5101:2-5-13 (A)(14)
Required Agency Policy
The Twelve of Ohio, Inc.
Behavior Intervention Policy
Policy: # 1021
Purpose:
To establish/implement a written behavior intervention policy and procedure which includes a description
of The Twelve of Ohio, Inc., behavior management program. To provide guidelines to foster caregivers
and residential administrators or employees with direct care responsibilities, who implement the behavior
management program while promoting an environment that will assist the child in meeting his/her needs in
a positive manner.
Policy:
The Twelve of Ohio, Inc., Behavior Intervention Policy include a detailed description of the full range of
behavior intervention procedures or combination of procedures that that may be employed, including
operational details of the interventions and a definition of each intervention.
In a residential facility discipline shall be administered only by persons who are administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities.
In Foster Care discipline shall be administered by foster parents and alternative caregivers- those
who are in care and control of that child at that time.
Accountability:
All agency Employees, Foster Parents, Alternative Caregivers
Procedures:
These procedures shall be provided to all employees and foster caregivers and made available to all
persons or placing agencies that desire to place children or adolescents in our Foster Care, Group Home
and Independent Living programs. A Social Worker will explain the procedures to each child or
adolescent placed in these programs.
All Group Home employees will be required to sign documentation that they have been trained annually on
the Behavior Intervention Plan policy and procedures. A signed copy will be kept in their employee file.
I. Behavior Management Philosophy
The Twelve of Ohio, Inc. supports the rights of all children and adolescents to make active choices
concerning their lives and to participate fully in any decision-making process related to their participation
in services, as is age appropriate. As an agency we support positive educational and training strategies,
which are designed to assist children and adolescents in leaning to self-manage behavior, increase
independence and to achieve an increased level of satisfaction in meeting life goals. We believe most
behavior is purposeful and serves some function although that function may not be readily apparent.
Maladaptive behavior can interfere with a child or adolescent’s ability to relate effectively with others and
prevent them from living independent and fulfilling lives. When behavior supports are necessary in
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5101:2-5-13 (A)(14)
Required Agency Policy
assisting children and adolescents in learning to self-manage behaviors these supports should focus on
positive teaching and support strategies. These support strategies should be used in the least restrictive
setting possible with the least intrusive forms of intervention necessary to achieve the targeted behavioral
change.
II
BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS
A.
Preventative Intervention Strategies
General intervention strategies are positive teaching techniques that do not require any aversive type
procedures. Interventions of this nature may be preventative and used proactively to help prevent problem
behaviors from occurring. The following list provides some examples of preventative and behavior support
strategies:
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Giving the child or adolescent choices; allowing the child or adolescent to choose when to do a
required activity or task.
Providing the child or adolescent with basic needs; providing interesting activities or tasks, giving
breaks between these activities and tasks.
Providing age and developmentally appropriate activities that will interest the child or adolescent.
Providing a caring attitude on the part of the foster caregiver and residential administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities.
Providing an effective communication system or style that promotes the child or adolescent’s ability
to express wants and needs.
Providing a positive and supportive environment for the child or adolescent.
Providing a comfortable environment, appropriate lighting, heating, monitoring of noise levels,
eliminating distractions, etc.
Adjusting the environment to avoid provoking maladaptive behaviors (i.e., providing access to a
quiet area as needed and requested by the child or adolescent).
Providing verbal praise to the child or adolescent for appropriate behaviors.
Being aware of medical conditions that might account for inappropriate behaviors.
Monitoring sibling and peer interactions to ensure that they are not causing the behavior.
Providing consistent routines so children and adolescents know what to expect throughout the day,
but allowing flexibility as needed.
Providing consistent and calm interventions.
Providing helpful corrections with clear, concise and reasonable limits.
Providing age appropriate supervision.
Shall treat each foster child with kindness, consistency, and respect.
Shall not discriminate in providing care and supervision to children on the basis of race, sex,
religion, cultural heritage, or sexual orientation.
Shall provide humane, instructive discipline appropriate to the age and functioning level of a foster
child.
a. Disciplinary methods shall stress praise and encouragement for desired behavior rather than
punishment.
b. All rules and expectations made by a foster caregiver / and residential administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities, shall be explained to a child in a manner appropriate to
his age and understanding during his initial orientation and prior to any disciplinary action for
violations of such rules.
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19.
Required Agency Policy
c. Shall not be punished for actions over which he has no control.
d. Shall not be punished for bed-wetting or in the course of toilet training activities.
