Behavior Plan Artifact:

Reducing Times and

Prompts of Transitions

By: Katherine Hewett

 Teaching Scenario
This semester I worked with Noah in Mrs. Rowe’s kindergarten class and Mrs.
Price’s resource room. Noah struggles to complete transitions independently.
These struggles typically manifested in delay in putting activity materials away,
getting up from one place and delaying moving to the next area, delay in having a
seat, delay in beginning the new activity. Noah also needed a number of both
verbal and physical prompts in order to complete the transition process.

In order to decrease the amount of time it takes Noah to transition as well as the
number of prompts needed, I conducted a functional behavior analysis on his
transition process. Once I discovered a pattern in Noah’s transitions, I created a
behavior plan to encourage self-monitoring, and provide Noah with positive
reinforcement for completing transitions independently. The artifacts in this
presentation show highlights from Noah’s FBA, key pieces of his behavior plan,
and data showing the trend of his behavior, pre- and post-intervention.
 Essential In order to conduct Noah’s
Functional Behavior
• Identified with Assessment, I collected
language disability data on his background, Behavior Interventions
and speech interests, most significant
• Due to Noah’s desire
impairment strengths, individual needs,
for positive
• Outgoing, likes and patterns of behavior.
attention, I provided
being around peers The points outlined to the
a sticker chart for
and adults left were the essential
positive
• Energetic and elements that most often
reinforcement of
enthusiastic impacted Noah’s school
effective and
student behaviors. Through
independent
• First year with conducting the FBA and
transitions.
traditional school observing Noah’s
• To help diminish the
schedule behaviors, I concluded that
confusion he
• Through pre- he benefits from
sometimes
intervention individualized attention
experiences during
recordings, had an and needs some extra
transitions, I showed
average of 30.96 reminders for how to act in
Noah a “PLOP!” card
seconds and 2.34 certain situations. To help
in which he waited
prompts per with this, I designed the
for redirection from
transition behavior interventions on
an adult.
the right.
 Noah’s Sticker Chart
Noah enjoys getting positive
attention from those around
him, especially adults, so I
decided that a sticker chart for
positive reinforcement for
effective transitions would help
reduce the time it took to
transition and the number of
prompts.
 “PLOP!” Card
This is the “Plop!” card I made for
Noah. During transitions, when he
would become confused and would
stand or wander around the room,
I would show this to Noah.
Through some pre-teaching, I
taught him to “plop” down
wherever he was and wait for an
adult to redirect him. Once he was
redirected and completed the rest
of the transition, I would positively
reinforce his behavior with the
sticker chart.
My goal for Noah was to decrease the
amount of time it took him to
transition. For each day I observed, I
recorded the time it took for each
Noah’s Transitions (Time)
transition, then averaged the data for 35
that day. My goal for Noah was to
decrease his transition times to an
30
average of 20.00 seconds per Go
al L

Time taken to transition (seconds)

transition. Before the interventions ine
25
were implemented, Noah averaged
30.96 seconds per transition.
After the interventions were 20

implemented, Noah averaged 20.75

seconds per transition. He was really 15

close to meeting the goal, but more

importantly, improved in his 10
behaviors. If I were to continue
working with Noah, I would 5 Baseline Intervention
continue implementing these
interventions since they seem to have
0
made a difference. I would also Transitions
potentially add a visual schedule for
him to reference, so the time between
switching classrooms would not take
as long.
My goal for Noah was to decrease the
number of prompts needed for him to
transition.For each day I observed, I
recorded the time it took for each Noah’s Transitions (Prompts)
transition, then averaged the data for 3
that day. My goal for Noah was to
decrease his number of needed
prompts to 1.5 prompts per transition.
Before the interventions were
Go
implemented, Noah averaged 2.14 al L
ine
prompts per transition. After the 2

Number of Prompts
interventions were implemented,
Noah averaged 1.5 prompts per
transition. He met the goal, but
more importantly, improved in
his behaviors. If I were to
continue working with Noah, 1

I would continue implementing these

interventions since they seem to have
made a difference. Again, I would also Baseline Intervention
potentially add a visual schedule for
him to reference, so he would not need
as many prompts to move from one 0
area of the classroom to another, or Transitions
move from one classroom to another.
 Rationale
This artifact shows that I am becoming competent in many areas of management. When Noah exhibited delays in his
transition behaviors, rather than placing blame on him, I carefully analyzed the behavior and used theory to determine
what the cause of the behavior could be (6.6). I also made sure to communicate my expectations for Noah in a way
that he could easily understand and process (6.5). Rather than having potentially unrealistic expectations, I sat down
with Noah, did some pre-teaching of my interventions, and clearly stated what I wanted him to accomplish. I know
that Noah benefits from specialized attention from adults, so I motivated him to work on his behavior in a way that I
knew he would respond well to. For my behavior interventions, I hid the sticker chart and self-monitoring card in one
of my small notebooks, and took them out at times where Noah would not only benefit from the interventions, but
also would not distract his peers. I organized the materials for my intervention in a way that encouraged Noah to
continue engaging with his peers in the learning process (6.2). Finally, I have looked over and analyzed the results of
my FBA and Behavior Plan, and feel prepared to create more plans during my future (6.7). I still have much to learn
before I am fully competent, but I feel as though I have made some substantial progress in this area so far.

Indicators addressed in this rationale:

• 6.2 The candidate organizes space, materials, and students to support engagement in the learning process.
• 6.5 The candidate communicates and reinforces procedures and expectations in ways accessible to all learners, taking into account cultural and
linguistic diversity, as well as disability.
• 6.6 The candidate responds to problem behaviors by diagnosing probable causes, using both data and theory to support assertions. The candidate
plans and implements targeted interventions in response to behavior assessments.
• 6.7 The candidate critically evaluates his or her own management decisions. The candidate shows evidence of improved practice over time.