Hello everyone and welcome back to Unlimited
Parenting, a podcast where we discuss what it's
like having children with disabilities or special
health care needs. Today it is just me, Allison,
and we are going to be diving into the world
of positive behavioral interventions and supports.
You may have also heard this referred to as PBIS.
Everyone loves another acronym, so PBIS, Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports. If you're
a parent, educator, or someone working in schools,
you've definitely heard of this, but you may
not be intimately aware of the details. What
is it? How is it being used? Is it just for children
with behaviors? Is it for all children? Tell
me more. Today, we're going to cover the basics
of PBIS and then take a really deep dive into
Tier 1 interventions. There are three tiers,
and yes, we'll talk more about that. Tier 1 interventions
are the foundation of creating a positive school
climate, so not just for kids with behaviors.
Let's start with the basics. PBIS, again, standing
for Positive Behavioral Intervention, supports
more than just a program. It's a framework for
schools. It can help schools be proactive rather
than reactive when approaching any kinds of behaviors.
Schools implementing PBIS consistently see a
decline in problem behaviors, which lead to,
as you can imagine, fewer suspensions, office
referrals, and disciplinary actions. But because
I'm a sucker for research, let's talk about some
more studies that we can keep in mind when we
dive into PBIS. In 2010, Bradshaw and colleagues
conducted a meta -analysis of PBIS across 27
schools. They found that PBIS significantly reduces
office discipline referrals and increases instructional
time. In 2012, Horner found that schools implementing
PBIS experienced 50 to 60 % fewer disciplinary
incidents. In 2014, McIntosh found that students
with disabilities in PBIS schools have fewer
behavioral challenges and higher engagement in
learning. So we all know now that PBIS is an
evidence -based method. Let's take a closer look
at three key principles that PBIS is built on.
The first is prevention. Instead of waiting for
problem behaviors to arise, PBIS is focusing
on teaching and reinforcing. Positive behaviors
right up front. PBIS is also data -driven decision
-making. Schools use behavioral data to identify
patterns and adjust interventions as needed.
PBIS is also an MTSS. MTSS stands for multi -tiered
systems of support. So those are those levels
that we were mentioning earlier. And PBIS operates
on three levels. Tier one. which we'll be covering
today, universal supports for all students. Tier
two, which we'll cover in the next episode, targeted
interventions for some students. And tier three,
which will round out our PBIS series, intensive
individualized interventions for a few students.
So if you think of PBIS, like a triangle. The
bottom part of the triangle is the widest and
it's the foundation. That represents tier one
of PBIS. PBIS tier one is all students. It's
the foundation that all other tiers build from.
So if you have a tier two student, they're also
receiving tier one supports. The foundation of
the triangle plus a tier two supports. Tier two
makes up the middle of that triangle, which is
slightly narrower, but more targeted. And then
the capstone of the triangle, the top, which
you'll notice is the least wide, meaning it is
representing the least amount of students, is
those intensive individualized interventions
for a few students. So top of the triangle. Tier
three, a few students. Middle of the triangle,
tier two, some students. And the bottom of the
triangle, the foundation of PBIS, tier one. So
now let's get into a tier one deep dive. Tier
one, again, interventions, universal strategies
used to support every student in school. These
aren't just for kids who struggle with behavior.
They're for everyone. Because PBIS, at its core,
takes a proactive approach. A positive environment
is going to benefit the whole school community.
Here are the key components of PBIS Tier 1. Number
one, set clear expectations. Schools that implement
PBIS create three to five very simple positively
stated behavioral expectations. And these are
what you can classically think of as school rules.
Sometimes you'll walk into a school and these
are often posted on a poster board, written on
the smart board, written on the whiteboard. Every
student will be able to tell you what these rules
are. In some schools, I have seen them artfully
drawn in the hallways. Kids can often recite
them rote from memory. There are things like
be safe, be respectful, be responsible, show
kindness, work hard. So you may hear kids come
home and say things like walking feet on the
stairs or bubbles and wings or quiet voices in
the hallway. These are those basic level tier
one interventions. That applied to all students
and set a proactive round work. These expectations
are taught explicitly in different settings.
Classrooms, hallways, lunchrooms, recess, even
the bus. Instead of assuming that kids just know
how to behave or that they've all been brought
up the same way, schools teach it. like they
would teach any academic subject because every
family is different. Every child had a different
situation growing up. No school is ever going
to assume that a student knows how to do anything.
We're going to come in proactively and teach
the behaviors that we want to see, which will
kind of be a theme throughout this series is
that When you wanna change a behavior, when you
wanna ensure that a behavior is replicated, generalized
across multiple situations, the first thing you're
gonna do is teach it. Even if you assume that
most of the students know to be kind or work
hard or be respectful, you're still gonna teach,
reinforce, model that behavior to ensure that
you've laid that foundation So number two, teach
and reinforce that positive behavior. Once those
expectations are set, they're on the whiteboard,
they're on the smart board, they're in the hallway.
