Lesson 18: Evaluating a Written Behavior Support Plan

Attention

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Evaluate a written plan to determine if it is workable
  • Identify ways in which a bad plan can make the situation worse

Teaching

Plan Evaluation

When we write a plan we want to answer a couple questions before we start to use it:

  • Does the plan include all the information we need to actually implement it?
  • Is the plan practical and "doable"?

We have been learning, piece by piece how to constuct clear ABC plans...but sometimes we get carried away with what WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE done and what CAN be done!

A plan that is "too much work" or "too complicated" will simply not work! Or it will work for a while and then it won't work.

I once constructed a plan for my daughter that was too complex:

  • She earned points for various tasks (homework, chores, etc.)
  • She saved them up to earn going to dance class

All this was fine, but the complexity was that she had dance class on Tuesdays and Saturdays...so for certain dance classes she had to actually earn money the previous week and save it in order to "afford" the dance class

It all got complicated in the MATH and it ultimately failed. She still struggles to do her homework!

Checks to Evaluate a Plan

Be sure your plans have all of the following covered:

  • Prevention steps
  • Antecedents
  • Behavior descriptions that meet the Dead Man and Stranger tests
  • Consequences
  • Not too much complexity
  • Details on the behavior of others (that also meet the Dead Man and Stranger tests)---this helps hold YOU accountable!

Plan Pragmatics

Is your plan one that focuses on POSITIVE support?

Is your plan too much demand on TIME?

Do you, or the staff or teachers, have the SKILLS to support this plan?

If you are going to do this type of work, you might as well do it right...doing it wrong can make things worse!

Evaluation

Evaluating how effective plans have been can happen in two ways:

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is the kind of assessment that we do "along the way" to see if a plan is working. If it is not working the way we want we make changes to the plan.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is what we do at the end...we look at the data that has been generated from the plan and we make a final determination as to the plan's effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness).

Assessment

Lesson 18 Discussion

In this discussion I would like to have relate stories regarding poorly constructed plans, or what you now KNOW are poorly constructed plans. Using the concepts below, relate what went WRONG with the plan. You need to link these concepts with the failure of the plan.

  • prevention
  • antecedents
  • behaviors being described so that they pass the dead man and stranger tests
  • consequences (choice and consistency)
  • complexity
  • specific duties of the manager of the plan