# Supporting Behavior in the Inclusive Class

## Foundational Ideas
- Everyone needs support for behavior.
- Behavior is communication.
- Punishment doesn’t work.
- Respond to the root of the behavior, not the surface.

## Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support
- Intensive Supports
- Moderate supports
- Proactive supports

### Proactive Supports
- For all students all of the time
- Building Community
- Universal Design for Learning
- Culturally Responsive Teaching
- The Responsive Classroom [Responsive Classroom](https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/)

### Toolkit for Proactive Supports
- **Class meetings**  
  – Belonging, empowerment, and capability – Everyone participates!  
  – Kriete, R. (2002). The morning meeting book. Turner Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc.  
  – Nelson, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, H. S. (2000). Positive discipline in the classroom: Developing mutual respect, cooperation, and responsibility (3rd ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press.

- **Fidget Toys**  
  – Enhances learning experiences  
  – Provides sensory stimulation  
  – Focuses attention

- **Cue signals**  
  – Individualized or whole-class  
  – Visual or auditory  
  – Supports all students in remembering classroom routines

- **Nooks**  
  – Alternative place to read or work  
  – A place to decompress or think things through  
  – Stock with paper, clipboards, books, seating, and fidget toys

- **Periodic rests**  
  – Replenish neurotransmitters and allow for more information processing  
  – One to two minutes every 15 minutes  
  – Stretch, dance, chat, sing, get a new fidget, etc.  
  – Reconnect and keep going

- **CHOICE!**  
  – Benefits are prevalent in research  
  – Offer options with a common set of criteria  
  – Examples: Draw it, Write it, Say it, Move it, Homework Menus

### Moderate Supports
- Additional needs for some students  
- May be short-term or long-term  
- Classroom teacher (usually)

### Toolkit for Moderate Supports
- **Response scales**  
  – A concrete way to directly teach social skills  
  – Increase self-management and emotional regulation  
  – Buron, K. D., & Curtis, M. (2012). The incredible 5-point scale (2nd ed.). Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

- **Pre-questions**  
  – Provides extra time to answer discussion questions  
  – Relieves anxiety  
  – Builds confidence and self-efficacy

- **Social skill slam book**  
  – Provides peer-to-peer social advice and guidance  
  – Use photos and speech bubbles to add support  
  – Kluth, P., & Danaher, S. (2014). From text maps to memory caps: 100 more ways to differentiate instruction in K-12 inclusive classrooms. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

- **Social stories**  
  – Direct instruction of meaningful social skills  
  – For one-time events or long-term routines and situations  
  – Gray, C. (2010). The new social story book. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.

### Intensive Supports
- Significant needs for few students  
- Usually long-term  
- Collaboration with related service professionals

### Toolkit for Intensive Supports
- **Alternatives to restraint and seclusion** [Life Space Crisis Intervention](http://www.lsci.org/)  
  – Interactive therapeutic strategy for turning crisis situations into learning opportunities  
  – Non-physical intervention for behavior management and problem solving

- **Collaboration with Occupational Therapist** [American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA)](http://www.aota.org/)  
  – Interventions to support full participation in the classroom environment and social situations  
  – Therapies to develop motor skills, sensory processing, social coping, functional life skills

- **Augmentative and alternative communication** [American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)](http://www.asha.org/)  
  – Symbol sets and systems  
  – Eye gaze systems  
  – Text-to-speech  
  – Voice output aids

## Additional Resources
- Kluth, P., & Danaher, S. (2010). From tutor scripts to talking sticks: 100 ways to differentiate instruction in K-12 inclusive classrooms. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
- Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
- OSEP Technical Assistance Center. (2014). Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support. Retrieved at [pbis.org](http://www.pbis.org)

- Myles, B. S., Trautman, M. L., & Schelvan, R. L. (2004). The hidden curriculum: Practical solutions for understanding unstated rules in social situations. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Co.
- Sapon-Shevin, M. (2010). Because we can change the world: A practical guide to building cooperative, inclusive classroom communities (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
- Willis, J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.