The effectiveness of Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies with Special Education Students

Introduction

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a concept that entails strategies and systems that are normally used in the process of the achievement of important changes in various behavioral aspects. The development of this concept has been done with the objective of creating alternative ways of assisting and attending to students with special needs in a classroom or school environment. The basis of PBIS involves different approaches that are necessary for the improvement of the ability of students with special needs. One of the initiatives related to PBIS entails the design and maintenance of an environment that permits and supports quality learning and teaching (Davies & Ferguson, 2011). Special needs reduction entails the practice of offering education to students with special needs such as those living with different physical or psychological disabilities. Ideally, special education involves both systematic and planned teaching arrangements and procedures coupled with special materials and equipment necessary for facilitating the learning process for learners with special needs. The realization of the effectiveness of special education often involves some interventions and strategies whose objective is to assist the students towards achieving higher levels of success and self-sufficiency in school as well as in their communities (Brestan & Eyberg, 2012).

Research Purpose

The purpose of this research is to try and identify the existing gap between the strategic adoption of Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies with Special Education Students and the effectiveness of the behavior change among such students. Moreover, this research seeks to establish the existing relationship between the implementation of positive behavior intervention and support strategies and the performance of special education students. The research is also concerned with the determination of the effectiveness and efficiency associated with implementing positive behavior intervention and support strategies in special education. In this research, keen interest is directed towards the evaluation and analysis of the effects and outcomes associated with the adoption and implementation of various support strategies and interventions directed towards improving behavioral aspects among students studying in a special education system. The other intention of this research is to examine the extent to which the implementation of effective strategies such as Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies could lead to a decrease in negative behavior among special education students.

Research Questions

What is the relationship between Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies and the performance of special education students?

What is the effectiveness of Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies in Special Education?

What are the effects or outcomes associated with the adoption and implementation of positive behavior intervention and support strategies for teaching students with special needs?

Does the implementation of effective strategies such as Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies lead to a decrease in negative behavior among special education students?

Literature Review

Effective and Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) entails a multi-tiered and a multidimensional framework that is expected to work for the students going through special education. Interventions related to positive behaviors may be regarded as data-driven, evidence-based and able to reduce instances of indiscipline among the students. Such interventions are also able to increase and improve the sense of support and safety of the students undergoing special education. When it comes to the implementation of positive behavior intervention concerning students undergoing special intervention, the teacher plays a critical role (Davies & Ferguson, 2011). This is because the teacher is regarded as one of the decisive elements whose presence in a classroom significantly matters. The manner in which a special education teacher responds to a student with behavioral inadequacies affects that particular student in several ways. If the special education teacher manages to demonstrate confidence and calmness, then the students are highly likely to take the cue from him or her and respond similarly. Teachers often find it possible and easier to acknowledge and understand the important role played by preventive discipline and school management courtesy of the PBIS programs. Furthermore, PBIS programs and strategies assist special education teachers in ensuring that their students are provided with a favorable learning environment.

The successful implementation of PBIS programs is mostly dependent upon the reception and response obtained from both the school and the community where the students with special needs study and live. The tenets and principles associated with PBIS have several similarities with the one represented by Response to Intervention (RTI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) such as evidence-based decision-making processes, continuous progress monitoring, universal screening, and implementation fidelity among others. As opposed to the roles played by a manual curriculum or scripted strategy, PBIS is a concept that requires the adoption and organization of behavioral interventions that are based on evidence and previous research findings (Mitchell & Arnold, 2014). In this respect, the PBIS interventions are normally subjected into an integrated level of a continuum that improves the effectiveness of social land academic behaviors for students undergoing special education. Different schools are characterized with a unique environment; thus the application of similar approaches and strategies for all towards the realization of the effects associated with the implementing positive behavior intervention and support strategies with special education students is not adequate. In this way, it is often necessary and advisable for decision-makers and the relevant stakeholders in the education sector to include proactive techniques and strategies when it comes to the designing, supporting and teaching special education students to embrace appropriate behaviors (Vincent et al ., 2011). 

The research question raised in this study is worth perusing based on the recent developments as well as the challenges that have seen to affect the implementation of positive behaviors among students is special education system. To that extent, there is a growing need to ensure that various approach end techniques are brought onboard to pursue the effectiveness of positive behavioral interventions. Some of the critical processes involved in response to strategic intervention approach to special education include the provision of quality instruction capable of matching the needs of the students. Others include frequent monitoring of the progress made by students in their learning processes as well as their responses to applied techniques and strategies (Chitiyo & Wheeler, 2008).

