Service Descriptions

Parent Training Our parent training service aims to assist parents with various challenges that present themselves within “everyday” family routines.  Families encounter various routines throughout the day—such as getting dressed and out the door in the morning, making and eating meals, bathing, doing laundry, and settling down for bed.  Included within these routines, there are familiar, habitual tasks that are comforting and predictable for children.  Routines often provide a safe environment for learning.  It is also during these times that challenging behaviors can also become “routine” and learned. Our goal is to provide routines-based consultation that will assist parents with examining typical aspects of their everyday lives, and how modifying or altering aspects of the routines may lead to improved or newly-learned adaptive behaviors that will improve the relationship with the child and the overall functioning of the family.     Parents can benefit from parent training services related to a variety of behaviors.  An example is the parent of a three year old who exhibits frequent and lengthy tantrum behaviors throughout the day.  While the child’s early intervention therapists may be able to eliminate this behavior during sessions, the parent is still having difficulty with tantrum behavior during non-therapy times.  The behavior consultant will assist the parent in looking at the family’s routines and determining why this behavior is occurring—and, most importantly, how the routine can be changed to reduce the frequency and length of this behavior.  Perhaps the child is in need of increased transition time from one task to the next—rather than an abrupt requirement to change.  Instead of turning off the TV and directing him to the dinner table, it may be necessary to give him a five minute warning.   The behavior consultant will assist the parent with understanding why the child is exhibiting the behavior (the function), and with understanding how the routine might be altered to give the child a better opportunity for success (adaptive replacement behavior).    Behavior Consultation Our Behavior Consultation service is provided for schools.  It serves to assist teachers, paraprofessional and other team members that are seeking assistance with managing challenging behaviors in their classrooms.  This service can apply to the difficult behavior of individuals and/or groups within the classroom community.  Behavior Consultation involves an assessment process, followed by specific recommendations that will promote success for the child, team and classroom.  Recommendations will include a variety of positive approaches—motivational strategies, curriculum modifications, proactive and reactive strategies, visual supports and staff trainings.

Workshop/Training Behavior Interventions provides workshops on a variety of topics, including:  writing measurable goals, collecting and graphing data, determining functions of behavior and appropriate replacement behaviors, completing Functional Behavior Assessments, using positive approaches, assessing and modifying the environment for ultimate success, promoting inclusion, etc., etc. Our staff is available to come to your location and provide workshops for your school, teachers, other professionals or teams that are in need of information related to effectively serving the needs of individuals (or groups) that exhibit challenging behaviors.      Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) Behavior Interventions provides the service of Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA).  An FBA is a comperhensive report that serves to identify the function of a child's challenging behavior and/or limited skill sets.  Through direct observation and interviews, an individualized plan is developed to teach appropriate replacement behaviors using positive approaches, thus decreasing challenging behaviors. The process of completing the FBA includes direct observation of the child, as well as parent interviews.  It may also include input from other adults in the child’s life, such as therapists and teachers.  Challenging or disruptive behaviors will be described and defined according to their function—that is, what they allow the child to gain or avoid by engagement in the behavior.  The behavior consultant will also observe for the presence of five core skills that are integral to typical child development.  These core skills include:  expressive communication, receptive communication, attention to task, functional play and age-appropriate social skills.    Again, the behaviors related to these skills will be considered according to their function.  Following the observations, the behavior consultant will recommend teaching specific adaptive replacement behaviors that will serve the same function for the child (such as teaching the child to say “no” rather than tantrum to avoid ending a preferred activity).  The consultant will also recommend teaching specific adaptive behaviors that will promote core skill development (such as teaching a child to imitate actions during play). The completed FBA is presented as an individualized plan and defines methods for teaching adaptive replacement behaviors.  It also includes a plan for responding when the defined “challenging” behaviors are exhibited—in a method that will ultimately decrease the frequency of these challenging behaviors. Behavior consultation and supervision are also offered to ensure that recommendations made in the FBA are effectively followed and that progress is achieved.

Program Supervision Our program supervision service is provided to develop and oversee a home/school program for their child/student.  This applies to programs where an aide/one-to-one will be providing the direct service.  Behavior supervision includes providing initial and on-going training for the direct staff.  It also includes monitoring the program—maintaining data on the goals and objectives and making regular program changes to address progress or needs.  Duration and frequency of program supervision varies depending on the child’s needs, and will most likely be determined after assessment/observation is completed—some programs may require frequent supervision each week, some may require supervision on a monthly basis. Behavior supervision includes providing initial and on-going training for the direct staff.  It also includes monitoring the program—maintaining data on the goals and objectives and making regular program changes to address progress or needs.  Duration and frequency of program supervision varies depending on the child’s needs, and will most likely be determined after assessment/observation is completed—some programs may require frequent supervision each week, some may require supervision on a monthly basis.