Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs)
Once an FBA is completed, the ARD committee can use this evaluation to, if necessary, develop a plan that meets the individualized behavioral needs of the student. A BIP is developed by the ARD committee and used to teach or reinforce positive behaviors.
However, a BIP is REQUIRED when a student has been removed from his current educational placement for a behavioral or disciplinary offense determined to be a manifestation of the student’s disability (if a BIP has not already been developed).
Additional situations may occur where the ARD committee should consider developing a BIP. Certainly, any of the situations noted on page 20 that may trigger the need for an FBA may also lead to the development of a BIP. In general, whenever a student’s behavior impedes his learning or the learning of others, IDEA requires that the ARD committee consider the use of PBIS. These supports may include a BIP.
NOTE
The AUTISM SUPPLEMENT requires ARD committees to consider specific strategies that may be necessary to support students with autism. Positive behavior strategies, including an FBA and BIP, is one of the required considerations for all students with autism. For some students with autism, a BIP will be a necessary component of providing FAPE.
Writing a BIP
BEST PRACTICE TIP
Replacement behaviors should not be beyond the student’s current skill level (e.g., a vocal verbal request as a replacement behavior for a student in the beginning stages of learning a picture communication system). Also, replacement behaviors should require less effort for the student to engage in than the interfering behavior.
For example, if a student can escape a loud environment by walking quickly out the door, then a replacement behavior of walking to a staff member to request noise-canceling headphones in the loud environment would require more effort for the student to meet their needs. This could lead to a replacement behavior that is rarely or never displayed by the student.
Examples of Alignment of Replacement Behaviors to Interfering Behavior Function
Interfering Behavior | Example Function* | Function Based Replacement Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Crying and yelling | Escape from non-preferred math work | Request (through gestures or verbally) an alternate assignment |
| Throwing items in the classroom | Obtain attention from staff and peers | Use a conversation starter to gain the attention of staff and peers; Wait until designated social times to access attention |
| Elopement (running away) | Escape from sensory input (e.g., loud environment) | Independently put on noise-cancelling headphones |
*The function listed is an example. The same exact behavior (e.g., elopement, crying, throwing items) may serve a different function for a different student. The replacement behavior selected should always be based on the function(s) identified in the FBA.
Over time and based on student success, the replacement behaviors can be altered to more closely approximate the behavior that is ultimately desired in order to maximize success and progress in the learning environment. For example, an initial replacement behavior may allow a student to request a break each time a non-preferred task is presented. Over time the replacement behavior that is reinforced may shift to requesting a break after first engaging in the non-preferred task for a set amount of time (which can also increase incrementally as the student is successful). This type of process is often referred to as shaping.
Antecedent/Prevention Strategies
The BIP should include strategies designed to prevent interfering behaviors from occurring. These
strategies may include both environmental changes and staff implemented strategies. Antecedent
strategies should be functionally aligned to the interfering behaviors, such as embedding scheduled
breaks for students likely to engage in behavior to avoid prolonged academic tasks. Antecedent strategies serve to decrease the student’s need or motivation to engage in the behavior.
Examples of Antecedent/Prevention Strategies by Function
| Remove/Avoid Activity | Embed choice into tasks | Set up a system to request help | Priming (i.e. previewing materials, activities, and expectations ahead of time) | Address task difficulty (modify amount or type of activity) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obtain Attention | Increase opportunities for positive recognition throughout the day | Increase opportunities to respond | Increase opportunities for peer interaction | Schedule more frequent adult interactions (i.E. non-contingent attention) |
| Obtain Activity/Items | Visual schedule that show when desired activity will occur | Clear routines and warnings to transition | Clarify expected behavior and provide specific pre-corrects | Provide an opportunity to engage in preferred activity first |
| Obrain/Remove Sensory | Preferred seating away from loud areas (e.g., air conditioner, classroom intercom) | Access to noise-cancelling headphones | Schedule movement breaks throughout the day | Access to fidget items designed to provide desired sensory input |
Instructional Strategies
The BIP should include a section that describes the instructional strategies staff will use to teach the
appropriate replacement behaviors to the student. This section can ensure continuity of behavior strategies across staff members and school settings, which will improve the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of replacement behaviors. A student should be systematically and explicitly taught
behaviors/skills that will meet the same function as his/her interfering behavior. This will make the problem behavior less efficient and effective and the acceptable behavior easier to perform and more likely to be reinforced.
Special consideration should be provided to skill deficits related to a student’s disability areas. Students may have skill deficits related to areas such as academics, social skills, communication, and organization that impact their ability to acquire, generalize, and maintain taught replacement behaviors. For example, a student with executive functioning deficits that make organizational strategies challenging would not benefit from simply being provided with a school planner. The student would require explicit teaching on how to use the planner, with frequent checks for understanding. Similarly, if the academic tasks a student with work avoidance behaviors is asked to engage in are above the student’s instructional level, the behavior is unlikely to improve without instructional strategies aimed at increasing the student’s academic skills (while also implementing antecedent strategies to make the work task more appropriate).
