New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline - Ministry of Health

Appendices
5. Functional approach to problem behaviour
This describes the process by which the child’s problem behaviour is not merely decreased or
eliminated, but is replaced with an appropriate alternative or replacement behaviour that results in
the same or similar consequences (this is described in detail in section 3.2.e Self-management skills and
addressing challenging behaviour in education settings).
Primary
Secondary
• Schools often have consequence-based behaviour management policies that can be in conflict
with the functional behaviour principles and these need to be discussed and resolved.
• Teachers, principals and boards of trustees need to examine their policies and discuss the
potential for conflict.
• The principles of functional behaviour assessment are not well understood by teachers and
some specialists, and professional learning and development is needed.
6. Family involvement
Primary
Secondary
Schools need:
• policies and practices that make parents feel welcome and encourage them to participate
• to support parents to get the information they need to make informed decisions
• to adopt and support effective home–school communication systems.
Systems are needed to help parents to learn
about the curriculum, service provision and
cross-sector initiatives.
Communication at this level tends to be less
regular and often only one of the teachers
(such as the SENCO) is involved. Very few
individual educational plans include all
teachers.
Appendices
New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline 297