A Critical Examination of State Agency Investigations into ...

these behaviors; to foster more positive, appropriate, and pro-social behavior; and toensure the safety of the residents and their peers. The development of a BehaviorSupport Plan commences with the identification by staff of maladaptive behaviors to betargeted and the recording of the frequency and intensity of the behaviors, which aredocumented in a Behavioral Report Form.A clinician identifies a pattern of behavior from the review of these BehavioralReport Forms, and with team input, decides if a behavior plan is required or a currentplan needs to be modified. A Functional Behavior Assessment is then conducted toidentify contributing factors and formulate a hypothesis about the conditions under whichthe behavior occurs and the consequences that maintain it.After evaluating the behavior, a treatment team creates a plan. Team memberscould include a behavioral specialist, a case manager, and the directors of clinicalservices, education, children’s residential services, and health services. This team meetsto review assessments and to determine if the individual’s behavior plan needs to bemodified. Behavior support management techniques can range from verbal persuasion tophysical interventions. Policies dictate that the techniques employ the least restrictivealternatives possible to ensure the safety of all parties. The facility’s clinician also isresp onsible for providing in-service training to all staff involved so that the plan will beconsistently implemented. The overall implementation of the behavior plan is theresponsibility of the Director of Clinical Services.On an as-needed basis, supplemental forms are used to capture important clinicalinformation such as a child’s urinary output, caloric intake, and refusal to dress, whichwas done in Jonathan’s case. Anderson School Weekly Body Check Forms document a51