I and II.

Student Background and Definition of Specific Behavio

Giovonni is a 16 year old sophomore at Sparrows Point High School who calls out during
classroom instruction without raising his hand. This behavior is exhibited by Giovonni during
classroom discussion and happens on average 5 times during the class period. Giovonnis calling
out behavior is extremely disruptive to the classroom and often distracts students from the
discussion as a whole. This behavior is shown in Giovonnis World History Class that takes place
the last period of the day. Giovonni is an active student at Sparrows Point High School and plays
for their soccer team. His free time enjoyment includes playing soccer, spending time with
family and friends, and playing video games. Giovonni has a 504 Plan targeting disrespectful
behavior towards people of authority. This 504 Plan has been helping him with this issue but
does not address his calling out behavior.
III.

Literature Review

Source 1:
Bigby, C. (2012). Social inclusion and people with intellectual disability and challenging
behaviour: A systematic review. Journal Of Intellectual & Developmental Disability,
37(4), 360-374. doi:10.3109/13668250.2012.721878
This article talks about the concept of Social Inclusion and how individuals with
intellectual disabilities may struggle in this area due to inappropriate behavior. The article
discusses different behaviors seen as inappropriate in a social concept and calling out during
class is most popular. This article also discusses the need for more funding a services for social
inclusion assistance for students with intellectual disabilities. This article is useful for my

Positive Behavior Support Plan because it discusses possible social outcomes of the undesired
behavior.
Source 2:
Evans, C., & Weiss, S. L. (2014). Teachers Working Together: How to Communicate,
Collaborate, and Facilitate Positive Behavior in Inclusive Classrooms. Journal
Of The

International Association Of Special Education, 15(2), 142.

This article discusses how a school wide positive behavior support framework is causing

challenges in inclusion classes and how teachers can change these challenges. The article
emphasizes the importance of collaboration and cooperation between special and general
educators to provide the supports that at risk, special needs, and low performing students need.
The main challenge of these school wide positive behavior support systems is that they are
usually tailored to the general education population, not taking into account the special needs
population that have behaviors that majorly impact the positive behavior support system in place.
Source 3:
Fallon, L. M., O'Keeffe, B. V., Gage, N. A., & Sugai, G. (2015). Brief Report: Assessing
Attitudes toward Culturally and Contextually Relevant School wide Positive Behavior
SupportStrategies. Behavioral Disorders, 40(4), 251-260.
This article talks about the how school wide support systems need to be adapted to be
culturally acceptable for all students. The article also talks about what is necessary to create a
support system including a money needed, interventions needed, and different support systems
that are acceptable. This study was conducted by doing research on the different school teachers
and support staff and their point of view of what works. The study showed that the staff of the

school agreed that in order to have a positive support plan implemented one must be trained in
what is culturally acceptable and what supports are most useful.
Source 4:
Voorhees, M. D., Walker, V. L., Snell, M. E., & Smith, C. G. (2013). A Demonstration of
Individualized Positive Behavior Support Interventions by Head Start Staff to Address
Children's Challenging Behavior. Research & Practice For Persons With Severe
Disabilities, 38(3), 173-185. Doi:10.1177/154079691303800304
This study analyzes the affect individualized positive behavior support plans have had on
3 students who have exhibited inappropriate behaviors in two classrooms. This study shows that
the positive behavior supports improved the students behaviors from their initial base line
behaviors. The study showed that students inappropriate behavior disappeared after time with
the supports, the behaviors also improved in social situations. This study is useful when creating
my Positive Behavior Support Plan for my student because it shows how positive behavior
supports can be useful.
Source 5:
Killu, K., Weber, K. P., Derby, K. M., & Barretto, A. (2006). Behavior Intervention Planning
and Implementation of Positive Behavioral Support Plans: An Examination of States'
Adherence to Standards for Practice. Journal Of Positive Behavior Interventions,8(4),
195-200
This article investigates the IDEA mandate that Behavior Intervention Plans or Positive
Behavior Support Plans must be used to address inappropriate behaviors in all 50 states. The
article shows that not all schools and districts are using PBSP or BIP to support their students

and improve their behaviors. The article also discusses the outcomes of using these plans in
schools and how beneficial they are for students exhibiting negative behaviors. The article
discusses how useful these plans are and how to create these plans in every school setting.
IV.

