Secondary Interventions

Secondary Interventions

Function-based Strategies to Support At-Risk Students

Acknowledgements

• Rob Horner, Leanne Hawken, Rob March

• Fern Ridge Middle School, Clear Lake Elementary, Templeton Elementary, …

Objectives

• To understand the components necessary for secondary interventions

• To preview an example of a secondary intervention: the Check-In Check-Out system

• To have the information necessary to strengthen secondary interventions that are currently in place in your school

What is a Secondary Intervention?

• An intervention (or set of interventions) known by all staff and available for students during the school day

• Interventions that provide additional student support in academic, organizational, and/ or social support areas

Academic Systems Behavioral Systems

1-5% 1-5%

5-10% 5-10%

80-90% 80-90%

Tertiary Interventions•Individual Students•Assessment-based•High Intensity

Tertiary Interventions•Individual Students•Assessment-based•Intense, durable procedures

Secondary Interventions•Some students (at-risk)•High efficiency•Rapid response

Secondary Interventions•Some students (at-risk)•High efficiency•Rapid response

Primary Interventions•All students•Preventive, proactive

Primary Interventions•All settings, all students•Preventive, proactive

Designing School-wide Systems for Student Success

Prerequisites

• Effective & proactive School-wide system in place

• Team-based problem solving

• Local behavioral capacity

– Functional assessment-based behavior support planning– Social skills programming– Behavioral interventions

• Administrator participation

School-wide discipline is…

1. Identify a common purpose and approach to discipline

2. Define a clear set of positive expectations and behaviors

3. Implement procedures for teaching expected behavior

4. Differentiate supports from a continuum of procedures for encouraging expected behavior

5. Differentiate supports from a continuum of procedures for discouraging inappropriate behavior

6. Implement procedures for on-going monitoring and evaluation

Tier 2/3 Team membership: Critical features

• Someone skilled in function-based assessment, behavior support planning & implementation

• Someone skilled in data-based decision making for individual student progress

• Administrator

• Staff who know the student(s)

• Family members

No heroes……. thanks anyway

• Do not try to provide support in isolation

• We do not want heroes,

– We want self-managers; work your way out of the manager role

• It takes a team

• If you already know it, challenge yourself to explain or teach it to someone else.

Create Templates for Tier 2

• Starting with a template makes frequent tasks more efficient– Form letter (document template)– Business form– Stencil

Defining Secondary Interventions at your school

• Not all students require an intensive, individualized intervention

• Basic rule: do the least amount to produce the biggest effect!

• We can match students w/ pre-existing programs that can address the function the problem behavior is serving for a student

• Check-In Check-Out is a common, comprehensive Tier 2 Intervention framework

Tier 2: Small Group Intervention Examples

• Social Skills Groups• Check In/Check Out• Academic Support Groups• Self-Monitoring Program

Think Functionally When Choosing Interventions

• “Problem Behaviors” are functional skills

• Interventions must consider the purpose of behavior (from student’s perspective)

• Seek a match from intervention menu for the needs of each individual student

Requirements

• Secondary, individualized, small group interventions

– Based on functional behavioral assessment information

– Social skills instruction– Behavioral programming– Multiple opportunities for high rates of academic

success

• Daily behavioral monitoring

– Self and/or adult

• Regular, frequent opportunities for positive reinforcement

– Tangible to social– External to internal– Predictable to unpredictable– Frequent to infrequent

• Home-school connection

Other Strategies

• Behavioral contracts

• Adult mentor/monitor

• Secondary social skills instruction

– Problem solving– Conflict management

• Self-management programming

• Academic restructuring

Critical Features

• Intervention is continuously available

• Rapid access to intervention (less than a week)

• Very low effort by teachers

• Positive system of support

– Students agree to participate

• Implemented by all staff/faculty in a school

• Flexible intervention based on assessment

– Functional behavioral assessment

• Adequate resources allocated (admin, team)

• Continuous monitoring for decision-making

• Administrative support

– Time & money allocated

• No major changes in school climate

– E.g., teacher strikes, administrative turnover, major changes in funding

• Plan implementation a top priority

Critical Features

Working with Schools Interested in Implementing Secondary

Interventions• Provide Overview to Behavior Team

• Provide Overview to all staff

– Faculty vote

• 1-2 Professional development days for behavior team to develop intervention to fit school culture

– See BEP Development & Implementation Guide (Hawken, 2004) for training content

• After development, gather feedback from all staff on format/structure

• Ongoing coaching and feedback

Who is Appropriate for Secondary Intervention?

