Pennsylvania Code › Title 22 - EDUCATION › Part I - State Board of Education › Subpart A - Miscellaneous Provisions › Chapter 14 - SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES AND PROGRAMS › IEP › Section 14.133 - Positive behavior support

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) Positive, rather than negative, measures
					 must form the basis of behavior support programs to ensure that all students
					 and eligible young children shall be free from demeaning treatment, the use of
					 aversive techniques and the unreasonable use of restraints. Behavior support
					 programs must include research based practices and techniques to develop and
					 maintain skills that will enhance an individual student's or eligible young
					 child's opportunity for learning and self-fulfillment. Behavior support
					 programs and plans must be based on a functional assessment of behavior and
					 utilize positive behavior techniques. When an intervention is needed to address
					 problem behavior, the types of intervention chosen for a particular student or
					 eligible young child shall be the least intrusive necessary. The use of
					 restraints is considered a measure of last resort, only to be used after other
					 less restrictive measures, including de-escalation techniques, in accord with
					 subsection (c)(2).
(b)
					 Notwithstanding the requirements incorporated by reference in
					 34 CFR
					 300.34,
					 300.324 and
					 300.530 (relating to related
					 services; development, review, and revision of IEP; and authority of school
					 personnel), with regard to a child's behavior, the following words and terms,
					 when used in this section, have the following meanings, unless the context
					 clearly indicates otherwise:
Aversive techniques
-Deliberate
						activities designed to establish a negative association with a specific
						behavior.
Behavior support
-The development, change
						and maintenance of selected behaviors through the systematic application of
						behavior change techniques.
Positive behavior support plans
-A plan
						for students with disabilities and eligible young children who require specific
						intervention to address behavior that interferes with learning. A positive
						behavior support plan shall be developed by the IEP team, be based on a
						functional behavior assessment, and become part of the individual eligible
						young child's or student's IEP. These plans must include methods that utilize
						positive reinforcement and other positive techniques to shape a student's or
						eligible young child's behavior, ranging from the use of positive verbal
						statements as a reward for good behavior to specific tangible rewards.
Restraints
-
(i) The application of physical force, with
					 or without the use of any device, for the purpose of restraining the free
					 movement of a student's or eligible young child's body.
(ii) The term does not include briefly
					 holding, without force, a student or eligible young child to calm or comfort
					 him, guiding a student or eligible young child to an appropriate activity, or
					 holding a student's or eligible young child's hand to safely escort her from
					 one area to another.
(iii) The term
					 does not include hand-over-hand assistance with feeding or task completion and
					 techniques prescribed by a qualified medical professional for reasons of safety
					 or for therapeutic or medical treatment, as agreed to by the student's or
					 eligible young child's parents and specified in the IEP. Devices used for
					 physical or occupational therapy, seatbelts in wheelchairs or on toilets used
					 for balance and safety, safety harnesses in buses, and functional positioning
					 devices are examples of mechanical restraints which are excluded from this
					 definition, and governed by subsection (d).