Positive Behavior Support Plan

Katelyn Mitchell
Positive Behavior Support Plan
Towson University
SPED 741 M. Ed. Internship
February 14, 2016

Positive Behavior Support Plan

Positive Behavior Support Plan

I. Background Information
Student Background
Jilian is a kindergarten student at Prospect Mill Elementary School. Prospect Mill
Elementary School is a public school located in Harford County. Jilian has been placed in an
inclusion kindergarten classroom. Jilian has displayed significant social behavioral needs which
are impacting her ability to follow classroom routines as well as her peer and adult relationships.
Jilian is currently demonstrating problem behaviors which include elopement (attempts to leave
an assigned area without consent); noncompliance (refusal to follow adult directed activities);
and aggression (kicking, punching, biting, scratching, throwing items.) According to informal
speech/language and developmental screenings, Jilian displayed age appropriate speech/language
skills, academic based skills as well as fine and gross motor skills. Jilians strengths include fine
motor, writing, gross motor, decoding, reading comprehension, cognitive matching, counting,
and self-care skills.
Jilians IEP goals are behavior related including social interaction skills, and selfmanagement skills. Jilians currently has a behavior intervention plan (BIP) that supports both of
those goals and skills needed to meet those goals. Those goals do not include interventions for
eloping as this is a recent behavior.
Classroom Policies
Jilians elopement behaviors are typically seen in her Reading English Language Arts
(RELA) class. That classroom has a routine that begins with a sight word warm up, followed by
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phonemic awareness instruction and comprehension lessons. Regular brain breaks are given
throughout instruction to allow students the opportunity for movement and exercise. The
classroom teacher uses Whole Brain Teaching strategies in her teaching. The five classroom
rules follow the Whole Brain Teaching model. Those rules include: 1. Follow directions
quickly 2. Raise your hand for permission to speak 3. Eyes and ears on the teacher 4. Make smart
choices 5. Keep your dear teacher happy. All classroom rules have a movement associated with
them when they are spoken by the students or teacher. These rules are universal throughout the
entire school and are posted in the front of all classrooms.
II. Definition of Specific Behavior
(Observable/ Measurable Behavior) Throughout the day Jilian displays elopement
behaviors. Elopement is defined as attempts to leave an assigned area without consent. Jilian
typically displays these behaviors during her RELA period. Prospect Mill re-groups students
according to their reading level. There is a transition period in the morning where Jilian leaves
her homeroom teacher to go to reading class. Often, during this transition, Jilian elopes from the
kindergarten area and runs down the hallway. During class, Jilian walks around the classroom
during modeling, or guided instruction when she is expected to be in her spot on the rug or at her
table. If these behaviors are ignored, Jilian typically escalates to her more aggressive behaviors
or elopes from the classroom. Jilian often leaves her seat to talk to other students, or to the
teacher during independent or group work.
(Frequency of Behavior) This type of behavior occurs daily. Elopement from her chair, or
spot on the rug occurs daily. Elopement from the classroom also occurs daily, however does not
always occur during the RELA block. The elopement from her chair can last anywhere from a
few seconds to five minutes. If Jilian elopes from the classroom setting, she is often gone from
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anywhere from ten minutes to one hour. During this time she is supervised by her inclusion
helper (IH) or the special educator.
(Negative Affect of Behavior) When Jilian has eloped from her spot on the rug or her
table, she is often very disruptive. This makes it difficult for the teacher to teach and other
students in the classroom to listen and learn. Additionally, during this time, Jilian is not listening
or learning the content being presented. When she elopes from the classroom, Jilian is missing a
great deal of instructional time. It is also a concern that elopement often escalates into other
aggressive and dangerous behaviors.

