Planning for the Future

Abstract

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates the implementation of a behavior intervention plan based on a functional behavioral assessment when a student’s behavior necessitates disciplinary actions. However, IDEA does not provide any clear guidelines as to what the plans should contain nor how they can address behaviors that may affect a student’s transition to postsecondary life. This article blends research in the areas of transition-focused planning and behavior into a framework that can be used for the development of transition-focused behavior intervention plans. Case study application strategies are presented, along with guidelines for practitioner implementation.

Keywords

transition positive behavior support behavior intervention plan

Tricia, a 15-year-old girl in the 10th grade, has been identified with an emotional and behavioral disorder and a specific learning disability in reading (see Note 1). Tricia enjoys being with her friends and helping others around her. She has dreams of becoming an emergency medical technician (EMT) and living on her own. Tricia can be very cooperative and involved in her classes. However, Tricia also has a history of repeat absenteeism, physical and verbal aggression, and noncompliance in the classroom. Currently, Tricia receives special education services that include a special education intervention class for reading instruction during the first half of the day and the second half of the day spent in general education courses. Recently, an incident occurred in the intervention class: Tricia walked out after yelling profanities at her teacher and peers. After this incident, Tricia did not return to school for three days. Tricia’s educational team decided it was time to conduct a functional behavioral assessment to create a behavior intervention plan based on those assessment results.

Transition Planning

In 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990) mandated appropriate transition planning and services for students with disabilities, the purpose of which was to align students’ secondary education requirements with postsecondary goals to plan for productive adult lives. Postsecondary planning includes further education or training, competitive employment and career attainment, independent living, and social and civic fulfillment. For some students, particularly those identified as having emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD), successful postsecondary outcomes may prove elusive and seemingly impossible. As a result of problem behaviors, many of these students struggle with dropping out of school, incarceration, unemployment or underemployment, and poor social adjustment (Bullis, Yovanoff, Mueller, & Havel, 2002; Karpur, Clark, Caproni, & Sterner, 2005; Sacks & Kern, 2008; Sinclair, Christensen, & Thurlow, 2005). The projected outcomes for students with EBD indicate a need to actively dialogue with students regarding both their present behavior and their future goals and how those will affect transition to adulthood.

Although typically viewed as separate processes, behavior intervention plans and postsecondary planning can be directly linked together with the intent to improve the overall quality of life, present and future, for students who exhibit problem behaviors. One great similarity between transition and behavior planning is the transformative process. Within the transition framework, this is promoted through the integration of opportunities to develop self-determination skills. In the area of behavior, change is facilitated by identifying the function behind problem behaviors and more effective replacement behaviors. This article provides special educators with a model to develop transition-focused behavior intervention plans that can be used to work with students who demonstrate behavioral challenges while also being engaged in the transition planning process.

Self-Determination as a Component of Transition Planning

Self-determination is seen as a key component to successful adult outcomes and quality of life for individuals with disabilities. Self-determination is defined as “a combination of skills, knowledge, and beliefs that enable a person to engage in goal-directed, self-regulated, autonomous behavior” (Field, Martin, Miller, Ward, & Wehmeyer, 1998, p. 2). Likewise, one of the critical features of behavior intervention planning is the focus on a comprehensive lifestyle change and enhanced quality of life (Carr et al., 2002). This includes the ability to use self-determination skills for employment and community involvement as well as to maintain social relationships. The emphasis on blending transition services with behavior intervention plans focuses on skills specific to adult life that can be developed, integrated, and managed by students themselves. Such skills are grounded in the concepts of self-determination, including the right of all individuals to participate in their own present and future education goals as well as their social growth (Carter, Lane, Pierson, & Glaeser, 2006; Karpur et al., 2005; Kellems & Morningstar, 2010; Wehmeyer & Schalock, 2001).

