Training for challenging behaviors in the school setting

School personnel are asked to plan for, implement, and evaluate Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) in the school setting; however, not all school personnel have been properly trained to do so. There is limited research to date that demonstrates how different school personnel are trained in planning, implementing, and evaluating BIPs. The current study involves school personnel which include school psychologists, school social workers, special education consultants, and special education teachers. These school personnel were asked to indicate how adequate they believed their educational training was in providing a good understanding of various behavior topics and how well their educational training prepared them to implement various behavior skills. The second part of the survey asked school personnel to think about their confidence in planning, implementing, and evaluating components of a behavior intervention plan (BIP). Results from this study indicate school personnel of different training backgrounds reported varying levels of confidence and knowledge when it comes to the BIP process. School psychologists tended to have the highest confidence in planning, implementing, and evaluating BIPs, while special education teachers had the lowest confidence. Confidence in planning for BIPs was highest for progress monitoring and lowest for integrity. School personnel rated the highest area of training for implementation as progress monitoring with the lowest being integrity. School personnel rated progress monitoring to be the highest for confidence and knowledge for planning and preparing for BIPs along with confidence in implementation. Personnel rated high knowledge of and confidence in their ability to be able to correctly evaluate the efficacy of functional behavior assessments. The results of this study indicate more training should be provided to school personnel. Training programs and employers should reexamine the content school personnel are receiving around the BIP process to increase confidence and knowledge in planning, implementing, and evaluating BIPs. An increased emphasis on integrity should be examined