The history of PBIS finds its foundations and roots in response to intervention movement in the education sector. The response to intervention is a process that involves systematic documentation of the performance displayed by students based on their special needs in a learning environment. Findings from previous studies have demonstrated that schools and learning institutions that supported learners with behavioral enhancements by formulating and implementing a wide range of strategic interventions (Simonsen et al ., 2013). The technique of response to intervention applies different levels of implementation concerning the targeted population which leads to the facilitation of the process involving the monitoring of the overall effectiveness of the entire process. In this case, there are three levels of intervention which usually involve typical intervention strategies. One of them is the tertiary level where there are severity and intensity of the present cases. The other one is the second level which involves a reduction of the issues and problems related to behaviors displayed by student undergoing special education. The third one is the primary level which entails a reduction of new cases associated with problem behavior (Scott et al ., 2007). 

Method

Design

Key questions of the study

What is the relationship between Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies and the performance of special education students?

What is the effectiveness of Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies in Special Education?

What are the effects or outcomes associated with the adoption of an implementation of positive behavior intervention and support strategies for teaching students with special needs?

Does the implementation of effective strategies such as Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies lead to a decrease in negative behavior among special education students?

Variables

Independent Variable: Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies with Special Education Students

Dependent Variable: Effectiveness of the decrease in negative behavior among special education students

Data Collection

The process of data collection for this study involves the determination of different individuals charged with the responsibility of performing various tasks concerning the collection of data as well as the duration by which the entire process of collecting data is expected to be completed. The study was designed in such a manner that it involved both descriptive and correlational types of research. Its design included stating the purpose of the study and the research questions as well as the description of both independent and dependent variables. The adopted methodology for this study involves both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The researcher was concerned with the collection of information and data from the selected schools that have been able to implement Positive Behavior Intervention and Support and is also offering learning and activities to students with special needs.

In this regard, the data collection process intended to interview both the students and teachers in these schools to examine the extent to which various strategies influenced the process of positive behavior change. The data and information collected from some schools were sampled and used in carrying out analysis and discussion. Regarding the qualitative technique used in this study, the researcher focused on analysis, review, and evaluation of different secondary sources with the relevant information and details. In this case, the relevant information was the one touching either directly or indirectly on the subject of the effectiveness of implementing positive behavior intervention and support strategies with special education students. Finding from related studies were also gathered as useful research information before being analyzed and evaluated together with data from primary sources.

Procedure

The procedure and steps used in the collection of data include the following:

Requesting of approval and authorization from the necessary authorities 

Selection of participants and determination of samples 

Scheduling of interviews with students and teachers for the selected schools attended by special education students

Obtaining informed consents from the participating students and/or their teachers

Conducting interviews and observations as well as disseminating data collection instruments which include a questionnaire and a sheet containing the key research questions

Obtaining recording and organizing data and information obtained from the primary as well as the secondary sources of data

Scoring, coding and analyzing the data collected and recorded

Presenting and sharing results of the data collection process for further analysis, evaluation, and discussion. 

Results

Upon carrying out the study according to the design, many outcomes were obtained. Among the sample of schools offering education to special students, It was found that found that 85% percent of them had adopted the use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). The adoption of this program as one of their strategies was meant to reduce the negative behavior witnessed among the students in these schools. The remaining 15% or the schools form which teachers and students were interviewed concerning different behavioral control strategies indicated a failure to adopt PBIS strategy. In this case, the findings demonstrated that majority of the schools offering learning and education programs to students with special needs obtained positive outcomes concerning the role played by PBIS in the control of behavioral aspects. The outcomes of the research also showed that 70% of the schools from which teachers were interviewed considerable confidence and satisfaction that indicating that the effectiveness of implementing positive behavior intervention and support strategies in special education was above their target. Teachers from 20% percent of the schools were not satisfied with the level of effectiveness achieved from the implementation of PBIS on their students undergoing the special education system while the remaining 10% were not sure of which response to give. The research established that several effects were associated with the adoption of strategies focusing on the adoption and implementation of positive behavior intervention in teaching students with special needs. These outcomes include decreased tendencies of negative behaviors among students with special, improved academic performance individually and collectively among the students as well as a positive relationship and increased collaboration between the students and their teachers.

Discussion

The focus of Implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Strategies in improving the behaviors of students undergoing special education involves the modification of the environmental context as well as the development of the support meant to ensure that all students are adequately provided with the relevant academic assistance. Increasingly, schools that are offering education to students with special needs have been involved in the implementation of IPBS strategies with the aim of realizing its effectiveness in the academic and behavioral aspects of the students. There has also been the adoption of various program related to the IPBS strategy that has often demonstrated their support towards the realization of both learning and social needs for the students learning within the special education system (Brestan & Eyberg, 2012). Important features of the interventions that have previously been used to enhance the effectiveness of behaviors among special educations students include physical and routines arrangements, development of rules, prevention and prediction as well as implementation and consistent evaluation. The importance of examining and evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of positive behavior intervention and support strategies among special education students is the integration of that particular process into the system of maximization of effectiveness (Lewis et al ., 2010).