Data Collection
The data that was collected on Giovonnis behavior was collected over four days during

the 4th unit of the class. First, I observed Giovonni and recorded specific instances he exhibited
the behavior including the time, date, antecedent, specific behavior, and consequence. The
records were recorded onto a A-B-C Observation form. This form of data collection goes into
more detail about each specific instance of the exhibited behavior. Next, I put the data onto
another A-B-C Observation Form recording the date, time period of the observation, number of
times the behavior is exhibited, and the several consequences used in the time period. Each
observation took place between 12:50 pm and 1:45 pm which is the last period of the day.
I have also reviewed Giovonnis file and discussed his past Behavior Intervention Plans
with my mentor. Giovonni has an official diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
and has received a 504 Plan targeting aggressive behavior with teachers. Nowhere in Giovonnis
file is there any record of hearing impairments. Giovonni is in all inclusion classrooms and
receives minor accommodations for testing.
The behavior that I targeted with my observations is:
1. Calling out during formal classroom instruction.
From the four days that I observed Giovonnis behavior, each day had at least 3 instances
of the inappropriate behavior. Throughout my observations, I noticed that all of Giovonnis
calling out behaviors occurred during opportunities for student discussion or participation. This

behavior is almost always preceded by the attention of the students being on the teacher. Through
my observations I noticed that Giovonnis behaviors greatly disrupt the class and can cause for
the class to fall of course quickly.
On the first day on my observations Giovonnis calling out behavior occurred six times in
a 55 minute period (12:50-1:45). The first behavior was exhibited during the review of the
classes drill. This is the opening to every lesson and the first opportunity for student
participation. When going over the drill the teacher clearly states raise your hand when you
want to share to all of the students in the class. Giovonni called out an incorrect answer to the
drill question at 12:53 in which the teacher reminded him to raise his hand. The second behavior
occurred seven minutes later when discussion the causes of the industrial revolution, Giovonni
called out during the discussion without raising his hand. The teacher firmly told him to stop
calling out. At 1:15 Giovonni attempted to call out an answer to a question but was stopped by
the teacher and was told he will lose points for today if he calls out again. The third time the
calling out behavior was shown, he called out trying to share a personal story with the class that
was irrelevant to the class. This behavior results to 2/3 of the points Giovonni would have been
earned for the day were taken from him. At 1:30 Giovonni tried to call out again but was
unsuccessful due to the teacher not stopping teaching. At the end of the class he tried to call out a
question instead of raising his hand and being called on which resulted with him being moved to
the back of the room.
On the second day of my observations, Giovonni exhibited his calling out behaviors four
times. This observation took place during formal instruction of his world history class on
February 23. The first behavior was exhibited during the drill question at 12:54. When Giovonni
called out an incorrect answer to the drill, he was ignored by the teacher and the class

immediately. This has an interesting effect on Giovonni, his behaviors stopped for 16 minutes. At
1:10 he called out a question without raising his hand and was warned by the teacher that he will
lose points if he continues calling out. At 1:30, while discussion the British Industrial
Revolution. Giovonni began calling out during the discussion with a British accent. Once he
started doing this he was warned that he will receive a zero for the day. At 1:38 he tried for a
second time to talk in an English accent, in response he was sent to the office.
On the third day of observations Giovonni exhibited the calling out behavior 5 times. The
first behavior took place during the discussion and review of the drill question, Giovonni called
out the answer without being called on. The teacher in response continued teaching while using
proximity control to keep his behaviors from occurring. The next behavior occurred when the
topic of the days class was introduced, he called out trying to provide information about the
topic but was called on. As a consequence for this Giovonni lost 5 points for the day. The next
behavior occurred during a discussion about technology. Giovonni yelled I hate technology
while other students were sharing, in response the teacher continued with the class and used
proximity control to control the students behavior. At 1:23 the class was asked to define a
slum and Giovonni called out an incorrect answer resulting in him losing 5 points off of his
grade for the day. The last behavior occurred at 1:40 when he called out about a video showed in
class. The student was alerted that the teacher will be calling home to inform his family on how
he has been behaving.
The final day of observation had the lowest number of behaviors occurring with only 3
calling out behaviors. The first behavior for the 4th observation day, like all days, occurred during
the beginning of class. Giovonni started the class by calling out the answer to the drill question
before instructed to being working on it. The next behavior occurred at 1:17 during class

discussion. Giovonni began to call out answers to the discussion and as a resulted he was
informed that he will be losing 10 point for the day. The next behavior occurred 13 minutes later
when Giovonni raised his hand but still called out before called on. He was reminded to wait
until the teacher calls on him. This was the last behavior of the class period.
The data collected shows that Giovonnis calling out behaviors occur when opportunity
for attention arises in the class. The behaviors were exhibited an average of 5 times a class and
through interviews and conversations with Giovonnis other teachers this is accurate for their
classrooms as well. The consequences or responses that seemed to impact Giovonnis behavior
the most are ignoring the behavior, modeling the correct behavior, and phone calls home.