Students with disabilities who demonstrate higher levels of self-determination skills can have improved employment and postschool outcomes (Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003). Carter et al. (2006) confirmed that students with EBD demonstrated lower levels of self-determination, in part because they did not have as many opportunities to engage in self-determined behavior at school and at home. Students with EBD need explicit instruction in how to use self-determination skills appropriately in the context of learning behavioral skills so critical for future adult life (Carter et al., 2006). Behavior intervention plans present an ideal venue to embed both learning and practicing self-determination.

Behavior Intervention Planning

The IDEA (1997) reauthorization introduced the concept of behavior intervention plans by including regulations for students who receive disciplinary actions, or whose behavior is affecting their learning or the learning of others. Such students are to be provided positive behavior supports (i.e., behavior intervention plans) based on a functional behavioral assessment (FBA; IDEA C.F.R. 34 §300.324 (a)(2)(i)). An FBA requires data collection about the students and their behavior with the intent to identify the function behind the behavior problem (Merrell, 2010; Sugai, Lewis-Palmer, & Hagan-Burke, 2000). These data are then used to develop a behavior intervention plan aimed at reexamining the environment while teaching the student positive replacement behavior skills that can successfully reduce the problem behavior (Maag & Katsiyannis, 2006).

Behavior intervention plans represent an “evidence-based approach for making environmental and curricular modifications and accommodations for students with EBD” (Maag & Katsiyannis, 2006, p. 349). Each behavior intervention plan should include the following components: (a) setting-event and antecedent-based strategies (i.e., interventions that focus on preventing problem behaviors through the identification of the triggers), (b) instructional strategies (i.e., behavioral teaching opportunities for the student), (c) consequent-based interventions (i.e., strategies to reinforce positive behavior and punish negative behavior), (d) replacement behaviors (i.e., a positive behavior that provides the same function for the problem behavior), (e) information relevant to areas of concern (i.e., difficult situations and routines), and (f) a monitoring and evaluation section made available for the education team to promote the fidelity of the behavior intervention plan implementation (Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer, 2000; Maag & Katsiyannis, 2006).

When Self-Determination Meets Behavior Intervention Plans

When developing an effective transition-focused behavior intervention plan, it is essential that students be afforded opportunities to both learn and practice the concepts of self-determination. These skills must be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced. The construct of self-determination and the model for using the principles of transition to guide the development of relevant behavior intervention plans include (a) self-advocacy, (b) self-regulation, and (c) the inclusion of external supports through wraparound service delivery (see Table 1). Developing transition-focused behavior intervention plans is not difficult to do but does require a paradigm shift in current practices. Rather than focusing solely on the “presenting” behaviors, the team assesses the behaviors and makes intervention decisions based on both present and future goals. Behavior intervention is now doubly purposeful as it targets present behaviors that will be explicitly generalized to future, long-range dispositions.

Table 1.

A Model for Using the Principles of Transition to Guide the Development of Relevant Behavior Intervention Plans

Model components	Tricia’s example
Self-advocacy	Tricia will participate in the functional behavioral assessment process, writing of the behavioral intervention plan, and the intervention implementation.
Self-regulation	Tricia will monitor her own behavior through the assessment and intervention implementation process.
External supports through wraparound service delivery	Tricia will receive assistance from specific adults (special education teacher, school counselor, mental health agency workers) as she implements her behavior plan and plans for her future. Tricia will also enhance her quality of life and recreation and leisure area through a part-time job in the community recreation center as a lifeguard.

Self-Advocacy

To minimize the chances of school failure for students with EBD, educators can assist them by providing opportunities for these students to become self-advocates during the assessment and behavior plan implementation process (Bremer & Smith, 2004; Carter et al., 2006; Kellems & Morningstar, 2010; Kolb & Hanley-Maxwell, 2003). Self-advocacy is a hallmark of self-determination and is considered a higher order skill. Students who learn to advocate for themselves are more capable of expressing their strengths, needs, and interests; they can ask for appropriate support and assistance and essentially develop autonomous skills (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997). Martin, Marshall, Maxson, and Jerman (1996) and Van Reusen, Bos, Schumaker, and Deshler (1994) have developed self-advocacy curricula that help students to develop the self-advocacy skills they will need for school, home, and the community. The basic principles of each curriculum can easily be embedded in behavior intervention plans as explicit means by which to foster student empowerment and advocacy in a positive, proactive manner.

