Lindsey Enright

Behavior Intervention Plan

Lindsey Enright
March 9, 2015
Dr. Hunt
Behavior Intervention Plan
Literature Review
Throughout schooling, many educators and administration over look the impact of
conduct disorder and what it actually is. There is much research about the lack of
knowledge behind this disorder this leads many people to misdiagnosis or not diagnosis
at all. Conduct disorder is a set of ongoing emotional and behavioral problems that
occurs in children and teens (Reading, p.615). There are various forms of intervention
that can be effective to help change the students behaviors and aid in the emotional
development.
The biggest concern with conduct disorder is the lack of knowledge
behind the disorder and the rise in the amount of students who are being diagnosed.
Richard Reading wrote in an issue of Child: Care, Health and Development, in which he
focuses on conduct disorder and the lack of knowledge and recognition of the disorder.
Reading states that there is limited awareness that antisocial behavior, which is a
symptom of conduct disorder, is a mental health problem and can therefore be treated
(Reading, p.615). Reading (2013) states that less than a quarter of children and young
people with a conduct disorder receive specialist assessment or treatment and while
parent training programs are reasonably well established, most of the help being offered
if probably ineffective because few practitioners are adequately trained. The lack of
training is not helping these children and young people succeed inside and outside of
school.

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
While Reading states there is a lack of practitioner knowledge, he is also stating
there is a lack on knowledge in the social care services. Reading (2013) states conduct
disorders are heavily over-represented in those needing social care, particularly lookedafter children and abused children on safeguarding registers; however, conduct disorders
are often under-recognized and undertreated by social care services, and when
interventions are offered they may not be evidence based.
Antisocial behavior and conduct disorders can have a considerable detrimental
impact on a child or young persons educations, but schools may be ill equipped to cope
with this in Readings opinion (2013). Reading states that if there was a stronger liaison
between schools and healthcare and social care services therefore crucial for the guideline
to be fully implemented and selective prevention strategies can be successful (2013).
Nelson and Rutherford wrote an article in the Focus on Exceptional Children,
which discusses the rise of conduct disorder and the mistreatment of it. Nelson and
Rutherford (1995) start out by stating that aggressive and violent behaviors are increasing
among children and youth in Americas schools. They go on to state that although many
children and adolescents occasionally exhibit aggressive and sometimes antisocial
behavior in the course of development, an alarming increase is taking place in the
significant number of youth who confront their parents, teachers, and schools with
persistent threatening and destructive behaviors (Nelson & Rutherford, 1995). Students
who exhibit chronic patterns of hostile, aggressive, and defiant behaviors frequently are
characterized as having oppositional disorders or conduct disorders and their behaviors
are increasingly identified as antisocial (Nelson & Rutherford, 1995).

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
As much as we could focus on the lack of knowledge and communication
between fields related to conduct disorder, we need to also focus on the interventions,
which can be put into place by administration to help aid students with conduct disorder.
Robert Rutherford Jr. and Michael Nelson wrote an article in the Focus on Exceptional
Children, which focuses on the management of aggressive and violent behavior of
children in schools. Nelson and Rutherford state (1995) that whether students are
formally diagnosed as having oppositional defiant disorders or conduct disorders is of
less relevance to many educators and school staff than is the increase they are seeing in
the number of students, with and without formal diagnoses, who are exhibiting aggressive
and violent antisocial behaviors in schools.
Nelson and Rutherford (1995) focus for most of the article on the spectrum of
behaviors judged by others as aggressive or violent while looking at different
interventions. Research which was done by Todis Walker, is stated by Nelson and
Rutherford, states a strong case for proactive rather then reactive schoolwide
programming that targets aggressive and violent behavior.
Some of the interventions they mention are behavior enhancement contingencies,
tangible reinforcement, activity reinforcement, token reinforcement, behavioral
contracting, modeling, social reinforcement, behavioral reduction contingencies,
differential reinforcement, response cost, and time-out (Nelson & Rutherford, 1995).
Another article which focuses on interventions was in a study done at the
University of Alabama by Nicole Powell, Carolina Boxmeyer, Rachel Baden, Sara
Stromeyer, Jessica Minney, Asia Mushtaq and John Lockman done in 2011, which
focused on assessing and treating aggression and conduct problems in schools:

