Developing Intervention Plans

As a special education teacher, when I hear the term Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) I feel the enormity of the task ahead of the IEP team. An effective and thorough BIP includes a thorough (and time consuming) Functional Behavioral Assessment followed by a detailed written plan for implementing interventions designed to reduce undesired behavior and replace it with more appropriate behaviors. While researching intervention strategies and designing intervention plans for three different students this week, I realized the value of the FBA and BIP processes. As I was designing the interventions, I continuously felt like I needed more information to create my plans. It is very difficult to design a plan for a student without the important background information (including student strengths) or data about when and where behaviors typically occur. Overarching interventions such as positive reinforcement and skills instruction are very useful and can effect positive outcomes but I wonder how effective any intervention can be without a thorough understanding of the student and the behavior.