III. Literature Review

The following review of literature focuses on the behavior strategies in order to address
Jilians elopement behaviors. Articles define the type of students who elope, behavior and the
functions of the behaviors, research on parental input, and self-monitoring and interventions.
Source 1- Kiley, B., Migdal, T. R., Vettam, S., & Adesman, A. (2016). Prevalence and
Correlations of Elopement in a Nationally Representative Sample of Children with
Developmental Disabilities in the United States. Plos One,(2)
Kiley, B., Migdal, T. R, et. al. completed the first study to examine and report the
prevalence and correlations of elopement in a national sample of school-aged children in the
United States with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or cognitive impairment. The group
examined three groups for the study: ASD- only, ID/DD-only, ASD+ID/DD. The goal of the
study was to compare the frequency of elopement and the rates of preventative measure use
(barriers and or electronic devices) to examine the demographic correlates of elopement. It was
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found that children with ASD-only and ASD+ID/DD were more likely to have eloped then those
with ID/DD only. It was also discovered that in all groups, children were very likely to be
unaware of danger, differentiate between familiar people and strangers, to show mood changes,
to over-react to everything/ everyone, to anger quickly, to get lost easily and to panic in new
situations. The article stressed the importance of keeping these children who elope protected and
safe as they clearly do know or understand the dangers in their elopement.
Source 2- Lang, R., Davis, T., ORilelly, M., Machalicek, W., Rispoli, M., Sigafoods, J., &
Regester, A. (2010). Functional Analysis and Treatment of Elopement Across Two School
Settings. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43 (1), 113-118.
Lang, R., Davis, T. et. al. studied a child with Asperger syndrome. They completed a
functional analysis to determine why the student was eloping in the different classroom settings.
It was discovered, that student was eloping to access attention from adults in the resource room.
It was also determined that the student wanted to obtain a preferred activity in the classroom.
Intervention was implemented in order to serve the function of a tangible reward or attention.
The results showed success from the implementation of the interventions.
Source 3- Pennington, R., Strange, C., Stenhoff, D., Delono, M., & Ferguson, L., (2012). Leave
the Running Shoes at Home: Addressing Elopement in the Classroom. Beyond Behavior, 21 (3),
3-7.
This article defined elopement for the reader, as well as described the setting and
individuals that elope. It described the short and long term consequences of elopement during the
school day. It then provided information on the functions associated with elopement. The
research was done on one student, who was diagnosed with autism. The student eloped from his

Positive Behavior Support Plan

seat in the classroom and was disruptive to other students and the teacher. The researchers
completed a Functional Behavior Assessment on the child. The Functional Behavior Assessment
and other observations helped the researchers to discover that attention was the function of the
behavior. An intervention was put in place that provided the student with frequent positive
attention. With constant positive reinforcement for positive behaviors, the negative behavior
went down a great deal.
Source 4- Soloman, O., & Lawlor, M.C. (2013). And I look down and he is gone: Narrating
autism, elopement and wandering in Los Angeles. Social Science & Medicine, 04106-114.
Soloman, O., & Lawlor, M.C. conducted research on family perspectives of families that
have children diagnosed with autism that wander or elope. It was stated that often family
perspective is left out of research, but is perhaps an invaluable resource to those studying
elopement. The article interviewed African American mothers of children with autism. This
group tends to be underrepresented in autism research. The mothers shared that when their
children wander or elope, the event is often traumatic and warrants an emergency response from
the community. After interviewing and surveying a great deal of families and community
members it was determined through the research that a contributing problem is the lack of
professional advice for the families, which creates an extreme hardship. Next, it was determined
that there is a disagreement between families and practitioners on the family-centered care
movement. Family-centered care means practitioners effectively and compassionately listen to
the concerns, address the needs and support the family. Families feel as if they are not provided
with enough support in that sense. Finally, the majority of families felt as if the community
blamed them for their childs behaviors and were not looked at as good mothers. Overall the
goal of the article was to highlight the group in need of help from their communities. Eloping is a
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dangerous behavior that without support could lead to tragic events. Families need and deserve
professional support in order to keep their children safe.
Source 5- Kreibich, S. R., Mo, C., Reichle J. (2015). Teaching a Child with Autism to Request
Breaks While Concurrently Increasing Task Engagement. Language, Speech & Hearing Services
in Schools, 46(3), 256-265.
Kreibich, S. R., Mo, C., and Reichel J. completed a study on a child in order to decrease
elopement and increase task engagement. The study was the implementation of an intervention
that included teaching break requests and tolerance for delay in reinforcement delivery. The goal
was to increase the childs ability to stay actively engaged in tasks that aligned with his IEP
goals. After conditioning, the child learned to request breaks during tasks that he typically was
not engaged in and eloped. Additionally the engagement increased without an increase of offtask behaviors. The also student did not take advantage of the breaks. The implementation of the
breaks effectively addressed the problem behaviors of elopement and intolerance of completing
tasks.
Source 6- Davis, T. N., Durand, S., Bankhead, J., Strickland, E., Blenden, K., Dacus, S., &
Machalieck, W. (2013). Brief Report: Latency Functional Analysis of Elopement. Behavioral
Interventions, 28(3), 251-259 9p.
Davis, T.N., Durand, S. et. al reported an analysis of elopement in the community of
children with developmental disabilities. A series of four latency functional analysis conditions
were examined. The conditions were attention, demand, tangible and play. The researchers
studied a child with intellectual disabilities and seizure disorder. This child was eloping
throughout the day. They conditioned the child in all four series and determined that the function