Kids can say, at Apple Elementary School, I work
hard, show up and be kind. Staff model and practice
them with students. Let's say, for example, a
school has the expectation to be respectful.
Teachers, educators, staff might show students
what respectful looks like by eyes on speaker,
body still. They might reinforce behavior with
praise or small rewards. So for example, Everly,
I noticed that you are sitting patiently waiting
for your turn to read your sentence. High five
or hey class, can we do snaps for Everly? This
is also another good way to call students in
by highlighting that behavior that you want to
see. Now they have a role model. So -and -so
is being a great listener. Let's all look at
this person and see what they're doing so we
can emulate it. Also give specific feedback,
even if you're not about to praise. Simply saying,
I love how you're waiting for your turn to speak.
That's being so respectful. This approach shifts
the focus from catching bad behavior. to reinforcing
good behavior. And that's going to be another
theme instead of no running in the halls. We're
going to flip that language to walking feet in
the halls, please. We're always going to tell
what we want to see happen and not what we don't
want to see happen, which I can say from personal
experience is a very hard. rewiring of your brain.
It was very difficult for me to flip that script.
But I can also say that once you get in the hang
of it, it becomes more natural and much easier.
Number three, acknowledge and reward positive
behavior. Many, many schools who implement PBIS
also have recognition systems such as verbal
praise. Token systems. So a token economy is
earning points, tickets, stickers, anything like
that for positive behavior. Or school -wide incentives
like Pi Day. So for example, if a student is
able to get a certain amount of tokens, they
may be able to pie a teacher in the face or throw
a pie at the wall. Something crazy, something
outlandish that kids aren't typically quote -unquote
allowed to do and give them the ability to earn
that or other privileges like something more
traditional like pj days or bring a stuffy to
school or other small prices they don't have
to be elaborate or expensive the key here is
consistency and making kids feel valued. And
number four, respond to behavior with support,
not punishment. Tier one does not mean that kids
will not misbehave because they will. They're
learning. But what tier one does mean is that
the response is inherently different. Instead
of punishments, PBIS uses redirecting. and reteaching.
Another example, instead of saying, oh, Everly,
you are being so disrespectful, go to the office
and talk to the principal. A PBIS response might
be like, let's take a break. I noticed you're
struggling to wait your turn. We're going to
practice that together. This keeps students engaged
and learning rather than pushing them out of
the classroom, missing instructional time. potentially
making them feel embarrassed. Give them the opportunity
to be pulled back in. Bring them back in. Number
five, it really takes a team. This isn't just
at school. This is family and community involvement.
And that's where we get generalization of skills.
When kids have the opportunity to practice it
in multiple settings, with multiple people, on
different days. It works best when families get
involved. So what can schools do to help with
that? Share behavior expectations with parents.
Give parents strategies for reinforcing positive
behavior at home. Ideally, the reinforcers that
are happening at home are also happening at school
and vice versa. Celebrate students' successes
together. A team that is communicating and getting
that family engagement is going to be the best
team for the student. So maybe the teacher messages,
Everly got 9 out of 10 right on her spelling.
We are so proud of her. She worked so hard. Everly
gets off the bus, comes home from school, and
her parents say, Oh my gosh, 9 out of 10 on your
spelling test. We were all so excited for you.
You must be feeling so proud of yourself. Joint
parents and teachers as a team is one of the
key and critical pieces of Tier 1 foundations.
When kids see consistency between school and
between home, behaviors improve faster. Let's
take a really deep dive into some other PBIS
strategies that schools could use that would
be low lift for parents to also implement at
home. So this takes a more detailed look at behaviors.
And to implement some of these strategies, we
have to first ask ourselves, what is this behavior
that this child is doing? What are they trying
to communicate? What is the un... met me. So
typically for all behaviors, there's four different
functions that you can generally classify a behavior
into. And you can remember that with the acronym
SEAT. S as in Sam, E as in Echo, A as in Alpha,
T as in Tom. Sensory, escape, attention, and
tangibles. So for sensory, it's providing some
kind of preferred experience. This behavior feels
good. It might happen when a kid is alone or
if they're anxious. Escape is removing undesired
activities or interactions. So this is when a
kid maybe is getting up and just walking away.
It might happen when a task is too hard. or when
the task is too easy or they're bored or something
scary is happening. Attention. This is providing
access to people or interactions for the child.
Usually attention happens when they want social
interaction. And tangibles. So this I always
think of as access to a tablet. What it does
for a child is providing preferred items or activities.
Maybe they want a car. Maybe they want that food.
Maybe they want that tablet. And it's going to
happen when they want that preferred activity
or item. So keep those in mind because depending
on what the behavior is trying to communicate,
you can then choose one of the following strategies.
