Making Sense of Behavior Data in Your Child’s IEP
By Jacqueline Lembeck, Esq.
If a student has behaviors that impede his or her learning or that of others, there are steps that IEP teams must take to address the behaviors. Among these steps, the team should identify that behaviors that impede learning exist in the “Special Considerations” checklist section of a Pennsylvania IEP. The team should then develop a Positive Behavior Support Plan (“PBSP”) based on the results of a Functional Behavior Assessment (“FBA”).
If you are addressing behavior with your child’s IEP team, you may benefit from reviewing the following tips, which can help ensure consistency and clarity in the IEP/PBSP.
Ask for frequent progress monitoring with readable charts and graphs.
Behavior data are often expressed in a chart or a graph. It may sound obvious that you should be able to clearly read the data on a chart or graph to be able to review them. That said, when many school teams copy those charts into IEPs or evaluations, the charts can sometimes become fuzzy or difficult to read. Likewise, if a copy is shared with you in black and white, it may not convey all of the information you would see in a color-coded original. If this happens in your child’s IEP or evaluation, you can and should reach out to your child’s school team to request a readable copy of the data or to ask that any charts be included in some other, more readable way. And the more frequently reports of progress or challenges are provided, the better the team and you can adjust the programming as necessary.
Are all of the important behaviors identified?
When reviewing a Functional Behavior Assessment or behavior progress report, it is important for parents to step back and ask whether the team is tracking the “right” behaviors—meaning that the team is addressing each behavior of concern. If the team is not tracking a main area of concern, the IEP team should promptly discuss whether different or additional data or goals are necessary. Similarly, when the team is defining the behaviors of concern, you should ensure that you understand the definitions used, so when terms like “elopement,” “refusal,” or “aggression” are used everyone will be on the same page as to what that means for your child.
Understand levels of prompting.
Behavior goals are often expressed in terms of a student exhibiting a behavior after receiving a certain level of prompting (e.g. verbal prompt, physical prompt). Parents should ensure that the goal is clear as to how many and which type of prompt is required for the student to demonstrate mastery. Parents may also want to ask for information about how prompting will be decreased over time. Parents should read all progress reports carefully—there is a big difference between performing an action 80% of the time with two verbal prompts versus 80% of the time independently.
What are the replacement behaviors?
A Positive Behavior Support Plan should identify replacement behaviors that will be taught to the student. These should achieve the same function as the behavior of concern, so that the student can learn to utilize this more effective behavior instead of the behavior of concern. Replacement behaviors should be specifically taught to the student. Parents should understand the nature of the replacement behavior, how it is being taught, and how they can carry over that replacement behavior into their home and community life to assist the student with generalizing the skill.
Request parent training if it would be helpful.
Behavior plans, goals, and data can be overwhelming for families, especially when they are first developed. Parents should know that this is a common feeling among parents and caretakers and that training can be requested and provided by the school team to help you better understand the methodology and techniques that the team feels will help the child. In fact, such parent training is explicitly recognized as a “related service” in IEPs under federal law.