Positive Behavior Support Plan

for this childs elopement was to access adult attention and preferred tangibles. They were then
able to use this data to create an intervention for the child.
Source 7- Roane, H., & Derosa, N. (2014). Reduction of Emergent Dropping Behavior During
Treatment of Elopement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(3) 633-638.
Roane, H., & Derosa, N. defined elopement as leaving an assigned area or caregiver
without permission and stated that it was problematic for children with autism and related
disorders. It also shared that this same population displayed another problematic behavior which
is called dropping. This is when an individual ceases ambulation and no longer supports his or
her own weight. The study focused on a boy with autism who eloped often. As the study began,
the researchers noticed an increase in his dropping. After determining the function was attention
and tangible, they were able to provide the student with both reinforcements to decrease the
behaviors of eloping and dropping.
III. Baseline Data
In order to collect baseline data on Jilians undesired behaviors I created a data collection
sheet for Jilians elopement behaviors. The recording device was used to collect data throughout
the entire day. The definition of elopement is on the recording sheet, along with directions on
how to record the elopement behaviors within each interval. Tally marks were used to note the
number of occurrences for the behavior. Additionally, when Jilian left the room, the amount of
time she was out was recorded on the data sheet. When possible, teachers recorded antecedents
for elopement behaviors. Some of the locations Jilian eloped to are the break room, which is a
room, where with permission, students may go to exercise and unwind. During all periods of

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elopement Jilian is escorted by her IH. At that time, her IH encourages her to make better choices
and to return to her classroom location.
On day 1, Jilians behavior was tracked from the time she entered the room in the
morning and began unpacking. Elopement behaviors began immediately at 9:05am when Jilian
was not chosen to do calendar during the opening routine. Jilian was out of the room for one
hour during this elopement period. It was noted that while Jilian was gone, she ran around the
building trying to hide from her IH. At this time, her class was already re-grouped for reading
instruction, and she entered my classroom at 10:05am. During the reading block, which is Word
Work and RELA, Jilian eloped from her chair, or spot on the rug 40 times. During this time,
children were at their tables completing assignments, listening to a story, or completing
assignments on the rug, whole group. Jilian eloped again from the room at 10:40am and did not
return until 11:10am which was her lunch block. During this time, Jilian went into the supply
room and refused to leave. Later that day, Jilian eloped during rest time as well. It was reported
that she left her rest towel five times before she eloped from the classroom at 1:20pm. She was
out of the room for approximately ten minutes. During this time, she ran to the other side of the
building away from her IH.
Day 2, Jilians behavior was tracked from the time she entered the room in the morning
and began unpacking. Jilian expressed someone had put their backpack in her cubby, and from
there on out she began to display elopement behaviors. 6 behaviors were recorded before Jilian
left the room at 9:10am during opening routine. She was out of the room for 20 minutes. During
this time, Jilian ran to the break room, and to the computer lab and tried to hide from the Special
Educator that was with her. When Jilian returned, the classes were re-grouped for reading.
During the Word Work block, Jilian eloped from her chair or spot on the rug 20 times. During
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RELA she eloped a total of 22 times, and left the room once for 5 minutes at 10:15am. Jilian was
outside of the classroom in the pod for this period of time, running around screaming. During
math, 3 elopement behaviors were recorded, and one elopement from the classroom at 1:00pm
was recorded. Jilian was out of the room for 20 minutes during this period. While she was gone,
Jilian ran around the building. Later on, during a writing assignment at the table, Jilian eloped
from the table 4 times. During TUB, which is our thematic unit block Jilian eloped twice.
During gym, which Jilian has experienced difficulties in before, she eloped 5 times from the
lesson.
On day 3, Jilians elopement behaviors began during Word Work. She eloped 10 times
during that block. Jilian left the room once at 9:26am for 4 minutes. She ran to get a drink on the
far end of the building. During the remaining time RELA block, Jilian eloped 30 times. Jilian left
the room once at 10:15am for ten minutes after the teacher requested students get marker boards,
and she did not get the fat black marker. At this time, she ran to the cafeteria, and ran around.
During math, Jilian eloped from her area 10 times but did not leave the room. During rest, Jilian
eloped from her rest spot 10 times before leaving the room at 1:05pm. She did not return for 40
minutes. During this time she sat out in the pod and refused to go back to the classroom. Jilian
had gym again that day, and this time eloped 11 times from the lesson.
On day 4, Jilian eloped from her area 3 times during the morning. During Word Work,
she eloped form her area 3 times before leaving the classroom at 9:20am. She was gone from the
room for 16 minutes. This time she ran around the building, ending up in the break room, then
eloped again from the break room to go to the computer lab. During the rest of the block, Jilian
eloped from her area to talk to others, to walk around the room, or to get new supplies 38 times.
She did not leave the room. During math Jilian eloped from her spot 5 times and left the room
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once at 12:05pm. She was gone for 30 minutes during this elopement period as she was running
around the building. During writing, Jilian displayed 13 elopement behaviors, at one point during
behaviors, Jilian threw pencils on the floor. During the TUB lesson, Jilian eloped 8 times. During
Library, she eloped 11 times, and left the room from 2:18pm-2:26pm. At this time, she eloped
back to the kindergarten pod and screamed. At the end of the day during pack up, Jilian eloped 4
times.

