Tips and Tweaks For Effective School Wide PBIS For Students With ASD

This session will provide participants the opportunity to learn how easy modifications in their School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBS) can increase its effectiveness with students with autism spectrum disorders. This presentation will begin with an overview of characteristics of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) that can sometimes make a school’s three tiered implementation of School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) challenging to implement effectively for this population.   We know that effective School Wide Positive Behavior Supports requires each of the components or tiers (universal, group or secondary and tertiary or individual) to be implemented. Yet sometimes, there is a mis-belief that students with ASD cannot participate or be successful in most universal and group interventions and that PBS planning and implementation for this population must be focused on the tertiary level.

 There is early research that indicates that students with significant needs, including students with ASD, benefit from participating in School Wide Positive Behavior Supports at all tiers. For each component, this presentation will give specific examples of how common interventions and supports can be simply modified in how they are presented, taught, prompted or reinforced to increase effectiveness for students with ASD and other students for whom the universal and group supports have been previously unsuccessful.

 In addition, participants in this session will be given the opportunity to examine their own Positive Behavior Interventions and Support implementation at the school and classroom levels and explore specific ways modifications can be made in order to increase its effectiveness for students with ASD and other significant disabilities and support needs at all three tiers of intervention

 Learning how to effectively include students with ASD within all three tiers of School Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports has multiple benefits.  If more students with ASD successfully respond at the universal and secondary levels, some of the problem behaviors will decrease and fewer students and problems will need to be addressed through interventions at the intensive individual level.  These students will also be able to be in the classroom for more opportunities for learning and academic progress.  Finally, schools that are more effective for supporting students with more significant needs such as ASD will be more supportive settings for all students.

Objectives/learner outcomes.  1.  Participants will learn how their school implementation of School Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be more effective for students with ASD  2.  The session will offer specific examples of modifications of common strategies of PBIS that can increase effectiveness for students with ASD  3.  Participants will be given the opportunity to explore and modify their school’s school wide or classroom positive supports for improved efficacy for students with ASD