Please respond to the discussion board.

1. (Drap) I do not believe it is best to have a behavior plan for every student who is on the spectrum. Just because they have autism does not necessitate a behavior plan. Behaviors should be moderate to extreme and possibly a danger or distraction to themselves and others. There is a difference in severity of behaviors for students on the spectrum and that should be something that should be taken into strong consideration when looking to conduct an FBA and possibly develop an BSP. According to Barton and Harn (2012), “once the school team decides that the child’s problem behavior warrants an FBA, the first thing the team must do is agree upon an observable description of the problem behavior”. Problem behaviors can and will look differently for every student. What looks like and is observed as a problem behavior for one student, may look differently for the student on the spectrum. For example, my student who has autism often times will make loud noises and be up and out of his seat during instruction time, however, we as a team do not see this as a significant problem behavior. He is not one who is physically or verbally aggressive. His behavior do not extremely disrupt the learning of others. For the most part, with his challenges, he is able to do what is expected with adult support. Knowing the student and their behaviors is key when looking at implementing a behavior plan. This is why it is important to have all members of the team have some sort of input. These member do not just include the special education team. The members helping provide input should be parents/caregivers and other staff members that the student is in contact with throughout the school day.

2. (Lorenz) do not believe an FBA and behavior support plan should be implemented to every student with ASD. Not every ASD student has behavior issues; therefore, not needing an FBA and behavior support plan. A defining feature of PBIS is to reduce problem behaviors in order to improve the quality of life for both the student and the people in their life (parents/siblings/peers/staff) (Barton &Harn, 2012). An FBA is the process in gathering information to maximize the effectiveness of the PBIS (Barton & Harn, 2012). Without behavior problems, both the FBA and PBIS are not needed. The paperwork in our district needing to be completed when a student has a behavior incident is extensive. I have one student who has the paperwork filled out on a weekly, if not daily basis. Some of the behavior incidents last 2 minutes. Although it seems like a lot of work for a short incident, I recognize the need to document the behavior. I have another student who has an FBA and PBIS as of last year, although he is in 7^th grade and the behavior has occurred since he has been in school. At times I question the need as his behavior is the “who” he is. It helps justify the need for one-on-one para-support and again, documents the behavior. In conclusion, an FBA and PBIS need to be viewed for each individual student as to the need. The forms can be drastically different from one student to another and are used as a tool to improve the quality of life for the ASD student.