Inclusive Behavior Management Tip 5:
Use Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
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Use Behavior Strategies That Work
PBIS is popular at schools across the United States because a lot of it works. Take for example fights and chaos in the hallways. Rather than focusing on the fights, PBIS would say first look at the hallway. Is there supervision? Is there a clear traffic flow? Do kids know how they are supposed to act? If not, can you put down tape to make lanes in the hall? Can teachers do hallway duty during passing periods? Can you put up signs of hallway expectations?
The idea of PBIS is that you want to first start with the big picture. You want to understand what is going on and put bigger structures in place first that might prevent problems. For example, maybe not everyone goes to get a drink of water at once– maybe you set it that 3 kids go at a time. Or maybe you have someone pass out pencils rather than having students get them on their own.
Then, once you have that, you start looking at students who need more support– reteaching and reinforcing the rules. Only once you have all of these types of supports in place do you start really focusing on one individual student and their consequences or rewards.
Basically, it is a classic MTSS/tiered system, but one with really concrete strategies and ideas of what you can do if you are having behavioral issues in your classroom. It’s not perfect or a fix-all, but the strategies are good and the way of thinking in it can be really helpful.
Understanding PBIS
What is PBIS?
PBIS, positive behavior interventions and supports is a multi-tiered approach to supporting students’ socio-emotional success at school. PBIS is a multi-tiered approach. That means that the framework starts with things that you can do for you whole class to be successful and then offers suggestions for the small groups or individual students who need more support. It’s a way to support the behaviors you want to see by being positive and systematic– and it is grounded in a whole lot of research! Like all frameworks, it isn’t perfect– but it has some rock solid strategies and ideas for classroom and behavior management.
So what are some PBIS supports for a whole class?
This resource from PBIS is a really exhaustive list of supports you can provide students. The charts are laid out weirdly, but the information is good. For example, they recommend setting up routines, writing that you should, “• Post and review schedule for the day or class
period. • Define, explicitly teach, prompt, and regularly
review procedures for common activities (e.g.,
arrival, dismissal, turning in homework, working
in groups).”
What about PBIS for the students who need more support?
The same document has ideas on how to up the support for students who need more. For example, it recommends that the teacher, “Adapt classroom design, layout, and materials to (a) encourage SEB skills and contextually appropriate behavior and (b) minimize
opportunities for contextually inappropriate
behavior. For example, design a designated
space for students to engage in calming
strategies, ensure students have easy access to
the space, include accessible visual prompts for
calming strategies that have been previously
taught, practiced, and reviewed.
• Consider other adjustments to physical space
to meet the individual needs of students in the
classroom.”
In addition, PBIS has a really helpful resource on supporting students with disabilities and challenging behavior. What I like about it is the list of 5 key strategies you can use to support students. Simple and easy to follow. For example, recommendation 5 is: “Provide Prompts, Pre-Corrections,
and Other Reminders to Set Students
Up for Success: Simple strategies, like providing ‘positive greetings at the door’ 11 (i.e., connect with each student as they enter the classroom, prompt routines and expected behavior, and provide specific praise for transition), result in positive outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities (Allday & Pakurar, 2007; Allday et al., 2011; Cook et al., 2018). “