Shall not subject a child to verbal abuse or swearing; to derogatory remarks about children, their
families, their races, their religion, or their ethnic or cultural backgrounds or sexual orientation; or
to threats of physical violence or removal from the home.
B.
Positive Intervention Strategies
Positive intervention strategies are affirmative teaching techniques that do not require any aversive
type procedures. Interventions of this nature may be used to shape or correct problem behaviors.
The following list provides some examples of positive and behavior support strategies:
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Positive Reinforcement - is a method of using positive consequences to increase the frequency of a
behavior. Positive reinforcements (reinforces) come in many forms. The following are examples of
types of positive reinforcement:
 Social - reinforces that come from another person such as gestures of approval, a pat on the
back, verbal comments, high-fives, handshakes, etc.
 Material - objects that a child or adolescents may enjoy such as books, radio, tapes, movie,
food, games, etc.
 Activity - putting material reinforces to use; reading a book; going swimming; going to a
baseball game; etc. It may also be something that the child or adolescent likes to do; talking
with peers; playing a game; or having unsupervised time as is age and developmentally
appropriate.
 Token - poker chips, checkmarks, stickers, etc. These items have no value themselves but
can be used to purchase or trade in for something important to the individual.
 Modeling Appropriate Behavior - foster caregivers/ and residential administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities, show the child or adolescent the appropriate
behavior.
 Errorless Learning - providing an environment where no or few error responses can occur
(i.e. controlling the environment or situation to meet the child or adolescent’s age and
developmental needs and match the skill deficit, success is guaranteed).
 Forward/back chaining - procedure that involves teaching a complete sequence of behaviors
that must be performed in a particular order especially useful with very young children or
children and adolescent’s with cognitive delays, impulse control and/or attention deficits.
 Shaping/Fading- immediate reinforcement of successive approximations of the desired
behavior until the desired behavior is established/gradual removal of reinforcements until
the individual is able to respond independently.
 Contracts with Positive Consequences - a written or verbal agreement between the child or
adolescent and others that specifies the negotiated and agreed upon relationship between
behaviors and consequences. (A written, ongoing contract should, in most cases, be part of
the person’s case record).
Redirection - the child or adolescent is verbally engaged by the foster caregiver/ and residential
administrators or employees with direct care responsibilities, who will motivate the child to pursue
some other more appropriate task or interaction that is productive in meeting the child or
adolescent’s needs.
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5101:2-5-13 (A)(14)
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Required Agency Policy
Rule Reminders - reminding the child or adolescent of presenting reinforces that they would earn
for desired behaviors or reminding the child or adolescent of the negative consequences of the
behavior being displayed.
Time Away- a self-management technique where the child or adolescent interrupts an activity by
moving away so that the child or adolescent can regain composure by decreasing agitation, anxiety
and frustration.
Planned Ignoring - avoiding responding (no eye contact, no verbal intervention) to an undesirable
behavior by not drawing any attention to it. If chosen, planned ignoring may be used for up to 15
minutes. If the targeted behavior continues, staff must choose another approved technique.
Natural Consequences - unpleasant outcome to a behavior, which would occur independently of any
foster caregiver/ and residential administrators or employees with direct care responsibilities
involvement.
Simple Reprimands - non-abusive verbal or gesture cues which indicate that a behavior, which has
just occurred, is undesirable and should not occur again (i.e., no, frown, head nod, etc.).
Removal of Objects/verbal requests - requesting a child or adolescent to move away from an item
that they may be about to throw, or removing the item before it is thrown.
Proximity Control - moving closer to a child or adolescent whose behavior is disturbing or by
increased energy, hyperactivity, anxiety, etc., is apparent to prevent inappropriate actions.
Prompted Relaxation - a verbal or gesture prompt that cues a child or adolescent to display a relaxed
behavior that will replace the agitated, disruptive, or
destructive behavior.
Self-Monitoring - a child or adolescent may be encouraged to track his/her behavior and evaluate if
their behavior is getting them what they want and/or need. A child or adolescent may be encouraged
to keep a personal journal in order to track behaviors throughout the day. The child or adolescent
will be encouraged to explore his/her feelings during these specific behaviors.
Assertiveness Training - a child or adolescent may be encouraged to pursue positive and productive
methods to express his/her needs while encouraged to express their needs in a manner that is likely
to achieve desired results.
Critical Problem-Solving - a child or adolescent may be encouraged to objectively evaluate the
problem while exploring possible solutions as well as outcomes. The child or adolescent will be
encouraged to evaluate the impact of his/her behavior on others and on occasions when it is
determined to be beneficial and within the cognitive ability of the adolescent, they may be asked to
complete this process in writing and discuss it with staff.
