School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) is a framework or approach comprised of intervention practices and organizational systems for establishing the social culture, learning and teaching environment, and individual behavior supports needed to achieve academic and social success for all students (San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, 2015). This chapter will look at the prevention supports needed in early childhood environments to encourage children to interact successfully with peers and adults, especially at school and in the home.

Early intervention in positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) uses the 3-tiered model of prevention. Strategies are geared to the intensity level of needs based on a hierarchy of prevention and intervention. Researchers recommend the teaching pyramid to design supports and services for children to develop social-emotional competence for success at school and at home.

Tiered Model of Prevention and Intervention

Tier 1 Supports

· The quality of positive relationships developed between the child and the child’s parents, teachers, child care professionals, other caring adults and, eventually, peers.

· Healthy social-emotional development is a function of the stability, security, and consistency of trusting, affectionate relationships that are developed during the child’s years as an infant and toddler.

· Adult-child interactions, guidance and modeling with respect to empathy for others, assistance with problem solving, and the provision of comprehensible, predictable, and stimulating environments.

· Positive parenting, and the physical arrangements associated with safety and orderliness in home, child care, and classroom settings help promote healthy social-emotional development and reduce the incidence of serious challenging behavior.

Tier 2 Supports

· Geared for children who experience circumstances and risk factors known to increase the likelihood of social-emotional disorders and the development of challenging behaviors that may include: poverty, exposure to abusive, neglectful or violent home situations, delays or disabilities in learning or communication, maternal depression and other variables.

· Parent training, social skills and social-emotional curricula, and multi-component intervention programs.

Tier 3 Supports

· For children who demonstrate patterns of persistent challenging behavior.

· Require more concerted and individualized intervention efforts.

· There may be developmental delays or disability (due to increased risk factors).

In the home environment, the family partners with professionals to design and implement behavior support for a child with challenging behavior. A professional or a team of professionals offer supports in the home that address:

· Assessment and intervention strategies of PBIS;

· Early childhood development and early intervention, and;

· Family functioning, family systems and cultural differences.

The process is offered in five major steps:

STEP 1: The Team and Goal Setting.

· Establishing relationship between professional and families.

· Team development – consist of individuals who are connected to the child and family, and who are involved and invested in the child’s healthy development.

· Setting short-term and long-term goals to create a shared vision.

Step 2: Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

· Pinpoints the challenging behaviors.

· Indicates the function or purpose of the behavior from the child’s perspective.

· Looks at the specific antecedent conditions that trigger high and low intensity of behavior.

STEP 3: Developing the PBIS Plan.

The team collaborates to develop the PBIS plan component based on information from:

· The functional assessment;

· Goals established during the initial planning process;

· All other available information about the child, and

· Feasibility of consistent implementation

Take the Classroom Interventions and Supports Self-Assessment:

· The classroom is physically designed to meet the needs of all students.

· Classroom routines are developed, taught, and predictable.

· Three to five positive classroom expectations are posted, defined, and explicitly taught.

· Prompts and active supervision practices are used proactively.

· Opportunities to respond are varied and are provided at high rates.

· Specific praise and other strategies are used to acknowledge behavior.

· Reminders are consistently given before a behavior might occur.

· The responses to misbehaviors in the classroom are appropriate and systematic.

· Data systems are used to collect information about classroom behavior.

CSEFEL Practical Strategies Teaching Social Emotional Skills. YouTube. (2018). Retrieved June 12, 2018 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hej8GwV-rIU

National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. (2018). Retrieved June 3, 2018 from: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FWW/Results?filters=,Pre-K

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) OSEP Technical Assistance Center. (2018) Retrieved June 3, 2018 from: http://www.pbis.org/community/early-childhood

Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) OSEP Technical Assistance Center. (2018) Retrieved June 6, 2018 from: http://www.pbis.org/community/early-childhood/family-centered-pbis

Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) OSEP Technical Assistance Center. (2018). Retrieved June 6, 2018 from: http://www.pbis.org/family/family-engagement

Positive Behavior Support - the Pyramid Model. YouTube. (2018). Retrieved June 12, 2018 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Rl00F49Hg

San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. (2014-15). Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Team Workbook.

Supporting and Responding to Behavior: Evidence-Based Classroom Strategies for Teachers. Retrieved June 12, 2018 from: http://www.pbis.org/common/cms/files/pbisresources/Supporting%20and%20Responding%20to%20Behavior.pdf

1-Hour Webinar on Working with Preschool Children with Challenging Behavior. YouTube. (2018). Retrieved June 12, 2018 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W41jfvxPCA&list=PL4ZDkBZeFWaL0X6so7MZOjsuvCfmlUaI4

Weist, M.D., Garbacz, S. A., Lynne, K., Kincaid, L.D. (2017). Aligning and Integrating Family Engagement in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): Concepts and Strategies for Families and Schools in Key Contexts. Retrieved June 6, 2018 from: http://www.pbis.org/Common/Cms/files/pbisresources/Family%20Engagement%20in%20PBIS.pdf