About this Professional Learning Series
This professional learning series provides resources and strategies to help adults address the behavioral needs of students with IEPs in educational settings. Series content is connected to related state and national educational frameworks and aligns with related state and federal legal requirements. The following descriptions highlight the content found in each section of the series.
Data to Spotlight Disparity
Disciplinary data regarding students in Wisconsin schools points to the need to develop more equitable, culturally competent, and effective practices for supporting students whose behavior interferes with their learning or the learning of others.
Behavior, Bias, and Adult Practice
Examining biases and beliefs about student behavior as well as the social norms of the school community is critical to establishing practices that identify and support student needs.
Strong and Healthy Relationships
Building and cultivating relationships with students is key to positive student outcomes. This resource highlights ways relationships can be facilitated by adults through the Six Principles of Compassionate Instruction, Active Listening, and the Developmental Relationships Framework.
Proactive and Positive Approach: Why They Work
When adults are proactive in responding to student needs, they are better able to provide instruction and support for student learning. Positive behavior interventions, supports, and other strategies required for a student with an IEP should be implemented within an equitable multi-level system of support (MLSS), utilizing the Culturally Responsive Problem-Solving Framework, school-wide PBIS, and the Pyramid Model for young children.
Strategies to Change Mindsets
Changing adult mindsets unlocks new perspectives on how to teach and support students in a way that addresses the root causes of each student’s unmet academic and functional skill needs.
Establishing Adult Practices
Using a variety of evidence based practices helps adults create a supportive learning environment including Setting and Modeling High Expectations, Establishing Routines, and Increasing Engagement.
Instruction, Support, and Opportunities to Learn, Improve, and Generalize Skills
Through root cause analysis, adults can identify the needs of students to better plan instruction and support, with the efforts focused on adult roles in teaching and learning.
The Response Cycle
Understanding the Response Cycle helps adults effectively intervene to minimize or prevent intense behavior responses from occurring, and support the student in de-escalating behavior responses when they do occur.
Prevention and De-escalation
Prevention is the most efficient intervention adults can employ for addressing behaviors that interfere with learning. Adult actions can either escalate or de-escalate a student’s behavioral response. This resource includes a recommendation list of what-to-do and what-not-to-do.
Supporting Resources
A list of additional resources that may be helpful to support students with IEPs who have significant behavioral needs that interfere with their learning or the learning of others.