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
implications from the coping power program. In their study, they found that children with
high levels of aggressive behavior and conduct problems create major management
problems in school settings and interfere with the learning environment of their
classmates and with their own academic achievement, which is why this is such a huge
problem (Powell et al., 2011). Powell et al., (2011) use a model in this article which
outlines important areas of intervention, including family factors, peer relationships,
classroom and neighborhood factors, and childrens social-cognitive functioning. This
article looks at many evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral programs appropriate for
children in preschool through late elementary school which can be used in the classroom
or as a whole school behavior plan (Powell et al., 2011). The article also goes into great
details about important considerations in the selection of intervention and prevention
programs that will be appropriate for the student or school (Powell et al., 2011).
While focusing on the intervention section of articles, many researchers leave out
interventions for the parents. Although it is the child that you need to care for and
intervene to help the behaviors, it is also important to guide the parents through this
process and help them through it. According the to new recommendations, they have
created guidelines to help parents get through this, which although are not accepted by
all, they have many psychologist who collaborated on these guidelines. In an article
written in The Psychologist call Conduct Disorder- Working with Parents, which has no
author claimed on it, discusses the importance of working with parents during the
interventions the guidelines put into place for this.. In this article it states that Professor
Stephen Pilling, a Chartered Psychologist and Director of the National Collaborating
Centre for Mental Health (of which the BPS is a partner member), said: The new

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
guideline highlights the importance of supporting the childs parents or guardians in the
treatment of the condition recommending training programs tailored specifically for
them as aspects of parenting have been repeatedly found to have a long-term
association with antisocial behavior (p.322).
Now these recommendations are not stating by any means that parents who have
children with conduct disorder are doing a bad job raising their children. Stephen Pilling
stated that many parents do an excellent job in caring for a child with a conduct
disorder, he added, but it can be incredibly challenging; parent training programs
provide them with strategies for dealing with difficult children and how to better handle
them going forward (p. 322). Sometimes people forget that parents go through this
disorder as much as the children do which is why it is so important to train them and help
them through this to be able to move forward.
In Summation, while looking at the lack of knowledge, the rise in diagnosis, and
the interventions, which are put in place for the children and the parents, it is important to
bring awareness of the disorder. There are so many kids who express the symptoms of
conduct disorder and are not being helped. By schools providing interventions and
education for teachers and administration, I believe that this will help children get the
help they need to be able to succeed. This disorder affects the antisocial side also, which
is so important for children in school and can affect them throughout the rest of their lives
if they do not get help.

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
Introduction
Justin Doe is a 17-year-old junior in high school. He attends Mater Dei Prep,
which holds grades 6 through 12. The school meets the needs of various diverse student
needs by providing resource room, speech, self-contained special education classroom
with mainstreaming opportunities, and BOCES. Justin attends classes in a general
education room for most of the day while attending BOCES for a multi-media class for a
section of the day. His classes are divided between grade specific classes and cross-grade
level classes, depending on the class. The school is designed with organized floors based
on grade and subjects. All classrooms are arranged in various different ways depending
on the needs of the class/subject.
When observing Justin Doe, he was in his general education class surrounded by
his peers of all different ability levels. The classroom was slightly decorated with
motivational quotes. The students were seated in individual desk with their personal
space to work. The teacher involves many different instructional strategies to engage all
types of students.
Definition of Behavior
Justin has difficulties with attention as well as aggressive behaviors. Justin is
antisocial and does not socialize with students around him throughout class. When Justin
becomes frustrated or bored during a class, he will become aggressive by throwing
things, yelling, or walking out of the class. Being as he is in high school, there is no

