A Consultative Model for Providing Behavioral Supports to Children with Challenging Behavior

This paper presents a consultative model for providing behavioral supports within the context of a public school setting to students with developmental disabilities who display challenging behaviors. The suggested model is contrasted with the traditional consultation model in which a consultant comes from outside the immediate problem situation, provides support, and eventually withdraws from the problem. In the suggested model, there is ongoing follow-along, with direct consultation provided by an outside consultant who transfers his skills over time to a team of on-site professionals. Components of this model include: (1) identification of targets and objectives for implementation; (2) determination of roles and functions of team members; (3) identification of competencies required of team members; (4) provision of inservice training on the necessary knowledge base, with an emphasis on functional assessment and treatment integrity; (5) planning for program evaluation; and (6) ongoing follow-along. (Contains 17 references.) (DB)