Number one, planned ignoring. ignore behaviors
when the motivation is attention. So for example,
you're on the phone and your daughter was peacefully
playing by herself until she heard you giving
your attention to someone else while you were
on the phone. And that's when she's decided she
needs you for food or a drink of water, or she
just has to tell you this story. So maybe that's
when you implement some planned ignoring. Or
you could simply say, I would love to talk to
you as soon as I'm off the phone. If this is
something that occurs frequently, you may even
take a PBIS proactive approach by saying, hey,
I'm about to get on the phone. It's going to
take maybe five or ten minutes. And then when
I'm done, we're going to play a game together.
Or... Hey, I'm about to get on the phone. It's
been a while since you've had a snack. Can I
get you anything? Because it's going to be about
five or ten minutes, and then I'm going to come
back and check in on you. Number two, physical
proximity. So a teacher might use proximity to
communicate awareness. So if that student is
just fidgety, they have got to ask a question.
They are just vibrating because they cannot wait
a second longer. You might stand close to let
them know that you're not going to interrupt
or stop what you're saying to assist them, but
you know that they have a need and you're going
to meet it as soon as you're done doing what
you were doing. Another one is direct eye contact.
Maybe you give the quote unquote teacher look
to get attention and non -verbally prompt a student.
maybe you have a signal or a verbal cue. So for
example, if a child needs to use the restroom,
maybe they do the American Sign Language for
the restroom, or they hold up a hand, or you
can hold up a hand to let a student know in a
nonverbal way, it's time for you to try to get
up to go to the restroom if they're on a specific
schedule. Acknowledge others' behavior. So this
is one that we had an example of earlier. Oh,
I noticed that you're sitting so patiently and
so quietly while you wait for your turn to read.
So just acknowledging that specific behavior
may encourage others to exemplify that behavior
as well. Number six, redirect. Restate the desired
behavior as outlined. in your classroom rules
or schoolroom rules. Number seven, support routines.
Install a routine to prevent problem behavior.
So again, this is a tier one intervention. You
have your classroom rules. You have a classroom
schedule. And so when someone says, what time
are we doing art today? What time are we going
out for first play? You can refer them to the
schedule. And that is also frequently in a combination
that is made for students with 504s or IEPs.
For example, they have a visual schedule on their
desk in front of them. They know what comes next.
Number eight, reteach. Teach, teach, and reteach.
State and demonstrate the expected behavior.
And then once you've said it, once you've taught
it, have that student then demonstrate or restate
that expected behavior. And then you provide
the feedback to them. Number nine, shaping. Acknowledge
approximations of your desired behavior while
simultaneously ignoring the undesired behavior.
So if you've asked the student to stay quiet
and sit down, but they've only managed to sit
down and not stay quiet, ignore the part that
they're not doing in this situation and say,
I've noticed that you're sitting so engaged and
you are so good at sitting right now. Thank you
so much. That may just get them to circumvent
the behavior altogether or get them to acknowledge
that there was another portion of it. Number
10. specific and contingent error correction.
So specific directions that alert the student
to stop the undesired behavior and then engage
in the specific behavior. Number 11, provide
choice. Any time you can give choice, you're
going to get more buy -in. So even if it's as
simple as, would you like to read page one or
page two? Or, Do you want to take two non -preferred
activities, but allow them the choice, if available,
which one they do first? Did you want to read
a page first, or do you want to do your handwriting?
While both are activities that they don't want
to do, giving them the agency to choose between
which one they start with may be the only thing
that they need to maintain positive behaviors
throughout their unpreferred activities. At number
12, talk with the student. Have a conference.
Describe the problem. Teach the alternative behavior.
Tell why the alternative behavior is important.
Practice and provide that feedback, whether that
looks like a daily check -in or several times
throughout the day. So why does Tier 1 PBIS matter?
Schools that use PBIS see major... improvements
including fewer behavioral referrals a more positive
school climate better academic outcomes because
those students are spending more time learning
and less time with the school social worker or
in the principal's office or outside in the hall
it also increases student engagement and self
-regulation. When all students get the support
they need from the start, we then reduce the
need for more intense interventions later. So
that's a wrap on today's episode. We've covered
the basics of PBIS, the importance of Tier 1
interventions, how setting clear expectations,
reinforcing behavior, and involving families
builds that positive school culture. If you're
a parent, Ask your child's school about their
specific PBIS system. If you're an educator,
think about one small change that you can make
this week to reinforce positive behavior. Thanks
again for tuning in today. If you're wondering
where can I learn more while you wait for the
next in the series at Demystifying PBIS Tier
2, the Idaho Training Clearinghouse. has a parent
section on their website where you can find 30
resources just on behavior. We'll have a link
to that in the description if you want to learn
more. Thank you so much everyone out there for
listening in and know that if you are in Idaho
or planning on moving to Idaho, and have questions
on systems or services for children with disabilities,
please consider reaching out to us on our website
at iPulIdaho, that's I -P -U -L Idaho dot org,
or by calling us at 208 -342 -5884. Be sure to
tune in next time. Until then, this has been
Unlimited Parenting. Thanks for listening!