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Analysis of Data
The behaviors focused on during this four day observation were strictly elopement, due to
the high frequency of the behavior. Elopement within the classroom and elopement from the
classroom were recorded. On day one, elopement behaviors occur more often in the morning. A
total of 45 elopement behaviors within the classroom are recorded for the day. Jilian eloped 3
times from the classroom on the first day of observation. On day two, Jilian eloped within the
classroom a total of 62 times. She left the room 3 times. On day three, Jilian eloped within her
classrooms 79 times. She eloped from the room 4 times. Finally, on day four, Jilian eloped within
her classroom 85 times, and left the room 3 times. The graph below displays the number of
elopement behaviors observed from Jilian. The graph shows the day, the number of elopements
within the classroom total, and the number of elopements from the classroom all together for that
day.

Summary of Initial Observation

Elopement within classroom

Column1

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From analyzing the data, it was observed that a significant number of the displayed
elopements occur before 11:00am. There was a decrease in behaviors after 11:00am to dismissal,
which is at 3:30pm. On day one, before 11:00am, Jilian eloped a total of 42 times. After
11:00am, she eloped only 6 times. On day two, before 11:00am, Jilian eloped a total of 50 times.
After 11:00am, she eloped 15 times. On day three, before 11:00am, Jilian eloped a total of 42
times, and after 11:00am she eloped 39 times. On day four, Jilian eloped 45 times in the morning,
and a total of 42 times after 11:00am. The graph below displays the total number of elopements
(including both elopement within the room and out) before 11:00am, and the total number of
elopements (including both elopement within the room and out) after 11:00am.