Students can begin to develop self-advocacy skills by sharing their dreams and goals for the future. This process should facilitate the student with creating postsecondary goals in the following three domains: (a) education and training, (b) career, and (c) independent living. A postsecondary goal is targeted to a student’s future after high school and should be specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable, and tangible, keeping in mind that “transition is not just a program or a project or a set of activities that has a beginning and an end. Rather, it is a vision and a goal for unfolding the fullest potential of each individual” (Kochhar-Bryant & Bassett, 2002, p. 19).

Student self-advocacy should occur throughout the entire FBA process. Involvement at this stage should begin by encouraging opportunities for the student to develop a realization of personal problem behaviors and possible student-generated solutions, all of which are tied to future postsecondary goals (Meadan, Shelden, Appel, & DeGrazia, 2010; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997), through the identification and discussion of problem behaviors. During this stage, the student can work with the teacher to discuss problem behavior and the environments where the concerning behavior is most likely and least likely to occur. The student should be actively involved through the use of structured questions, allowing the teacher to focus on the whole student, as opposed to only the problem behavior (Carr et al., 2002). For example, such active self-advocacy can include identifying student likes and dislikes, identifying strengths and needs, and sharing perceptions about why current behavioral struggles are taking place. Furthermore, providing the student with the opportunity to become empowered (Meadan et al., 2010; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997) can simply entail asking the student to openly evaluate the current situation and identify potential opportunities that are more likely to foster positive behavior. Educating and assisting the students to collect data on their own behavior can facilitate much of this process. After discussion with the student about the problem behavior, the teacher and student should cocreate a data collection system that is simple, is user-friendly, and can produce meaningful data. All of this information is then used during the development of a behavior intervention plan. The FBA results drive the creation of the behavior intervention plan, with the problem behavior triggers directly linked to the interventions.

For Tricia, the student in the case study, her educational team began encouraging self-advocacy by talking with Tricia about her own goals for the future. During these conversations, Tricia talked about her desire to work as an emergency room technician and to live on her own in an apartment with her friends. Tricia also shared her likes and dislikes. Tricia stated that she liked helping others, reading magazines, going to the mall, and swimming with her friends. Conversations with Tricia during the FBA stage revealed that Tricia is often “bored” with many of the class activities (such as worksheets and read aloud).

Based on this knowledge, Tricia was instructed by her teacher to take data for her own behavior and classroom activities throughout the day. Tricia was provided a teacher-created data log for Tricia to rate all classroom activity using a +, −, and neutral (0) system for the class activities that she found meaningful and relevant and those that she calls “boring.” A plus was assigned to activities she enjoyed and found relevant to her postsecondary goals. A minus was assigned to activities Tricia found meaningless, boring, and not related to her own interests and postsecondary goals. A neutral score was applied to activities Tricia didn’t find to be fun but recognized as necessary for meeting her postsecondary goals (e.g., math equations).

Tricia’s teachers paid close attention to Tricia and began to notice the patterns with her behaviors. Tricia was trying to escape class work (specifically, reading aloud, worksheets, and teacher lectures) because it wasn’t meaningful to her and she wasn’t very motivated to stay in class. Tricia and her educational team of teachers then documented the information on an FBA (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) Results