Teaching a replacement behavior should include:
- Reviewing the student’s strengths and preferences
- Reviewing the student’s needs as they relate to skill deficits
- Consideration of both skill and performance deficits (Sometimes students need practice to implement a skill in the moment with fluency)
- Practicing the behavior when the student is calm, relaxed, and at times when problems do not typically occur
- Instructing the student when the replacement behavior should be used
- Modeling the replacement behavior for the student to see
- Providing opportunities for the student to role-play and practice using the new behavior
- Teaching the behavior in the natural setting as much as possible
Responses to Behavior
The BIP should include a section that describes the staff’s response to the interfering behaviors, should
they still occur despite the implementation of individualized behavior strategies.
In developing appropriate responses or consequent strategies the ARD committee should consider:
- Student and staff safety
- Staff responses that will promote the use of the replacement behaviors
- Staff responses that will discourage future use of the interfering behaviors
- Student specific history of trauma, especially for the use of strategies such as planned ignoring, physical prompting, or keeping a demand after student refusal behavior
- Recent changes in the student’s life which may temporarily reduce responsiveness to BIP strategies (e.g., change in housing, illness, medication changes)
- The inability of the student to learn while the behavior is occurring because the student is experiencing distress and is not regulating their emotions
Reinforcement
The BIP should include a description of the reinforcement procedures used to ensure the continued use of the replacement behaviors. Without the consistent application of the appropriate amount and type of reinforcement provided for the replacement behavior, lasting behavior change is not possible. In establishing appropriate reinforcement systems, ARD committees should consider results of preference assessments, student input on what would help motivate them, and parent and staff feedback on
what the student responds positively to.
Sample BIP Components
BIP Section | Example |
|---|---|
| Description of Interfering Behavior | Physical aggression - may look like, but is not limited to, hitting, kicking, and/or pinching others |
| Function(s) of Behavior | Escape/avoidance of task demand |
| Replacement Behaviors | Request a break, assistance with work, or alternate assignment using the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device |
| Antecedent/Prevention Strategies | Visual schedule; Chunking of assignments; Pre-teaching of concepts; Priming, choice between two assignments that serve same learning outcome |
| Instructional Strategies | Modeling use of AAC device; Social Narratives; Role-play use of AAC device |
| Responses to Behavior | Staff prompting the use of replacement behavior; Ensuring peers are not within reach; Redirection to assigned task |
| Reinforcement | As identified in preference assessment: high fives, stamps on hand, short music/dance break. Functionally aligned reinforcement examples are breaks from work, assistance with work, and providing alternate assignments each time requested. |
A BIP includes multiple components to ensure it is appropriately designed to reduce interfering behaviors and teach and promote replacement behaviors aligned with the functions identified in the FBA. A comprehensive BIP includes the following components: descriptions of the interfering behavior(s), function(s) of the interfering behavior(s), appropriate replacement behaviors, antecedent/prevention strategies, instructional strategies, and consequences (i.e., responses to interfering behaviors, reinforcement for replacement behaviors).
Descriptions of Behavior
Interfering behaviors targeted in the BIP should have clear and objective descriptions. The detailed
descriptions of behaviors used to record data, sometimes referred to as operational definitions, often
come from the FBA.
Functions of Behavior
A BIP needs to clearly outline the function(s) of the behaviors that impede learning. This ensures that the ARD committee can design a plan best aligned to the individual behavioral needs of the student. These functions typically come from the FBA.
Functions of behavior may differ slightly in their descriptions across professional disciplines and research literature (e.g., Automatic vs Sensory reinforcement). Regardless, all functions should be identified in the BIP in such a way that the ARD committee can determine appropriate replacement behaviors that meet the same functions as the interfering behaviors. Functions of behavior can typically be categorized into social and non-social functions, and further divided into functions that serve to either obtain or remove something.
Examples of Behavioral Functions
| Obtain | Remove (Escape) | ||
| Sensory | Example: Picking skin on the finger, resulting in bleeding, as a desirable sensory input. | Sensory | Example: Running out of the gymnasium to escape an intolerable level of sound. |
| Activities/Items | Example: Leaving a seat without permission to access a preferred toy. | Activities/Items | Example: Ripping and throwing materials when presented with a writing assignment to avoid the task. |
| Attention | Example: Repeatedly calling out in class to obtain verbal and non-verbal reactions from peers. | Attention | Example: Putting head down on the desk and shaking head side to side when a peer says hello to escape the social interaction. |
Replacement Behaviors
As previously mentioned, the BIP must include a plan to teach and/or reinforce replacement behaviors that serve the same function(s) as the interfering behaviors. This is sometimes referred to as functional equivalency. For example, if an FBA determines that a student engages in behavior such as tearing materials to avoid a non-preferred task, a replacement behavior should also serve to avoid that nonpreferred task.