Summary Of Initial Observation

Elopement Before 11:00am

Column1

Summary of Data
The observations and data display that Jilian displays elopement behaviors throughout the
entire day. The behaviors are more frequent in the morning during her reading block. The
majority of behaviors begin when Jilian does not want to perform a task or she is bored. Jilian
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elopes when she does not get her way, or she feels as if she has been treated unfairly. Jilan elopes
when she does not enjoy a task or does not view it as a fun activity. Jilians elopements continue
and escalate when they are ignored or she does not receive attention for her behaviors.
During the course of instruction, the following strategies were used to help manage
behaviors, ignoring, reminders, and compliments of positive, compliments of positive behavior
from other students, redirection, and repetition of directions.
Review of Additional Pertinent Information
In addition to observing Jilian through the course of four consecutive days, I reviewed
her BIP from 2014 and her current IEP behavior goals. The IEP stated that Jilian demonstrates
difficulties in the areas of self-regulation and interpersonal skills due to her disability of
developmental delay. This affects her in the areas of social interaction and self-management.
Jilians physically aggressive behaviors affect her ability to handle situations appropriately. Her
disruptive behaviors impact her ability to participate in teacher directed lessons, transition within
the teacher allotted time and take turns with peers. Jilian demonstrates non-compliance behaviors
which impacts her ability to comply with adult/teacher directions or requests. Jilian requires
positive behavior supports, access to an alternative learning environment when she needs to calm
down, sensory supports and crisis intervention and prevention
The BIP contained information regarding Jilians behaviors from both pre-schools she
attended prior to coming to kindergarten. The FBA was created from the observable behaviors
from the pre-school at Prospect Mill Elementary. The behaviors included engaging in physically
aggressive behavior, including hitting, kicking, punching, biting, scratching, pinching, choking,
throwing objects, directed at a person. Additionally, disruptive behaviors including yelling,

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screaming, calling out, throwing materials/objects, knocking over/throwing furniture, banging

objects/ surfaces. And non-compliance, as indicated by failure to comply with adult directives
after given verbal warning or count down from five.
According to the FBA, aggressive behaviors are likely to occur when transitioning away
from preferred activities, when transitioning to non-preferred activities, during whole group
activities that require Jilian to sit close to peers and during gross motor activities such as gym or
gross motor play. Disruptive behaviors are likely to occur when given an adult directive to
transition away from preferred activities, when given an adult directive to transition to nonpreferred activities, in a large group setting, especially if there is any unstructured down time
during whole group activities which require her to remain seated and close to peers, during gross
motor activities or gross motor play, when a student has something Jilian wants and is unable to
access. Also, when seeking attention from an adult who enters the room and she is familiar with.
Jilian is likely to engage in non-compliance behaviors when engaged in less preferred activities
and or when transitioning to non-preferred activities.
It was recommended that when Jilian displays aggressive behaviors, visual supports are
provided. Positive specific praise, availability of a designated area she may access to regroup or
think. Structured choices are provided when appropriate, the use of social stories or
developmentally appropriate books or stories to teach desired behaviors. Frequent home/school
communication. The use of countdown paired with choices. When Jilian displays disruptive
behaviors, it is recommended to provide visual supports, ignore and provide minimal attention to
any disruptive behaviors that are not aggressive or dangerous, provide structured choices when
appropriate as well as social stories or developmentally appropriate books or stories to teach
desired behaviors. Preferential seating arrangement, and adult facilitation of peer interactions as
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needed. When non-compliance behaviors are being displayed, it is recommended to provide

structured choices when appropriate as well as social stories or developmentally appropriate
books or stories to teach desired behaviors. Additionally, counting down from 5, paired with
choices. Consistency, structure and persistence is necessary as well as predictable consequences
for behaviors. It is also recommended to use first-then presentation of tasks or events.
The alternative replacement behavior for the aggression, disruptive and non-compliance
behaviors is that independently or with prompting, Jilian will select amongst and use taught
strategies to cope with frustration or disappointment (such as requesting a break, accessing a cool
down area, using her words to appropriately express her wishes/ needs, deep belly breathing,
walking with adult, etc.) It is desired that Jilian will participate in the daily classroom routines of
following directions throughout the day, and utilize taught strategies to indicate needs and wants
or feelings, while also refraining from aggressive, disruptive and non-compliant behavior.
Additionally, I have spoken with Jilians homeroom teacher, special educator and special
areas teachers. All teachers I spoke with, on different levels have seen elopement as a new
behavior for Jilian since her FBA and BIP were drawn up in 2014. They see the elopement as a
behavior that is preventing her from participating in the curriculum to the full extent. They are
agreeable to trying new behavioral supports for the elopement behaviors
IV. Hypothesis of Functional Intention
Based on the data and other pertinent information, I believe Jilians behaviors of
elopement are an attempt to escape/avoid a demand or non-preferred activity. I believe her
behaviors of elopement are also to gain attention. Jilian often elopes from her seat when she is
required to do a reading task. The task could involve listening to, reading on her own or