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
behavior chart or score card, which keeps track of which class he is more likely to have a
behavior in or not.
Teacher Interview
When speaking to his classroom teacher, which I observed in, I learned many
things. As I only see this child in outside community activities, I needed this teacher to be
my insight on how this child behaves in school. When asking the teacher when the
student was successful during his class, the teacher stated that he is successful in handson activities, which are on subjects he is interested in. The teacher stated that when Justin
is not interested in what they are learning, he will zone out and not pay attention while
distracting his classmates. The teacher pointed out when it is a subject or activity which
makes Justin frustrated or engage in social communication with his peers, Justin is more
likely to become aggressive and show those behaviors. When asked why they think the
student is experiencing difficulties in this class, the teacher stated that his biggest
difficulty is not knowing how to ask for help or communicating with his classmates. His
teacher stated how Justins antisocial tendencies often harm his success in the classroom,
as well as other various school activities. The teacher told me how Justin does receive
additional support in school but not for academics. Justin has weekly visits with the
school counselor to help him work on social skills as well as works weekly with a mental
health association to work on social skills as well as how to handle his conduct disorder.
Lastly, when asked what the teachers priority with this students at this point in school, the
teacher stated that she wishes Justin would be able to acknowledge his frustration and to
work through it by peer and teacher support instead of acting out. The teacher also would

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
like Justin to participate and communicate with his classmates when asked to during
assignments.
Student Interview
When interviewing Justin, I informed him that I needed to ask him a few
questions for my classes at school. Justin stated he would be happy to help. I asked Justin
what he thinks of school and Justin answered he does not like school at all and would like
to drop out. When asked why, Justin stated he likes learning a lot but he doesnt like
learning in the school environment. He stated he does not like math and science at all and
finds history interesting, as well as his multi-media class. Justin stated that work is not
hard for him, but that he just doesnt like doing it but has gotten better at getting his
grades up and work done. When asked what the rules are in the classroom, Justin stated
that it changes depending on the teacher but there are school rules. Justin told me how
their school rules involve respect, responsibility, and acceptance. When asked how he
feels about these rules, Justin stated that he has no problem following the rules as they are
not hard. When asked if he gets in trouble a lot, Justin stated that he only gets in trouble
when he gets frustrated or angry, which happens a lot. While being proud that Justin
acknowledges why he gets in trouble and telling him this, he did not want to go into
detail and discuss this question. When asked if teachers acknowledge when he does a
good job, Justin stated that they do and he likes when they do because it makes him
happy. When asked what would make school better, Justin stated that school would be
better if he had a choice on what he gets to learn and not be forced to take certain
subjects.

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
Baseline Data
The data forms used for this observation were the latency recording, duration
recording, and event recording. The latency recording form was used to determine the
length of time it took for the student to follow directions after given by the teacher. The
duration recording was used to determine how long a student engages in a specific
behavior. Lastly, the event recording form was used to determine number of times a
behavior occurs within a given period. These forms were chosen based on the student and
the behavior, which occurs in the classroom.
The observation went very well as student continued to act as usual in the
classroom and my presence did not affect anything, as told by the teacher. Before
observing, I talked with the student about if it was ok if I sat in on one of his classes and
Justin was fine with it. The students behaviors seemed to come out when asked to work
with peers on a chapter in the textbook and discuss this with them. The student took a
while to follow directions once given by the teacher to work with the group of peers. The
student did not act out during regular class time when the teacher was lecturing to them.
This might be because the student does not like peer situations that involve
communicating and/or working with them as a group.
Analysis and Function
The function of the behavior is to avoid working with peers..

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
The reason behind my analysis of the function is because Justin acts out
verbally/physically when asked to work with peers on various assignments in the
classroom.
Reflection
I feel I learned a lot about this student through my observation. I work with this
student as his skill builder and it was very beneficial to see how the student behaves in
school as I only see him outside. I already knew Justin had difficulties interacting with
his peers but did not know it was like that in school when he was asked to. Also, when
looking at the amount of time it takes for Justin to do a task asked by his teacher
depended due to the task. This pattern will help when coming up with an intervention
plan because I have seen the trigger for which makes the student behave this way.
Intervention
Teaching plan
The point of a teaching plan is to teach the child a positive way to get his or her
needs met to reduce the needs for resorting to the behavior of concern. Being as Justins
function of the behavior is to avoid work that is required to do in a group setting, I feel it
will be beneficial for him to learn a positive way to get his needs met which involve him
missing no work. The plan I came up with was to teach Justin how to communicate with
the teacher about working with peers. By working with Justin outside of school on social
interactive skills and peers in the community, which he could slowly implement into his
everyday classroom experience.