Summary data:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

V.

Hypothesis of Functional Intention

The functional intent of Giovonnis behavior is for attention. His diagnoses of Attention
Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) gives the student hyperactive energy that can often lead to
impulsive behavior for attention. I came to this conclusion based on my observations. Giovonni
would call out in class to get the attention of the class and teacher, once he received this attention
the behavior ceased until the attention was off him once again. The behavior is only emitted
during opportunities for a student to have the attention of the teacher and or class. I noticed that
when the behavior is emitted and the teacher or class ignores the comment made by Giovonni, he
quickly stops. Also, when the behavior is ignored the time between the emitted behaviors is
longer. Giovonnis behavior is not caused by the inability to control his outbursts because he has
shown at times he is able to control himself. It is important to consider that the class the
observations and behavior were done in is the last class of the day. This means students are often
excited to leave school and that can distract them from the class and urge them to seek for more
attention before they go home.
VI.

Replacement Behavior
1. What should the student be doing?
The replacement behavior is for Giovonni to raise his hand when he wants to contribute to

classroom discussion or answer a question. Giovonni will be given a verbal que when he is not
exhibiting the appropriate behavior.
1. How will you teach it?
I will model the appropriate behavior so it is ensured that Giovonni understands what
behavior is needed from him. I will also have other teachers and students involved to help
model/explain the importance of the replacement behavior. I will use reinforcements to keep the

positive behavior going and to ensure that the negative behavior stops. Those reinforcements will
be positive reinforcement, incentives, and positive praise/letters home. I will not give Giovonni
the opportunity to call out during discussion and will constantly remind him that if he wants to
participate he needs to raise his hand and wait to be called on.
2. When will you teach it?
I will teach the desired behavior as it occurs throughout the world history class. I will
also teach the behavior to Giovonni before class begins so that when class starts he will know
what is expected of him. I will also instruct Giovonnis other teachers who have witnessed his
calling about behaviors to teach/model the replacement behavior for Giovonni.
3. How will you know when the student has learned it?
I will know Giovonni has mastered the replacement behavior when his calling out
negative behavior disappears and is replaced with the correct behavior. I will know that Giovonni
is learning the replacement behavior when the negative behavior of calling is occurring less and
is replaced with verbalization of knowing the replacement behavior. Giovonni will be able to
remember to raise his hand and wait patiently until given a verbal prompt to speak.
VII.

Positive Behavior Supports

Once the replacement behavior is modeled and taught to Giovonni, I plan to utilize a

point system that will support his efforts to erase the problem behavior of calling out. This point
system will be recorded on a point sheet through the use of tallies. Each tally represents each
time Giovonni does the replacement behavior in a single class period. Each time he emits the
negative behavior, a tally will be removed. At the end of a class period, if Giovonni has received
5 tallies, he will receive a reward. The rewards for this system will a piece of candy, a positive

phone call home, a positive email to Mr. Whisner (his soccer coach), or a homework pass
(limited).
For this point system to work it is vital that the teachers involved are actively writing the
tallies for each class period. The teachers involved will be Mr. Hoffmaster (special educator), Mr.
Roberts (general educator), Ms. Lorde (art general educator) and Mr. Whisner (general
educator/coach). This team of individuals will be given a point sheet to keep in their classroom to
record the positive behavior. Each teacher involved will be asked to remind Giovonni of the
system and provide immediate feedback for the positive behavior shown. It is very important to
use proximity control during each lesson to remind Giovonni of the behavior he must emit.
When the teacher is close to the student, the student has less urge to emit inappropriate or
frowned upon behavior. Positive praise is another support that will be key to ensure that
Giovonni takes to the replacement behavior rather than the inappropriate one.
Another individual that is involved in this plan is Giovonnis mother. She is responsible
for checking Giovonnis point sheets at the end of the week as well as reminding him at home of
the appropriate behavior he must use in school. Once Giovonni consecutively gets 5 tallies in all
of his classes involved for one week, the amount of tallies to receive a reward will increase to 7
tallies each class. This is to ensure that Giovonni is constantly raising his hand rather than just 5
times a class then ceasing from contributing. The three supports for this plan are
incentives(rewards), positive praise, and proximity control.
The data for the effectiveness of this plan will be collected in a tally system recording
both negative and positive behaviors exhibited. The plan will work through primarily Mr.
Hoffmasters World History Class. Either myself, Mr. Roberts, or Mr. Hoffmaster will keep track
of the data from each class day. Other data submitted from Ms. Lorder and Mr. Whisner will be

used in comparison to the data collected in Mr. Hoffmasters class. Each member of the PBSP
will meet at the end of the two weeks to analyze and go over data. Giovonnis mother will be
notified at the end of the two weeks about the effectiveness of the plan.