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responding to text. Writing activities often cause Jilian to elope from her chair as well. When the
group does a brain break or wiggle, Jilian tends to walk around the classroom and not
participate in the movement activity. Any activity that requires a sustained amount of thinking, or
appears to be challenging, Jilian elopes. Jilian often elopes during rest time to avoid having to
stay on her spot and participate in quiet time.
Often when Jilian is eloping around the classroom, the students focus their attention on
her. She often weaves herself in and out of students bodies as they are working or listening to
the teacher. Some students believe these behaviors are funny, and laugh, which further
encourages the behavior. When her behaviors are ignored they often escalate. When the teacher
speaks to her about the behaviors she sometimes complies, but typically continues with her
behaviors. When Jilian elopes from the room, her IH and often other adults in the building
monitor her for her safety. As she is running around the building, she is laughing as though she is
playing a game with the adults. Using the above examples, data collected, interviews with others,
I hypothesize that avoiding and attention are the function of Jilians elopement behaviors.
V. Replacement Behavior
In order to participate in daily classroom routines and instruction, Jilian will remain in
her assigned classroom, seat or area as designated by the adult or teacher in the classroom unless
given permission to do so. Jilian will utilize taught strategies and communicate needs, wants or
feelings, while refraining from elopement behaviors.
To teach this replacement behavior, I will meet with Jilian in the hallway before she
enters the classroom and explain the expectations. I will provide frequent verbal praise regarding
behavior and reminders for elopement. I will review classroom rules about staying in your

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designated area with all students prior to the beginning of the lesson. I will use a positive
reinforcement system in order to provide frequent opportunities for specific verbal praise, and a
visual indication of progress. I will remind Jilian of her self-awareness and self-calming
strategies as listed in her previous BIP. I will teach Jilian to use break cards when she feels the
need to leave the area or classroom for a break instead of eloping without permission.
VI. Positive Behavior Supports
In order to promote appropriate classroom behavior from Jilian I will use the following
positive behavior supports (PBS):
1. A success chart will be completed for every time period throughout the day. In each
time/activity slot there are expectations listed. These expectations align with her previous BIP as
they are still goals she is working on. Because elopement is an increasing concern, her goals for
this success chart are to stay in her seat, or assigned area, to stay in her classroom and complete
her work. Avoiding classwork or other un-preferred task is a function of the elopement behavior,
so the completion of work is a goal on her chart. We have learned that Jilian needs immediate,
interesting, rewards for positive behavior. She loves being a teacher helper, playing with her
friends or any special task. After each activity or task there is a different reward task that
Jilian will get to do if she earns 3 stars. At the beginning of each activity or task, the IH or
teacher will read the expectation to Jilian and remind her of her goals. After each activity or task,
Jilians IH will talk to her about her behaviors and the stars she has earned. This will help Jilian
monitor her own behaviors. The IH will remind her, or allow her to read the reward on her own.
There will be a corresponding card on her table, and on the wall by her seat on the rug as a
reminder of her goals. This chart will be sent home each day as a form of communication with
Jilians parents. There is a space for them to sign and return the chart.
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Reminder:

I will stay in my seat.

I will stay in my

I will complete my work.

classroom.

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2. Positive

verbal

praise will

be given to

Jilian for

working

hard in her

classroom.

Jilian will

also

receive

praise

when she

uses her

strategies

instead of

eloping.

When she

communicates frustration, or the need to leave by requesting a break, an adult will praise her for
her communication. This will give her the positive attention she desires from adults to address
her attention-seeking behaviors.
3. Two scheduled breaks will be given to Jilian throughout the day. Because elopement from the
classroom is the most dangerous of the behaviors, we will focus on the importance of staying in
the classroom and communicating the need for the break. If in the time periods prior to the
scheduled breaks, Jilian stays in the classroom, and communicates her need for breaks she will
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be able to take a friend with her to the breakroom during the scheduled break. She will get to
choose the friend she brings. This will give her the positive attention she desires from her peers
and adults.
VII. Data Collection and Visual Representation
The following data represents behavioral data that Jilian exhibited over the course of 17
days of school. There were several scheduled days off, as well as snow days throughout the
collection of the data. The data was collected after the start of the PBS plan on February 8, 2016
until March 7, 2016. The data was collected from 8:30am to 3:30pm each day, unless there was
an early dismissal day. There were two early dismissal days, (2/12/16 and 3/4/16.) On these days,
the data was collected from 8:30am to 12:30pm. On 2/25/16, Jilian left early, so the data was
only collected until her dismissal time, at 1:40pm. The following behaviors were tracked:
Elopement within the classroom, leaves the classroom and the use of strategies.
Elopement Behaviors during Implementation of PBS
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Elopement within
classroom
9
52
18
34
15
10
5
23
50
35
10
23
9
0
0