10

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
Response Strategies
The point of a response strategy is how to response to the undesired behavior
while minimizing harm to the child, yourself, others, relationships and materials. The
strategy that I have come up with for the teacher is that when the behavior occurs, isolate
Justin so that he does not hit or throw anything at this classmates and/or the teacher. By
having an area in the classroom, which Justin feels comfortable and isolated for the few
minutes before he calms down, this may decrease the aggression towards others. Also,
another response strategy could be to get the counselor involved. When Justin turns
aggressive, the teacher could contact the counselor to come to the classroom and help
with the situation to calm Justin down.
Intervention Data
While collecting the intervention data, I used an index narrative system, which
allowed me to observe the behavior and watch Justins social interactions with his peers.
While using the index card system, I was able to write down all my observations. Before
this process, Justin would act out with physical/verbal aggression when asked to interact
with his peers to work on assignments in the classroom. As Justins skill builder, I was
working with him in the community on social interactions with his peers doing various
activities including basketball at the YMCA, the activity center at the YMCA, and
playing Magic with various age groups. Justin has been improving in the community with
social interactions including talking to peers and asking them questions, playing a sport
or doing an activity with them without fighting, arguing, or nagging. Once Justin was
improving in the community, I moved the skills into the classroom. Justin was improving

11

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
on social interactions in the classroom due to the work weve been doing outside of
school. When observing the intervention, Justin was able to complete an assignment with
his peers appropriately without becoming aggressive in any manner. Justin is continuing
to improve on his social interactive skills inside and outside of the classroom.
When looking at the baseline data with Justin social skills in the classroom before
the intervention, it is obvious that he would act out verbally and physically when asked to
interact with peers. While working with Justin, I have seen him grow as an individual
whom can now interact with his peers in a school and community environment. The
observation of Justin, after putting the intervention in place, shows that now the teacher
in the classroom can use peer interaction as a strategy without having to worry about
Justin becoming physically/verbally aggressive have decreased.
Reflection
When looking back at this process, it has helped me understand the child and help
him become a better student. While in this class, we did work on a case study on the IRIS
website. During this case study, it introduced various recording forms, which I used for
this assignment, like the event recording form, the latency form, and the duration
recording form. Many of these recording forms I have never heard of before doing that
assignment and I feel that really helped me assess the behavior for Justin.
When asking myself if I believe that the interventions are ones I would feel good
about implementing, I would say yes. Being as I have using these interventions outside of
the classroom, I felt very good bringing them into the classroom. I feel this intervention

12

Lindsey Enright
Behavior Intervention Plan
addressed the function of the behavior, as his behavior was to act out physically/verbally
to avoid doing work in the classroom with his peers. By putting this intervention into
place, it allows for Justin to interact socially with his peers while allowing him to
complete his assignments in school.
Throughout this process, I have communicated with Justins teachers numerous
times about his process outside of school and inside. While working with him on social
skills primarily outside of school, it was important that I communicated with his teacher
what I was working on with him that could improve the classroom environment. Once I
felt that Justin was improving, I came back into the classroom and helped him implement
his skills there.
As a future professional, you could modify this process better to fit the childs and
your busy schedule. As many teachers do not work with students for a great amount of
time outside of school, this intervention would not work for everyone. It would be
important for all teachers to be on board with the intervention while showing Justin
appropriate social skills and helping him learn them. The best way this intervention
would work is if the teacher and the parents communicate and work together on social
skills with the student. Social skills are usually taught in elementary school but it does not
stick to some students who many need addition help with social skills especially if they
have a disorder like conduct disorder.

13