FBA components	Findings for the FBA
Tricia’s interests and strengths	• Tricia would like to work as an emergency room technician and live on her own in an apartment with her friends
	• Enjoys science, problem solving, critical thinking television shows (like CSI and Doctors), helping others, team sports, and looking after her two younger siblings
	• Tricia is a good listener to her friends, and she responds well in emergency situations
	• Tricia likes helping others, reading magazines, going to the mall, and swimming with her friends
Tricia’s problem behaviors	After talking with Tricia, the educational team identified the following behaviors:
	• Verbal aggression (yelling at and calling her teachers names)
	• Repeat absenteeism (missing classes and school)
	• Classroom noncompliance (will not complete class work)
Data collection procedures used	• Tricia and her special education teacher discussed her behavior
	• Tricia recorded data on her behavior and classroom activities throughout the day using a teacher-created data system
	• Tricia’s general and special education teachers observed her behavior during classroom activities for 2 weeks
	• Tricia’s teachers completed a brief Antecedent–Behavior–Consequence (A-B-C) analysis of Tricia’s behavior throughout the day (Mueller & Brewer, 2010)
When is the behavior most likely to occur? (antecedents)	• Activities that involve worksheets, independent assignments that are not linked to her interests, and speaking in front of the class
	• The special education classroom
	• Tricia also shared that she is more likely to have a “bad day” if she does not have an opportunity to interact with her teachers at the start of the day (i.e., saying hello and talking about the previous evening)
When is the behavior least likely to occur?	• Hands-on and engaging lessons
	• Group work
	• Community outings
	• General education classroom
Prior behavior strategies used (consequences)	Tricia shared previous experiences with anger management sessions with the school counselor that included:
	• Count to 5• Picture a “happy place”Tricia and her teachers reported they will frequently provide Tricia with the following consequences for negative behavior:
	• Verbal reprimands
	• Move her to an isolated place in the classroom
	• Send her to the principal’s office when her behavior is so severe that it is harmful to others
Function of Tricia’s problem behaviors	After talking with Tricia and reviewing the data together, the educational team decided that Tricia demonstrated problem behaviors as a way to escape classroom situations where she is frustrated with the type of work that is provided (see above). It was also found that Tricia lacked self-management and self-control skills related to her frustration.

Self-Regulation

The ability to regulate behavior is an essential skill for successful postsecondary experiences. Many current behavior intervention plans do not include self-regulation opportunities, or even behavioral interventions that focus on intrinsic student motivation. In fact, it is very common for behavior intervention plans to include extrinsic rewards and programs (e.g., token economy systems), necessitating an adult to monitor and modify student behavior rather than expecting the students to regulate their own behavior.

The first and perhaps most important stage of self-regulation is self-awareness or self-realization (Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997). Self-regulation has been defined as requiring “self-reflection, mastery over feelings, desires, and impulses, and a capacity for flexible responses” (Tyson, 2003, p. 169). For students to contribute to their behavior intervention plans, they must first be aware of what the behaviors look like and the effects on academic, behavioral, and social growth. In addition to behavior identification and self-assessment, self-regulation also requires students to set goals, self-instruct, self-observe, and self-manage (Hong, Ivy, Gonzalez, & Ehrensberger, 2007).

Self-management can take many forms and is an essential component of self-regulation. Mooney, Ryan, Reid, Uhing, and Epstein (2005) identified five different types of self-management: (a) self-monitoring, (b) self-evaluation, (c) self-instruction, (d) goal setting, and (e) strategy instruction. The most common of these types is self-monitoring. All studies report strong benefits when students manage their own behaviors (Lee, Palmer, & Wehmeyer, 2009; Niesyn, 2009). By using self-management techniques, students are able to understand the direct relationship between their desired goals and the related behaviors they will need to accomplish those goals. Once students are able to truly understand their behaviors in light of future goals, the development of relevant interventions will foster students’ sense of responsibility and empowerment:

After completing the assessment, Tricia and her team were ready for her to self-advocate and self-regulate her behaviors so that her transition into adulthood could be smooth. Tricia was asked to set goals for her future and to identify the behavioral skills she would need to meet those goals (see Table 3).