Elopement from
classroom
0
2
0
1
2
0
1
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0

Total Number of
Incidents
9
54
18
35
17
10
6
25
52
35
10
23
9
0
0
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17

27

0
9

0
0

0
9

The following graph shows the number of times Jilian used her strategies each day. The overall
goal was for her to request a break instead of leaving the room without permission.

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Use of Strategies

Use of Strategies

Verbal Communication

Break Card

The following sheets are copies of the original behavior data, including the frequency
data sheets. I have also included three completed success charts that have been signed by Jilians
parents.

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VIII. Data Summary and Interpretation

The goal of the PBSP was to have Jilian participate in daily classroom routines and
instruction. In order to do so, Jilians elopement behaviors needed to decrease. It was a goal to
have Jilian remain in her assigned classroom, seat or area as designated by the adult or teacher in
the classroom unless given permission to do so. My goal was for Jilian to utilize taught
strategies, and communicate needs, wants or feelings, while refraining from elopement
behaviors.
According to Jilians data, there were several days where she met success with the
positive reinforcements. She utilized break cards and stayed inside the classroom and in her
chair. There were, however six days that were outliers in Jilians behavior collection, where the
negative behaviors were exponential. Upon reflection, there is some reasoning that might explain
the increase in those negative behavior days.
On day 2, 2/11/16, day 4, 2/17/16, and day 12, 2/29/16 we were returning from long
stretches of time that we were not in school. On the 11th, we had missed two days in the middle
of the week due to snow. On the 17th, we had been off 4. 5 days, and the 29th was a Monday after
a weekend. The days off and changes in the schedule could have possibly been the reason for the
display of so many negative behaviors.
There were also three consecutive day in which Jilian displayed multiple behaviors
throughout the entire day. Day8, 2/23/16, day 9, 2/24/16, day 10, 2/25/16. At this time Jilians
mother communicated with the school they were experimenting with medications to help her
behaviors. Because of this disruption and change in medication, Jilian could have had difficulty
those days. Jilian not only eloped in the classroom, but she left the classroom a few times

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without permission. She did, utilize break cards many times on each of those days as well. There
was no pattern in the times, as the behaviors were displayed from arrival to dismissal.
Days 1-6 eloped from within the classroom 138 times. Within those 6 days, there were 2
outlier days. Additionally, Jilian eloped 5 times from classroom without permission. Days 7-12,
Jilian eloped from within the classroom 146 times, and 4 of those days were the outlier days as
explained above. In that time span, Jilian eloped 5 times from classroom. On days 13-17 there
was an exponential decrease in elopement behaviors from Jilian. In five days, Jilian eloped from
her assigned area only 18 times, and did not leave the classroom without permission at all. In
those days, she utilized break cards 16 times.
The pre-implementation data showed Jilian leaving the classroom without permission on
average 3 times a day. After implementing the positive behavior plan, on average, in 17 days, she
left without permission .58 times per day. To summarize, Jilian left the room once, two days, and
left the room twice, four days and there were ten days she did not leave at all.
There may be several reasons for the decrease in elopement from the classroom. To
begin, the implementation of break cards allowed Jilian to still leave the classroom when she
needed a break. Jilian was still responsible for completing missed work, however the control she
had on the breaks seemed to please her. On the breaks, she was allowed to go to the break room
and decompress, by playing or talking to her IH or any other children that were in the break
room at the time. This gave her any attention she may have needed. Secondly, Jilians friends are
very important to her. Knowing that staying in the room meant she was allowed to take a friend
with her on her scheduled breaks was extremely motivating for her.

