Behavior plan? Help!

[oceans]

This is what came out of the school making a behavior plan.

The target behavior: Disrupting class, not following class routines.

Desired behavior: Follow established class routines.

Teaching strategies/interventions: difficult child's schedule will be changed to remove him from classes in which a pattern of disruption and intimidation has developed.

Rewards: difficult child will increase his access to participate in regular classes.

Concequences if behavior recurs: Verbal warning, sent to quiet room, send to ISS, call parent.

Crises plan: send to main office or administration will be called to the class.

They have now permantly removed him from his English class, and instead make him sit in ISS during that class each day. They bring him English work to do while he is in ISS. He is now refusing to do all English work. They say they do not have enough staff to let him do the Ed Options computer english class.

This does not sound like a real behavior plan to me. What happens if he has behavior problems in all his classes? Will they make him sit in ISS all day long and not get an education?

I need advice on what to do about this. It can't be what is supossed to happen. Help!!!

 

[Sheila]

They say they do not have enough staff to let him do the Ed Options computer english class.

School district's must provide FAPE. Cost and inconvenience to a school district is an not allowable excuse. From https://web.archive.org/web/20050201024121/http://www.504idea.org/Intersection_Dyslexia.pdf . While the following was written in conjunction with-dyslexia, it applies to all IEP students:

"It is important to recognize that the cost of a device or the difficulty of providing a particular
service are of no concern to federal law. If the service or device is necessary for FAPE,
expense or inconvenience does not matter. Note that OCR has seriously chastised schools
where the decision about what services or devices to provide to eligible students is made on
the basis of cost and convenience rather that on the basis of proper FAPE considerations."

If kids could learn without instructional time, we'd could put them in a room with their books and tell them to get at it.

A behavior plan should be part of the IEP, therefore, the parent has to have agreed to it. Was this done at an IEP meeting?

Did you request a FBA in writing and via certified mail? Did they do the FBA? If so, did you get a copy of it?

 

[oceans]

I have a copy of the FBA. I was there. They already had the FBA filled out, and read it during the meeting. I tried to give my input and had some things that I did not agree with, but they appeared not to include my considerations.

The hypothesis they came up with was that when he is in class with a teacher he percieves as vulnerable he becomes increasingly disruptive and intimidating in order to gain control and personal power and to have control over the situation.

I told them I did not agree, and told them why I did not agree. I tried to explain what I thought was really going on, but it made no difference. They would not change anything.

For the behavior plan the same thing happened. They already had it done when I got to the meeting and they just read it. I tried to have input about what concerned me and they told me that it was a behavior plan meeting, not a meeting to decide what to do with his English class. They said that would need to be another meeting.

I even paid someone to come to the meeting with me so that something like this would not happen, and it happened anyway. She suggested that if they would not discuss his English needs at that meeting than we should put something together for the next one.

Yes, I signed it and now I realize that I should not have signed it.

Now I think that I need to write a letter to request that either the computer program be set up for him (that they figure out a way to do that) or put him in another English class. I probably need to send a copy to the office downtown?

I am so worried now that if problems continue that they will take him out of more and more classes, and that there is no way to prevent that now that I have signed!

Is there anything at all that I can do?

 

[Sheila]

The FBA report should have been prepared prior to the IEP meeting. See http://cecp.air.org/fba/default.asp .

IEPs are a function of the IEP Committee. "Drafts" of IEPs are permissible; prewriting it is not.

If you are ever in a situation again where enough time has not been alloted for the meeting or they are just avoiding a topic you want to cover, ask for the meeting to be "reconvened."

You are a part of the IEP team. As such, you can call an IEP meeting at any time. If you decide to call an IEP meeting, do it in writing and via certified mail.

You may want to consider including a request for the FBA to be done by a behavioral specialist -- even if the sd has to contract with the professional. FBAs should include positive behavior interventions.

At IEP meetings, you should make any recommendations you feel your child needs. Use a Parent Record of Proposals -- https://web.archive.org/web/20091022131922/http://geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1580/priornotice.html will tell you why.

The form is at https://web.archive.org/web/2009102...ens/Oracle/1580/record_of_proposals_form.html .

Fill it out, check things off as you go. Get a copy of it before you leave the meeting and leave the original with-the sd.

 

[oceans]

Thank you for all the great information Sheila. Boy, did I do lots of things wrong and from what I can see so did they. The behavioral specialist was at the FBA meeting, and they had their name listed as coming to the Behavior plan meeting, but they never showed up. Acutally, most of the people invited did not show up. It looks like the school got themselves out of having to do the behavioral interventions by stating they were going to remove him from the class instead.

I don't know how any of this can be corrected now, or if it is all too late. I think I will write something to be attached to the minutes so anyone reading it will at least know what my thoughts were at the meeting.

Is there a sample behavior plan to look at that you know about somewhere on the internet? I mean one that might include interventions for kids with ODD/mood disorder issues like lots of us need to deal with on this board. I am pretty clueless as what interventions might help kids like these.

 

[Sheila]

You didn't do anything wrong.

There's a thread on ODD in the classroom in the Sp Ed Archives.

www.iep4u.com may have some info you can use re: IEPs.

Also, National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) @ http://www.pbis.org/.

This plan doesn't appear to be working. It wouldn't suprise me if things don't get worse -- too punitive.

Actually, what was written in the FBA left me flabbergasted. In essence, what it indicates to me is that one teacher is not able to handle the student. So, the "behavior plan" appears to be for the benefit of one educator who may not have sufficient bebavior management training.

by the way, https://web.archive.org/web/20080229063240/http://www.aboutautismlaw.com/sample_chapter.html is written specific to autism, HOWEVER, it applies to all IEP students. The crust is: "The Law Says that All Regular Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Aides, and Other Service Providers Must Have the Skills and Knowledge Necessary to Meet the Needs of Your Child. " In short, you would be within your rights to request appropriate training for any educator you feel needs it. Can't say that would necessarily make you popular on campus.....

As I mentioned previously, if the IEP isn't working you can call an IEP meeting at any time.

 

[Sheila]

Just curious. Is the behavior specialist a sd employee?

 

[oceans]

Yes, the behavior specialist came from the school district.