Inclusive Behavior Management Tip 2:
Create Useful Rules, Incentives, and Procedures
Updated: December 15, 2025. Reviewer: Dr. Rose Sebastian, Ed.D.
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Get Ahead of Behaviors with Your Rules, Procedure, and Structure
It is rarely just one kid in a room struggling with their behavior.
Start by looking at the whole group first. How many kids are on task? How many are struggling?
The easiest way to improve the behavior of a target student is to improve the behavior of the group– kids respond to social pressure better than to anything we can dream up. So start by looking at the whole class first and seeing what you can tweak there- don’t just dive into individual behavior management strategies.
Does anyone actually know what the class rules are? Do the procedures work? Are incentives and consequences clear and, above all, consistent?
Here’s a tale of two classes. I was called into a preK class for the behaviors of a student with Autism. I went in and, yes, the kid was…. off the walls. But I sat in the room for an hour and realized ALL the kids were off the walls. They just hid it a bit better. None of them knew where to sit or line up or what they were supposed to do so each of them was just messing around– and my student was just a bit more obvious then the others.
Then the next year that student was in Mr. G’s kindergarten class. He knew that he could get a sticker on his hand at the end of the day if he had a good day. He knew where he was supposed to sit on the rug, what he was supposed to do during each activity and transition, and what was going to happen next during the day. I got no calls for him. He stopped needing me as much because he understood the rules and procedures and the incentives and consequences (there were waterworks over a missed sticker) were clear.
Lay the Foundation for Positive Behaviors
1. Check your rules
Ideally you should have about 3 to 5 classroom rules. You don’t want a million! They should be positive. Think safe bodies– not don’t hit. They also should be taught. No one is born knowing safe body means! Ideally, they should also be co-designed with students.
If a student is struggling, pause and check your rules. Do your rules cover the behavior or do they need to be shifted? Do the students understand the rules? When was the last time you retaught the rules? How are the rules emphasized during the day? Can you reinforce them even more?
This site has some good resources for how to create and teach classroom rules.
2. Up your incentives
Are there clear classroom incentives? We all do better when we are rewarded for our good behavior whether through praise, group points, or an occasional extra recess. Clearly tie the incentives to your class rules and goals.
One teacher I worked with put a sticker on the hand of every student who had a good day. His students lived for those stickers. I like classroom money. I have a lot of tips on how to get stuff for your store for free– but the goal is to figure out incentives from extra recess to more time with you that don’t cost you money but up the stakes of following the rules for all students.
3. Give consistent consequences
Are there clear consequences? Consequences don’t need to be drastic– but for the rules to be effective they need to be certain. Consistency is the most important thing with consequences. If you say two warnings and then an email home… email home. The easiest consequences are the withholding of an incentive. Like if you are giving students a sticker, not giving a sticker becomes a consequence. It seems silly– but the best consequences are often the withholding of a positive.
4. Reteach procedures
Does the classroom have clear procedures? If kids are getting in fights near the water fountain, start by figuring out if they actually know what they are supposed to do. Consistent, well taught classroom procedures prevent an impressive amount of behaviors. You might need procedures for lining up, procedures for getting water, procedures for packing up…. the list goes on.
The teacher toolkit has a nice page on how to teach procedures that you can check out too! If you are stuck, social stories can be really helpful. You can create a social story with visuals for ANY procedure and they double as an intervention too! The Watson Center has some free social stories on routines that you could tweak.