Behavior IEP Goals
For students who require a BIP to address interfering behaviors, the ARD committee should develop
behavior goals in the IEP to progress monitor how well the BIP is working. Behavior goals should follow
the same format as any other goals in the IEP, with a clearly outlined timeframe, condition, behavior,
and criteria for mastery. In addition, behavior goals should be aligned to the student’s Present Levels of
Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP), typically using baseline data gained from
the FBA.
Timeframe | Condition | Behavior | Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| By the end of the sixth progress reporting period | given implementation of antecedent strategies from his BIP and instruction to complete a math assignment | John will either work on the assignment or use a replacement behavior (request a break, staff assistance on the assignment, or an alternate assignment) | across 70% of math assignments during a reporting period for mastery. |
To learn more about developing measurable IEP goals, please refer to these TEA resources:
Important Considerations
State Law Requirements
STATE LAW requires BIPs to be reviewed at least annually by the ARD committee, or more frequently if appropriate, to consider the safety of the student or others or to address changes in circumstances that may impact the student’s behavior. According to the law, examples of changes in circumstances that may impact a student’s behavior include:
(A) the placement of the student in a different educational setting,
(B) an increase or persistence in disciplinary actions taken regarding the student for similar types of behavioral incidents,
(C) a pattern of unexcused absences, or
(D) an unauthorized unsupervised departure from an educational setting.
Please refer to TEC 29.005(g) for additional information about this requirement.
BEST PRACTICE TIP
LEAs should maintain documentation to demonstrate the following:
- Parent involvement in creating the BIP (ARD committee meeting participation and deliberation
notes) - Review/training of the BIP with the student’s teachers and LEA staff who work with the student.
Remember to include other school staff who may need to be aware of or implement the BIP (e.g.,
cafeteria monitors, bus drivers, special area teachers, campus administrators). Documentation
that LEA staff received the BIP, understand how to implement it, and who to contact if they have
questions. - Implementation of the BIP (e.g., checklists, data collection, fidelity checklists, or notes)
- Ongoing data collection related to student behavior and any goals developed
Social Validity
The ARD committee should, on an ongoing basis, review the behavioral aspects of the IEP for appropriate social validity. Social validity, as defined by the Iris Center.
NOTE
Refers to whether the proposed intervention and the desired replacement behavior represent socially accepted practices. To determine social validity, the team members need to identify whether:
- The intervention will address socially significant goals
- Those involved with the intervention feel that it is socially acceptable
- The intervention will produce socially important outcomes
Social validity focuses on the usefulness of the skills to the student and to those who care about the student. Reviewing social validity helps the ARD committee focus on how the BIP might improve the quality of life for the student and the family.
Progress Monitoring
Ongoing monitoring of progress toward behavior goals is essential for the ARD committee to determine the effectiveness of the BIP. School staff should outline a plan to monitor student progress, considering the following:
- What behaviors should be monitored?
- What settings the data collection will occur in.
- Who will collect the data?
- What data measures (e.g., frequency counts, interval data, behavioral duration, severity rubrics) can accurately capture the necessary data?
- How often data will be collected and reviewed?
- Regular progress monitoring and review will help the ARD committee determine necessary changes and consider how best to support generalization and maintenance of appropriate replacement behaviors over time.
Fidelity of Implementation
The failure to properly and consistently implement the student’s BIP can amount to a denial of FAPE. LEAs should incorporate periodic fidelity of implementation (FOI) checks for BIPs. These fidelity checks can ensure that BIP strategies are implemented correctly across settings and staff members. This not only serves to ensure that the appropriate supports are delivered but also assists with ensuring the current strategies listed in the IEP are effective for the student. The ARD committee should consider how to best support the generalization (e.g., across settings, staff members, peers) and maintenance overtime of the behavioral skills outlined in the BIP/IEP.
Example FOI Check
| Date: | Instructor Name: | Observer Name: | |
| Student Name: | Setting: | ||
| The student has access to preferential seating near a staff member | Yes | No | N/A |
| The student has access to OT provided sensory items | Yes | No | N/A |
| The visual schedule is reviewed with the student | Yes | No | N/A |
| The student is provided with reinforcement | Yes | No | N/A |
| Staff prompts the use of an AAC device for communication attempts | Yes | No | N/A |
| Notes: | # Yes/Yes + No = ______ % | ||
