Individualized support and management plans

The team will lead the process of gathering additional information and collaborate on designing an intervention and management plan.

A primary objective of the multidisciplinary team is to identify relevant interventions and resources which can be leveraged to support the student and manage any risk of harm.

Any student assessed as posing a risk of harm by the multidisciplinary team should receive an individualized support and management plan that considers the student’s specific social, emotional, and behavioral needs and considers the impact the student’s school, home, and community life have on their thinking and behaviors.

Depending on the information gathered and assessed, the student may need help or guidance coping with losses, developing resiliency to overcome setbacks, learning more appropriate strategies to manage emotions, or reducing the effect of stressors.

Support and management plans could seek to stabilize the student’s physical and emotional environment by addressing factors of concern and promoting positive factors, redirecting potential motives for harm to self or others while helping them toward more favorable outcomes, and creating a situation less prone to violence (see Figure 1).

Resources could include peer support programs or counseling to enhance social skills and/or emotional competency, life skills classes, tutoring in specific subjects, or mental health support.

Additional supports could address the impact of home life factors (e.g., adverse childhood experiences [ACEs]) experiences with bullying and/or harassment, or social services for housing and living stability.

FIGURE 1 | Address factors of concern and promote positive factors | Redirect potential motives for violence | Create a situation less prone to violence | Utilize the Systems Approach for support and management

Identify negative factors and create strategies to support positive outcomes.

Identify possible motivations and direct resources to address them.

Create an enviornment in which violence is less likely.

Collaborate with community stakeholders who can contribute.

Substance abuse intervention • Physical or mental health support • Family support • Academic recovery • Mentoring or peer support • Restorative problem solving or mediation • Effective bullying intervention • Opportunities to share strengths

Reduce or eliminate access to weapons • Consider safety checks or searches • Modify schedules or restrict access to specific locations or people

Leverage resources and collaborations with community partners, mental and physical health providers, families, and law enforcement

As part of the support process, the multidisciplinary team should determine what existing, school-based resources can be leveraged across tiers (e.g., counselor-led groups, targeted interventions, functional behavioral assessment and planning, scheduling changes) to provide ongoing support.

Once the team has completed its thorough assessment, it can use the information gathered to develop individualized plans to provide appropriate, student-focused interventions, resources, and supports designed to manage and reduce any risk of harm.

Any student assessed by the multidisciplinary team as posing a risk of harm to themselves or others should receive an individualized support and management plan tailored to their unique behaviors, needs, strengths, and stressors designed to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.

BTAM teams should consider the four guiding principles for support and management (see Figure 1 on page 12) when establishing plans. This includes adopting a prevention mindset and establishing plans that: „ Address factors of concern and promote positive factors, „ Redirect possible motivations for violence, „ Create an environment in which violence is less likely, and „ Leverage collaboration with the student, their family, school staff, and community partners who can contribute to the student’s success.

This will help fully address the contextual factors contributing to the student’s behaviors, needs, or stressors.

Inviting the student to actively participate in the support planning process can enhance buy-in and engagement.

Given the risks and adverse outcomes associated with exclusionary discipline, support and management plans should prioritize interventions that promote or restore connection and belonging and minimize a student’s time excluded from the learning environment, if possible.

Teams should meet regularly to monitor the plan’s implementation and the student’s level of progress and success.

Similarly, having MTSS/PBIS representation present at the BTAM team meetings helps to enhance knowledge and expertise in the school’s larger SEB support framework and leverage existing school resources for students receiving individualized management and support plans or individualized safety plans (e.g., BTAM interventions explicitly linked to existing Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports).

INTENSIVE INTERVENTION AND REPORTING • Comprehensive assessments (including functional behavioral assessments) • Individualized management and support plans • Individualized safety plans • Wraparound supports

A BTAM team is developing an individualized management and support plan for a student who poses a risk of harm to themselves or others. As part of the planning process, the team reviews an inventory of existing school-based resources that can be leveraged across tiers (e.g., counselor-led groups, targeted interventions, functional behavioral assessment and planning, scheduling changes).

By working to link the management and support plan to current Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supports based upon the student’s behaviors, needs, strengths, and stressors, the BTAM team enhances efficiency in its development of an individualized plan.

If implementation goals or student outcomes are not realized, teams should return to the process of evaluating strengths and barriers in the system and adjust the plans by increasing implementation supports or increasing the intensity of the plan’s components.

Universal SEB screeners • Intervention-specific progress monitoring and outcome data • Individual management and support plan progress monitoring toward individualized goals and objectives

A BTAM team is building a management and support plan for a student whose motivation is grievance-based due to experiences with bullying and harassment.

The BTAM team uses the information to guide modifications to the student’s daily schedule to reduce the likelihood it will have contact with the students perpetrating the bullying and harassment.

The MTSS/PBIS Tier 2 team shares both fidelity and outcome data for the social skills group which the BTAM team uses during its meeting to progress monitor implementation of the management and support plan and the student’s level of success.

Additonally, the team should also consider supports and services that restore or enhance the student’s sense of belonging and connection to the school community.

BTAM and IEP teams must work collaboratively to consider options for enhancing interventions and supports and develop a management and support plan that adequately manages the risk of harm to self or others and adheres to IDEA and 504 requirements. This comprehensive plan should be function-based and aligned with the student’s IEP/504 plan services and accommodations.

Implementation of all BTAM management and support plans as well as IEP/504 plans should be linked directly to a school’s advanced tier systems of support (i.e., Tier 2, Tier 3) to ensure implementation is monitored regularly and plans are adjusted to ensure students fully benefit from supports.

However, the BTAM team remains concerned about the potential for harm to self or others and determines that a support and management plan is warranted.

The BTAM team works collaboratively with the IEP team to develop the plan that includes increasing some IEP services related to improving social interactions and connections while also increasing supervision and support during unstructured times and when the student has access to the internet.

Together, the BTAM and IEP teams develop agreements with the student and family to restrict access to weapons and agree to meet again in a month to review and adjust the plan.