VIII. Data Collection and Visual Representation

Graph 1:

# of Positive and Negative Behaviors

10
9
8
7
6
# Negative Behavior

Column1

4
3
2
1
0

42433
42431

Graph 2:

42439
42437

42445
42443

42451
42447

42464
42453

42468
42466

42472

# of Positive and Negative Behaviors

12

10

8
Negative Behavior

Column1

0
42431 42433 42437 42439 42443 42445 42447 42451 42453 42464 42466 42468 42472

Graph 3:

Reward Chosen By Student

IX.

Candy

Positive Phone Call Home

Homework Pass

Positive Email To Mr. Whisner

Data Summary and Interpretation

Once this plan was created and ready to be implemented, the teams hopes were high for
changing Giovonnis behavior. The plan was implemented for 13 days and each day the
behaviors Giovonni exhibited in class were recorded. Overall, there was slight improvement but
the behaviors are still present. Out of the 13 days with this plan, Giovonni was able to earn a
reward only 6 times. This means that about half of the time Giovonnis behaviors improved. A
total of 39 recorded instances of negative behavior occurred during the plans implementation. To
be able to earn a reward Giovonni was required to exhibit the appropriate replacement behavior 5
times with no inappropriate behaviors occurring. If the calling out behavior occurred, a point
would be taken away from the positive behavior tallies. For example, on 3/18 Giovonni raised
his hand a total of 3 times, but since he called out during this date 5 times, he was unable to
reach his goal of 5 positive behaviors. When looking at this data there is a very key element that
must be addressed. The plan was implemented from March 2nd till April 12th, this means there is a
large break in the plan for spring break that occurred from March 25th- to April 3rd. This break
could have seriously impacted Giovonnis progress in the plan. Leading up to spring break,
Giovonnis behavior was slowly improving with more and more positive behaviors being
exhibited; whereas after spring break, we see 3 days in a row of Giovonni failing to make his
goal on the tally system.
As you can see in graphs 1 and 2, Giovonni increased his positive behavior over time but
not enough to receive a reward. This being said, since the amount of times Giovonni exhibited
the negative behavior lowered, the plan was on the correct track. I believe that if the plan was not
administered with such a large gap due to spring break, the inappropriate behavior would have
been extinguished. From looking at graph 3, we can see that Giovonni preferred positive phone
calls to his mother over the other three forms of reward. This is useful data for trying to improve

his behavior going forward. Though this plan did not extinguish Giovonnis problem behavior,
the replacement behavior was still learned and exhibited more and more throughout the plans
implementation. Based off of the data found when the plan was implemented, I believe the
correct individuals involved in the plan were the correct group of people to assist with the plan.
Although, I believe that if Giovonnis mother played a larger role in the plan, such as requiring
him to receive a certain amount of tallies in order to play soccer or use his phone, the plan would
have been more successful. We can infer this due to the rewards chosen by Giovonni shown in
graph 3. When creating a plan in the future for Giovonni, the team should take a closer look on
the individual roles and reasonabilitys of team members as well as the rewards used when
giving the plan.

X.

Reflection
Completing this assignment has provided me with valuable knowledge of classroom and

behavior management. Throughout my internship I have had several different experiences with
learning and practice classroom management but I have never had to opportunity to create,
implement, and analysis a behavioral plan. This project has given me more confidence in
working with students with behavioral needs and confidence in my ability to improve students
behavior. This project has also given me more experience in collaborating with other
professionals to help improve a students behavior. Collaboration is a very important aspect of
teaching and this project has given me an opportunity to be exposed to that. For this project it
was important to be actively ready to update the plan for maitenec so it is always relevant for the
student. For example, it Giovonni lost his interest in soccer and no longer played for the school,

then a positive email regarding Giovonnis behavior to his soccer coach (Mr. Whisner) would be
an irrelevant reward.
If I were to do this project again there are some aspects to the plan and my
implementation of the plan, I would change. First, I would involve Giovonnis mother more in
the plan. As stated earlier, Giovonnis favorite reward was the positive phone call to his mother.
This reward had a lasting impact on Giovonni so as a result of this knowledge, I shouldve asked
his mother to be more involved in the plan. Secondly I would have changed the dates for the
implementation of the plan so that the implementation would take place after spring break. Since
the plan had a large gap in the middle of it due to spring break, Giovonnis progress disappeared
once he returned from spring break. Being away from school for that one week impacted
Giovonnis behavior in a negative way.