After identifying Tricia’s postsecondary goals and reviewing her FBA results, Tricia and her educational team created a transition-focused behavior intervention plan that included interventions designed to teach Tricia to set goals, rate her frustration, identify coping behaviors, further develop her social skills, participate in leisure activities she enjoys, and job shadow an EMT for career training that can empower her to develop the behavioral skills needed to meet her postsecondary goals (see Table 4).

Table 3.

Tricia’s Postsecondary Goals

Education or training	Career	Independent living	Behaviors skills Tricia needs to meet for postsecondary goals
Tricia will attend community college to receive training as an emergency room technician	Tricia will become an emergency room technician	Tricia will live in an apartment with friends	1. Attend and participate in her classes so that she can obtain a high school diploma
			2. Express frustration appropriately by verbally stating her feelings and needs
			3. Regulate her own behavior and recognize when she is in need of a break
			4. Develop communication skills so that she can engage in job-related conversations

Table 4.

Tricia’s Transition-Focused Behavior Intervention Plan

Behavior intervention plan	Interventions
Setting event and antecedent strategies	1. A check-in/check-out system. Tricia will meet 1:1 with teachers to set goals for the day, discuss her upcoming day, discuss her current mood, review a written schedule for the day, and create daily goals.
	2. Tricia’s teachers will embed hands-on and engaging activities into her special education class, including science, problem solving, and critical thinking opportunities. These activities will be differentiated to include class projects that allow her to be creative.
	3. Tricia will be integrated into general education science classes that naturally grasp her attention and are related to her postsecondary goals. These include biology, physiology, life skills, and career management.
Instructional strategies	1. Tricia will receive instruction in the STEPS to Self-Determination curriculum (Field & Hoffman, 1996) and will generalize her skills to general education and community-based settings.
	2. Tricia will be taught to use the Incredible 5-Point Scale (Buron & Curtis, 2004) to identify her frustration level and replacement activities.
	3. Tricia will participate in a career planning class at her high school that focuses on managing anger, frustration, communication, and general arousal, job interview skills, collaborating with coworkers, working through potential job conflict, problem solving with peers, and appropriate job etiquette.
	4. Tricia will job-shadow an EMT, where she will be expected to demonstrate the following behaviors for 1 month:
	• Arrive and depart work according to Tricia’s employment schedule
	• Communicate with her coworkers and problem solve collaboratively
	• Demonstrate behaviors at a satisfactory or above satisfactory level
	• Meet with her special education teacher and EMT supervisor weekly to discuss her progress
Recreation/leisure area	1. Tricia will work at the community recreation center as a lifeguard for the pool 3 days a week.
Consequent-based interventions	1. Tricia will receive verbal descriptive praise for exhibiting positive behaviors (e.g., attending to class, completing work, etc.).
	2. Tricia will not be allowed to attend her job shadow if she exhibits any of the following behaviors:
	• Verbal aggression (yelling at and calling her teachers names)
	• Repeat absenteeism (missing classes and school for reasons other than illnesses)
	• Classroom noncompliance (will not complete class work)
	3. Tricia will use a daily/calendar organizer that allows her to complete the following:
	• Create daily behavioral goals
	• Keep track of and record when those goals have been met
	• Rate her frustration level on a 5-point scale
	• Assess her overall behavioral performance for the day
	• Reinforce herself at the end of the day for exhibiting positive behavior
	4. Tricia will be taught to take time for herself (no more than 5 minutes) when she feels that she is at frustration level of a 4 or above. During this time, Tricia will identify why she needs to take a break and will identify the behaviors she needs to exhibit to return to low frustration.

Include External Supports Through Wraparound Service Delivery

Students with EBD are 20% more likely than students with other disabilities to receive external supports through mental health services during their education. Substance abuse, conflict resolution, and anger management treatment are offered to students with EBD significantly more often than to youth with other disabilities (Wagner & Cameto, 2004; Wagner, Newman, & Cameto, 2004). Such services can provide students with support in areas of their lives that move beyond the scope of the traditional school setting and can prove extremely beneficial as they plan for postsecondary experiences. In addition to these mental health services, outside agencies related to the job field are equally helpful for students as they plan their postsecondary experiences. Unfortunately, providers of these services are not always involved in the behavior intervention plan process or overall educational planning for the student. Rather, these supports are isolated from one another, which provides little opportunity for cohesiveness.