APPROPRIATE

– Low-level problem behavior (not severe)

– 2-5 referrals

– Behavior occurs across multiple locations

– Examples

talking out minor disruption work completion

INAPPROPRIATE

– Serious or violent behaviors/ infractions

– Extreme chronic behavior (6+ referrals)

– Require more individualized support

FBA-BIP Wrap Around Services

Which Schools Would Benefit From a Secondary Intervention?

• How many students does your school have in the

range of 2-5 referrals?

– If > 10 students- secondary intervention may be

appropriate

– If < 10 students- implement individualized interventions

• The secondary intervention should be able to

reasonably accommodate 15-30 students/year

Conduct Brief Functional Assessment

Is the behavior maintained by escape

from social interaction?

Is the behavior related to lack of academic skills?

Is the behavior maintained by peer

attention

Escape Motivated Secondary Intervention

•Reduce adult interaction

•Use escape as a reinforcer

Secondary Intervention + Academic Support

•Increase academic support

Peer Motivated Secondary

Intervention•Allow student to earn reinforcers to share with peers

Implement Basic Secondary Intervention

IsIs it Working?

•Continue with Basic Secondary Intervention

• Transition to self- management

Yes

No

Conduct Brief Functional Behavioral Assessment

•Where does the problem behavior occur/not occur?

•Why does the problem behavior keep happening?

•Develop summary statement of problem behavior and meet with team to determine plan

Obstacles to Implementation

• Administrator not on the team that develops the plan and looks at data for decision making

• Plan used as punishment rather than prevention program

• Plan coordinator lacks skills to implement the program (e.g., behavior intervention, computer)

• Schools expecting plan to solve all behavior problems

• Fitting plan and data evaluation into existing teams

Defining Secondary Interventions at your school

• Not all students require an intensive, individualized intervention

• Basic rule: do the least amount to produce the biggest effect!

• We can match students w/ pre-existing programs that can address the function the problem behavior is serving for a student

• Check-In Check-Out is a comprehensive Secondary Intervention

Secondary Intervention Check in

Check out

Social Skills Club

Reading Buddies Homework Club Lunch Buddies

Access to adult attention yes yes yes yes yes

Access to peer attention yes yes yes yes

Access to choice of alternatives/activities yes yes yes yes yes

Option for avoiding aversive activities yes yes yes yes

Option for avoiding aversive social peer/adult attention

yes yes

Structural prompts for ‘what to do’ throughout the day

yes yes

At least 5 times during the day when positive feedback is set up

yes

A school-home communication system yes yes

Opportunity for adaptation into a self-management system

yes yes yes yes yes

Big Ideas

• Schools need different systems to deal with different levels of problem behavior in schools.

• Secondary group interventions are efficient systems for supporting students at-risk for more severe forms of problem behavior.

• Up to 30 students (depending on school size/resources) can be served using a secondary intervention.

• Some students are going to need more intensive support than the secondary intervention can provide.

Research Articles

Hawken, L. S. & Horner R. H., (2003) Implementing a Secondary Group Intervention Within a School-Wide System of Behavior Support. Journal of Behavioral Education, 12, 225-240.

March, R. E. & Horner, R. H. (2002) Feasibility and contributions of functional behavioral assessment in schools. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10, 158-70.

Manual on how to Implement the BEP

Crone, D. A., Horner, R. H., & Hawken, L. S. (2010). Responding to problem behavior in schools: The behavior education program (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.