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The overall decrease in elopement behaviors could have been related to the
implementation of the success chart. As stated before, immediate gratification is necessary for
Jilian to feel successful. Having a reward after each task was motivating for her. She quickly
memorized the ever-changing rewards and look forward to them. After several days of data
collection, we saw that Jilian was still struggling in her elopement within the classroom during
the morning hours of 8:30am-11:00am. We decided that because she was still earning rewards
the rest of the day we would wait and see what happened. It turned out because Jilian still had so
many opportunities for a reward, she did not feel discouraged by not earning one of the rewards.
According to the data collection, the rewards she earned increased in the morning as she began
utilizing her strategies more often during those hours.
IX. Reflection
Growth in Knowledge and Skills
Prior to completing this assignment the team and I were struggling with Jilians
elopement behaviors. We tried several things to make them decrease, but because nothing was
done with fidelity or consistency, all attempts failed. There were several pieces to this
assignment that helped me grow in my knowledge and skills. First, analyzing all of the articles
on elopement was very helpful. It helped me come up with possible functions for her elopement
and replacement behaviors. Additionally, it gave me ideas, such as the breaks to help her with
this behavior. Next, the collection of the data prior to implementing the plan was very helpful. It
helped me see the times that Jilian had the most difficulty and helped me place scheduled breaks
in her schedule. I also enjoyed taking the time talking to Jilian to figure out what would motivate
her to stay inside the classroom and complete her work. Most importantly, all sections of the
assignment helped the student decrease the number of times they eloped from a setting, and
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therefor increased the amount of time that was spent in the classroom. This is a huge benefit to
the completion of the assignment.
Growth in Classroom Management Disposition
The behaviors that have been displayed by this child have often caused a great deal of
disruption in the classroom. In order to manage the other 25 students in the classroom, I had to
be skillful in the way I dealt with the behaviors. Ignoring behaviors may have been easy for me,
but I had to talk to the other students in my class and talk to them about the importance of
ignoring behaviors that they knew were inappropriate. The students are also praised and
rewarded for their positive behaviors on a regular basis. It is important for those who always do
the right thing to be recognized and thanked for their behaviors. This turns out to be another
positive strategy because those displaying negative behaviors like the attention as well and often
change.
Dealing with complex and dangerous behaviors such as eloping made it very difficult to
run a classroom. Implementing a behavior plan with fidelity was a challenge as well. Although
the plan was rather intense, working with a team made it possible to implement successfully.
Thankfully, we have seen success with the elopement behaviors so the hard work has paid off.
Maintenance and Generalization
Prior to beginning the PBSP, there was articulation between the special educators, Jilians
IH, and teachers. It was decided that in order for the plan to be successful, the plan had to be
implemented in all settings. Pre-implementation data was collected all day every day. After the
plan was in place, all teachers had an understanding of the strategies to encourage, breaks, and
reward system. The plan was to implement the PBS all day in every setting (generalization.) As

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data was collected before and after we were able to identify some patterns and were able to help
Jilian work through those times of day.
Because Jilian has shown so much success in decreasing her elopement behaviors we
have decided to give her a set number of breaks in the morning and afternoon. We are giving her
two break cards in the morning, and two in the afternoon as a visual representation. When she
needs to go on a break, she will give one of her break cards to her IH. When she has used both of
her breaks, we will remind her, and encourage her to look forward to her scheduled break. We
will monitor Jilian and if we can sense that her behaviors are going to decline as a result, we will
provide her with a break. We are extremely proud that Jilian is asking for breaks and not leaving
the classroom without permission, however it is our hope now that we can decrease the number
of breaks requested in hopes to increase classroom time (maintenance.)
Differently
One of the things that made the implementation of this plan difficult was the weather.
Although I have no control over the weather and scheduled days off, it made it extremely
difficult to provide consistency for Jilian. The days off were an obstacle for her to overcome. In
the future, I would make sure to provide as much consistency as possible for the child, especially
at the beginning of the implementation of a behavior plan.
The high frequency and changing of rewards was very motivating for this child. It was
fortunate that this child was able to read her chart. In the future it would be very unlikely that a
child would be able to read and comprehend at Jilians level. If I had to create another chart, I
would use picture cues to help the child understand the expectations and goals.
I was very fortunate that Jilians IEP stated her need for an IH. The IH that traveled with
Jilian to every setting throughout the day. This IH was one of the main reasons the charts were
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completed, and the positive rewards were implemented. If I had to do this again, it may be that
there is not someone to collect data and support the plan. It is possible that I would need to
simplify the data collection and plan to make it easier for the classroom teacher to do it on her
own.

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