Behavior Intervention Plans that Fall Into the Category of Wasted Printer Ink

A Behavior Intervention Plan is a formalized plan developed to target unacceptable behaviors in a child or student.  The theory behind the plan is to eliminate the undesirable behavior and replace it with a new and improved behavior.  The behavior plan is a team effort, created by teachers, parents and staff that deal with the student or child and sometimes can be created by a trained behavior analyst. Unfortunately, if the behavior plan is not supported and followed by stakeholders, it is wasted ink.

The foundation for a successful Behavior Intervention Plan is to create a positive reinforcement of what the child does BEST.  In other words, what are their particular strengths, and how can they best be used to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.  It is important to remember that creating a behavior plan that doesn’t end up as wasted printer ink requires a team effort of all stakeholders for it to be successful.  This includes parents, teachers, bus drivers and any other stakeholder that may work with the child. 

Behavior Intervention Plans that are written and not shared may as well fall into the category of “Wasted Printer Ink”.  If stakeholders don’t know about the Behavior Intervention Plan, the plan may be doomed.  To modify a behavior, everyone needs to be on the “same page” when working with a child.  The child needs to have reliable feedback and consistent consequences to begin to recognize expected behaviors.  Another main factor in a Behavior Intervention Plan is the targeted behavior.

A Behavior Intervention Plan is doomed to failure if there are more than 3 behaviors targeted for intervention.  A really good intervention plan should only have one or two.  It is an overwhelming impossible task to try to change EVERYTHING all at once.  Targeting the worst behaviors first and eliminating them one at a time will keep the Behavior Intervention Plan from being wasted ink.  It is also less overwhelming for the child and more easily managed for the parents, teachers and staff that are implementing the plan.  The bottom line, however, is making sure that everyone, including the child, is on the same page.