Behavioral Emotional Support Team, BEST Program Based on the Dubuque Management System for Behavior Management
The mission of the Dubuque Management System is to provide students with a consistent, immediate, predictable and structured educational environment to teach social and academic skills, and to promote student self-esteem.
The premises, or beliefs, for teaching social skills are: 1. Social skills can be learned. 2. Social skills can be taught. 3. Teaching social skill sis a legitimate school task. (It relates directly to the mission of schools.) 4. Learning is most efficient/effective when the learner is active and the learning is relevant. 5. Social skills are best taught/reinforced when the behavior occurs.
In order for students in our BEST Program to achieve academically, they must first demonstrate social behaviors so that they are available to learn. The BEST Behavior System is designed to teach social behavior in a very systematic way. The BEST Behavior System incorporates HIGH behavior expectations and ZERO tolerance for behavior that takes away from the student’s learning or the learning of other students. Ignoring behaviors does not correct behaviors. We have specific strategies to provide feedback to students immediately to reinforce, teach, and model correct social skills.
Classroom Teaching Strategies
The classroom teaching strategies teach the social skills. There are three types of teaching strategies. They are a SEE or Specific Effective Encouragement. We perform SEEs quickly and frequently. Students earn 100-200 points for every SEE.
The second teaching strategy is a Teaching Interaction. Teaching Interactions occur when students do not use the correct social skills and learning is disrupted. A teaching interaction includes a correction, a model, and a practice. Students lose points in a teaching interaction; however, the teaching interaction ends with the student earning back some of the points for practicing and participating in the teaching interaction.
The final teaching strategy is the Office Intervention. An Office Intervention takes place when students are upset and “out of instructional control.”
In this case, a student’s behavior is interfering with learning and the learning of others. The student does not go to the office but goes to a special room to go through a special instructional process. The current “Safety Room” has become a space for office interventions in addition to the BEST Office which is a small room down the hall.
When a student has an office intervention, the staff will use a four-part system. Each part has several steps. Part One is called De-escalation. This is where the student is helped to calm down. The second part is called Intensive Teaching. This is a Teaching Interaction that includes more practice. The fourth part is the Classroom Re-entry practice. Students practice an apology and practice how to re-enter the classroom.
When students require an Office Intervention, they lose 1,000 points. As with a Teaching Interaction, students will lose points but will also end by earning some of the points lost back. If a student violates school rules they will earn a major point penalty and lose an additional 10,000-50,000 points which they will earn back over 3-5 days or the average time in between the last three Office Interventions that student earned if they can meet a goal set specifically for that student appropriate to the situation.
Remember: -It’s not about the points, it’s about learning the skills. -Teacher interactions and office interventions should not be feared or avoided. They should be seen as opportunities to teach and opportunities for students to learn.
Social Skills
Social Skills are still the main part of the BEST Behavior System.
We have a special way of complimenting students when they use the correct social skills and a way of correcting students when they do not use the correct social skills. As we teach social skills, we model and practice the corrected behaviors. There are eleven social skills and several school rules that we will focus on teaching. All of these can be found on the back of your student’s point sheet.
§ Body Basics § Following Instructions § Accepting Criticism or Feedback/Consequences/No § Staying on Task § Getting Help § Listening § Interrupting Correctly § Participating in a Group § Responding to Peer Pressure/Teasing § Problem Solving § Greeting Someone
Motivation System
Learning new information can be difficult. Motivation systems help learning. For students using the BEST Behavior System, we promote motivation by issuing points. We aim for an 8:1 Encouragement vs. Criticism Ratio. There are three tiers in our motivation system.
Students will earn points throughout the day, each day, for participation and quality of work for all scheduled activities.
The students earn up to 5,000 or more points in a day. At the end of the day (and end of the morning for K-2), the students add-up their points and go to the store in the classroom to buy small toys, school supplies, treats, and time to do fun things like work on the computer.
Students will also earn points through SEE’s (Specific Effective Encouragement) throughout, each day, for appropriately using social skills (listed on back of point sheet).
Students will also lose points (up to 500 for each TI) through TI’s (Teaching Interactions) throughout, each day, for inappropriately using social skills (listed on back of point sheet). Students can earn back up to half of the points they lost for practicing the necessary social skill. If continued misbehavior continues or behaviors escalate students may earn an OI (Office Intervention) and will loose up to 1000 points as well as have to leave the classroom environment since they are out of instructional control.
Levels
Scaffolding the motivation system into three tiers helps students to move toward greater independence. All students begin at the Points level but now have the opportunity to move up to the next levels.
The first level is called POINTS. This is the most intensive and most individualized level. Students earn points. They can also put their excess points in the bank. When they have banked 60,000 points they can move to the next level.
The second level is called PROGRESS In progress students do not earn points. They learn to negotiate for rewards at the end of the day.
The final, most advanced level is MERIT. Students at the Merit level no longer care about points. They have mastered the key social skills and are doing very well in their general education classes. They may just check-in with their special education teacher on a weekly basis.
Students can purchase bonds (when they have no frozen points) toward the next level. 100 bonds are needed to get to the next level and to officially be on the next level (and to earn the specific rewards associated with each level) students must have 100 bonds and have no Office Interventions for 10 consecutive days. Students may buy up to 5 bonds a day. If students are on the progress level and included in 2 classes outside of the BEST classrooms that student may buy up to 10 bonds a day.
Once on the Progress or Merit level students may go back the previous level if they engage in severe misbehavior and earn MPP’s or OI’s.