions to common classroom

disruptions. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Hooper, S.R., & Umansky, W. (2008). Young children with special needs. Upper

Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Pearson.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Ingersoll, B., & Dvortcsak, A. (2010). Teaching social communication to children with

autism: A manual for parents. USA: The Guilford Press.

Jong, T. D. (2005). A framework of principles and best practice for managing student

behaviour in the australian education context. School Psychology

International, 26(3), 353-370.

Kid Sense Child Development. (2013). Writing readiness (pre-writing) skills.

Retrieved from

https://www.childdevelopment.com.au/images/Resources/area_of_concern_

dfs/Prewriting_Skills.pdf

Kolbert, J.B., & Crothers, L. M. (2013). Understanding and managing behaviors of

children with psychological disorders: A reference for classroom teachers.

New York: Bloomsbury.

Luiselli, J.K. (2011). Teaching and behavior support for children and adults with

autism spectrum disorder. New York: Oxford University Press.

Miller, L.K. (2006). Principles of everyday behavior analysis. (4th ed.). Belmont, CA:

Thomson Wadsworth.

Reinke, W.M., Herman, K.C., & Sprick, R. (2011). Motivational interviewing for

effective classroom management: The classroom check-up. USA: The

Guilford Press.

Sailor, W., Dunlap, G., Sugai, G., & Horner, R. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of positive

behaviour support. New York: Springer.

Shepherd, T.L., & Linn, D. (2015) Behavior and classroom management in the

multicultural classroom: Proactive, active and reactive strategies. USA:

SAGE Publications, Inc.

Special Connections. (n.d.). Antecedent Interventions. Retrieved from

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/?q=behavior_plans/positive_behavior_

upport_interventions/teacher_tools/antecedent_interventions

Stormont, M., Lewis, T. J., & Beckner, R. (2005). Positive behavior support systems:

Applying key features in preschool settings. Teaching Exceptional Children,

37(6), 42-49.

Tarbox, J., Dixon, D. R., Sturmey, P., & Matson, J.L. (2014). Handbook of early

intervention for autism spectrum disorders: Research, policy and practice.

New York: Springer.

Wong, C., Odom, S.L., Hume, K., Cox, A.W., Fettig, A., Kucharczyk, S., Brock, M.E.,

Plavnick, J.B., Fleury, V.P., & Schultz, T.R. (2014). Evidence-based practices

for children, youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Chapel

Hill: The University of North Caroline, Frank Porter Graham Child

Development Institute, Autism Evidence-Based Practice Review Group.

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Appendix A
Interview forms completed by
parents and teachers
Reinforcer Preferences


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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Appendix B
Reinforcer Assessment

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Student: Sara
Person completing form: Jiamin
Date: 27 October 2016
Instructions:
 Begin by offering the student one of the items you assume he or she likes and observe the reaction. For example, does she
rejects it or reaches out for it? What happens when you remove it away? How does she play or consume the item when she
has it?
 Record by ticking against the appropriate boxes.

Item Rejects No reaction Reaches for Request for it Shows pleasure Takes again
when taken
away
Songs    
(from ipad)
Storybooks (with    
animals)
Play dough    

Animal stickers    

Animal soft  
toys/puppets
Wind-up toys 

Animal figurine    
toys
Water Play  

Tickles 

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Appendix C
Reinforcer Hierarchy

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Name: Koh Jia Min Student Number: 2169812 Topic Code: DSRS3221

Student: Sara
Person completing form: Jiamin
Date: 28 October 2016
Selections of reinforcers: 5 most preferred items are identified i.e. Songs (from ipad), Storybooks (with animals as characters), Play
dough, Animal Stickers and Animal figurine toys
Instructions:
 Place items together on the table and note which item student reaches for and shows pleasure in manipulating it.
 Mark a “X” for items that are selected during the trial and a “+” besides for the item that student reaches for.

Item #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 Result

Song X X X X 0/4

Book X+ X X X 1/4

Play- X+ X+ X X 2/4
dough

Stickers X+ X+ X+ X 3/4

Animal X+ X+ X+ X+ 4/4
Toys

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