Moreover, the efficiency and effectiveness in a continuum involving support from the institutions offering special education represent the support from individual classroom effort which could be individualized concerning various inherent expectations. Studies have increasingly been able to demonstrate some of the positive outcomes associated with pro-social behaviors and the manner in which they are defined, described, taught, and disseminated across different spectra including schools and classrooms. While there may be differences concerning the strategies adopted, the consistency associated with the instruction given to the students undergoing the special education system is something that contributes significantly towards the enhancement of the effectiveness of several strategies. One of such strategies is that of implementing positive behavior intervention and support with special education students (Cheney & Barringer, 2009). Nonetheless, the implementation of PBIS with regard to the logic or prevention and prediction within learning environments characterized by effective instructions may be even in institutions that have not yet implemented any strategic interventions. The nature of consistency and comprehensiveness associated with the model of PBIS affects its effectiveness when it comes to the facilitation of the activities taking place in classroom environments attended by students with special needs (Reinke, Herman & Stormont, 2012).

Conclusion

Based on the results and outcomes obtained in this study, it is clear that PBIS is based on different approaches that are necessary for the improvement of the ability of students with special needs. One of the initiatives related to PBIS entails the design and maintenance of an environment that permits and supports quality learning and teaching. Special needs reduction entails the practice of offering education to students with special needs such as those living with different physical or psychological disabilities. Moreover, the majority of learning institutions offering learning programs to special education students have chosen to embrace the adoption of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports owing to its considerable role in enhancing the effectiveness of behavioral control and intervention measures. This implies that there is a strong correlation between the use of PBIS strategy and positive behavior among students. It I also worth noting that some outcomes are related to the implementation of positive behavior intervention in teaching students with special needs namely improved behavioral aspects, an enhanced relationship between students and teachers as well as improved performances in classwork for the special education students.

Evaluation

This study is important in my own work considering that it has several uses such as providing research-based and evidence-based information on the most appropriate and effective strategies that can be adapted to create positive intervention on the behavior of students with special needs. Additionally, the study is useful since its help in the evaluation of the outcomes associated with PBIS in different situations and various learning environments. Despite carrying out the study and obtaining results, it is worth indicating that some limitations were experienced such as the inability to access schools that were located in remote areas due to limited resources. In some situations, it was difficult to get accurate information since the participants were reluctant to respond to every question that was asked. The major information provided by this study are the outcomes associated with the adoption of an implementation of positive behavior intervention and support strategies for teaching students with special needs.

References

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Cheney, D. & Barringer, C. (2009). Teacher competence, student diversity, and staff training for the inclusion of middle school students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders , 3, 174-183.

Chitiyo, M., & Wheeler, J. (2008). Challenges Faced by School Teachers in Implementing Positive Behavior Support in Their School Systems. Remedial And Special Education , 30(1), 58-63. doi: 10.1177/0741932508315049

Davies, R., & Ferguson, J. (2011). Teachers’ view of the role of initial teacher education in developing their professionalism. Journal of Education for Teaching , 23, 39-59.

Lewis, T., Jones, S., Horner, R., & Sugai, G. (2010). School-Wide Positive Behavior Support and Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: Implications for Prevention, Identification and Intervention. Exceptionality , 18(2), 82-93. doi: 10.1080/09362831003673168

Mitchell, A., & Arnold, M. (2014). Behavior management skills as predictors of retention among south Texas special educators. Journal of Instructional Psychology , 31, 214-219.

Reinke, W., Herman, K., & Stormont, M. (2012). Classroom-Level Positive Behavior Supports in Schools Implementing SW-PBIS. Journal Of Positive Behavior Interventions , 15(1), 39-50. doi: 10.1177/1098300712459079

Scott, T., Park, K., Swain-Bradway, J., & Landers, E. (2007). Positive behavior support in the classroom: Facilitating behaviorally inclusive learning environments. International Journal Of Behavioral Consultation And Therapy , 3(2), 223-235. doi:10.1037/h0100800

Simonsen, B., MacSuga-Gage, A., Briere, D., Freeman, J., Myers, D., Scott, T., & Sugai, G.(2013). Multitiered Support Framework for Teachers’ Classroom-Management Practices. Journal Of Positive Behavior Interventions , 16(3), 179-190. doi: 10.1177/1098300713484062

Vincent, C., Randall, C., Cartledge, G., Tobin, T., & Swain-Bradway, J. (2011). Toward a Conceptual Integration of Cultural Responsiveness and Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support. Journal Of Positive Behavior Interventions , 13(4), 219-229. doi: 10.1177/1098300711399765