In response to this dilemma, a wraparound approach has been developed to provide a supportive intervention framework for students with EBD (Eber, 1996; Eber, Nelson, & Miles, 1997; Epstein, Nordness, Gallagher, Nelson, & Lewis, 2005). This family-centered, strengths-based cohesive model includes the student, parents, family, friends and relatives, teachers, mental health providers, other professionals, and juvenile justice personnel, if appropriate. Wraparound components include (a) a designated coordinator or facilitator to oversee the team and student plan; (b) the development of an individualized wraparound plan that identifies student needs, interests, and goals across all environments; (c) implementation of the plan; and (d) consistent team meetings to monitor and modify the plan as needed (VanDenBerg & Grealish, 1997). Research regarding postsecondary outcomes for students with EBD who participate in wraparound care show these students are more likely to transition to less restrictive postsecondary living settings and can demonstrate marked improvements in emotional and behavioral functioning (Malysiak, 1997; VanDenBerg & Grealish, 1997). Students are provided the opportunity to develop the self-determination skills they will require in the future.

The process of identifying external supports that could be used in a wraparound service plan for Tricia meant partnering with the local mental health center for counseling services, community recreation center for work as a lifeguard for the pool, community college advisor for the EMT program, and the hospital liaison to set up a job shadow opportunity with an EMT. This collaboration required identifying those key players who would be involved in Tricia’s behavior intervention plan, as well as an evaluation plan for ongoing monitoring (see Table 5).

Table 5.

External Supports Through Wraparound Service Delivery

Wraparound component	Examples of wraparound services for case study of Tricia
Community agency contacts	Special education teacher, local mental health counselor, local community college EMT program advisor to assist on the team, school psychologist, parents, and the local hospital liaison who will be assisting with the job shadow.
Monitoring the behavior plan	1. Tricia’s special education teacher will record the outcomes of her check-in/check-out sessions by summarizing each week’s progress.
	2. Tricia will keep her daily/calendar organizer in a booklet that can be later shared with her educational team to demonstrate her growth.
	3. Tricia, her classroom teacher, and the EMT program advisor will develop monitoring forms to be sent to the job site.
	4. Tricia, the special education teacher, the EMT supervisor, and general education teachers (science and career planning) will monitor Tricia’s work completion and attendance through weekly data.
Evaluation	Tricia will meet with her educational team once a month, where she will present all of the data from the previous month and summarize her monthly progress to ensure the plan is being implemented as intended. During this presentation, Tricia will share her successes and any areas for improvement. Any changes made to the behavior intervention plan will be discussed as a team, with Tricia leading the discussion and the teachers supporting her with this role.

Conclusion

Throughout the entire process of creating a transition-focused behavior intervention plan, Tricia was included as an active agent during her own behavioral change process. The model that was used allowed Tricia to self-advocate and self-regulate and includes external supports that could assist Tricia with meeting her postsecondary goals. Such a process is very empowering and can build self-determination for a potentially successful adult outcome and quality of life.

If students with EBD are to participate as members of a behavior intervention team to improve their behaviors in school and the community (and, ultimately, in adulthood), it is essential that they be afforded opportunities to both learn and practice the concepts of self-determination, including self-advocacy and self-regulation. It is critical that students with EBD be involved in planning their own educational journeys. Involving students in their individualized education programs and behavior intervention plans can add a sense of ownership and heightened responsibility and foster the kinds of behaviors so critical to adult life. It is our responsibility to empower students to “own” their behavior, to guide them proactively to their futures. In reality, how can we hope for anything less?

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

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