Utah Special Education Paraeducator Handbook - Granite School ...

No intervention works 100% of the time. Our best strategy is to keep the problem from occurring in the
first place. If that doesn’t work, we try to eliminate or decrease the problem using validated strategies.
These strategies are described in Utah’s Least Restrictive Behavioral Intervention Guidelines (LRBI,
2008).Your special education teacher should have a copy of the LRBI for you to review and discuss with
her or him.
Proactive management strategies and Interventions are more effective if you have a good relationship
with the student. People are more likely to say yes to those whom they know and like. Without a
mutually respectful relationship, interventions are less likely to work. Here are some ways to build a
respectful relationship:
Be a good role model in words and actions.
Have realistic expectations.
Spend time with the student.
Be open to concerns or criticism. LISTEN first, and then
provide guidance and direction.
Show the student you care and understand their
situation.
Ask the student for help and advice, when appropriate.
Talk low.
Talk slow.
Don't say too much!
Don’t react. Step back from a stressful or frustrating situation to
prevent it from escalating and to give yourself and the student(s)
time to cool down.
Jo Moscarro
Some interventions are simple, such as talking to a student about a problem or situation. Others can be
complicated and involve many individuals such as a behavior management plan for a disruptive student.
How do you know which intervention(s) might be more effective or which to use and with whom? Your
supervising teacher and/or other team members make that decision. It is the role of your supervising
teacher to tell you which strategy(s) should be used and provide training as needed. Along with the
training, your supervisor should give you ongoing feedback. A student’s behavior is much more likely to
change when everyone on the instructional team is responding to the student’s behavior in the same
way.
Before we talk about specific proactive management strategies, we need to review the ABCs of
behavior. Remember there is always an interaction between a student’s behavior and the learning
environment. It’s as easy as ABC:
A
B
C
Antecedents are the events that happen BEFORE the student behavior occurs.
Behavior is the specific way the student acts.
Consequences are the events that happen to the student IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
the behavior.
Utah Paraeducator Handbook Page 34