Conflict Resolution - the child or adolescent will be encouraged to explore appropriate methods of
resolving conflict. The foster caregiver/ and residential administrators or employees with direct care
responsibilities, will role model and provide alternative scenarios that are more likely to assist the
child in meeting his/her needs.
De-escalation strategies - engaging the child or adolescent in alternative behavior techniques
designed toward diverting the child’s attention from the immediate problem in order to help calm
the child or adolescent down. The foster caregiver/ and residential administrators or employees with
direct care responsibilities, may use thought-stopping techniques, prompted relaxation, redirection,
and Para verbal communication skills (monitoring tone, volume and cadence (pace) of speech). The
child or adolescent may be encouraged to verbally express his/her feelings while exploring a
resolution to the conflict.
Daily Detail (Chores) - the youth earn a daily allowance for doing details such as: clean counters,
tidy basement, living room and/or dinning room, sweep outside, sweep hallway, stairs and office,
dishes, clean cupboard fronts, weep kitchen floor, mop floors, clean microwave, stove and trash
duty, clean bathroom. Upon completion of daily detail they will receive a $1.00 per day for daily
allowance, plus or minus any fines. Extra allowance is earned by additional duties.
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5101:2-5-13 (A)(14)
Required Agency Policy
C. Restrictive Intervention Strategies
Proactive behavioral intervention strategies and positive intervention strategies should always be attempted
before restrictive behavior intervention procedures are implemented to reduce inappropriate or undesirable
behaviors. The Twelve of Ohio, Inc., strictly prohibits aversive behavioral interventions (i.e., prohibits any
type of restraint including; physical, mechanical, chemical restraint, isolation/seclusion) and stresses the
importance of adhering to ODJFS discipline standards and ODJFS children’s rights.
1.
Restrictions –
In the Group Home program a child or adolescent may be restricted from extra curricular activities
when positive behavior management techniques have not had a positive impact upon the child’s
behavior, however, not for prolonged or excessive periods as defined by the agency to be no longer
than 7 days. Restrictions may also take the form of early bedtime and this generally occurs when a
youth has difficulty quieting down at night and their behavior disrupts the other residents. Early
bedtime may also be used when a youth experiences difficulty in waking in the morning and this
impedes planned activities such as school.
In our Group Home, Foster Care Program and Independent Living Programs restrictions are not to
interfere with child or adolescent’s right to visit or communicate with the child’s family, legal
guardian or be used as a means to deny physical and/or therapeutic outlets as contained in the child
or adolescent’s service plan and/or contribute to stabilization of the child or adolescent’s behavior.
The length of the restriction should take into consideration such factors as the child’s age,
developmental level, cognitive functioning and the frequency of the inappropriate behavior (i.e. a
first offense versus a serious pattern of behavior), and the intensity of the individual episode (i.e. a
five minute outburst versus an entire day of disruption).
2.
Time Out - a child or adolescent may be asked by the foster caregiver/ and residential
administrators or employees with direct care responsibilities, to remove him/her self from a
situation to spend a designated amount of time in a designated space until the situation has returned
to a calm state. When time-out is used by the foster caregiver/ and residential administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities, the child or adolescent, will usually be asked to leave
the room, although other occupants, if applicable, could vacate the room thereby creating space for
the child or adolescent. The child or adolescent may be asked to take a seat in another room or retire
to his/her bedroom for a designated period of time. The amount of time that a child spends in
time-out would in no case exceed 1 minute per year of child’s age. The child or adolescent will be
monitored during this time-out period by the foster caregiver / and residential administrators or
employees with direct care responsibilities. A child or adolescent may not be put into a Time Out
beyond 9 (nine) minutes while the Agency is providing Mental Health Services.
Blocking - defined as preventing a strike by removing the target (moving out of the way) or
deflecting the weapon by placing an object between the weapon and the target.
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Fines- The youth will be required to pay with money for the following rule infractions:
 Smoking- if caught if anywhere on grounds the fine is $2.00
 Inappropriate language usage- After two (2) verbal warnings, fines of 25cents per word for
any of the following: any “F” words, bitch, and any sexual word such as dick, pussy and ass,
etc.
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Required Agency Policy
5.
Educational Research Reports &/or Sentence Writing- youth will be required to write a report when
engaging in inappropriate activities and/or abusive behaviors ie: consuming alcohol, playing with
fire, uncooperative attitude. The Education Research report will be no more than 500 words, and
sentence writing will be no more than 100 lines.
6.
Restitution – In certain situations the youth may be required to make restitution for a loss or
damages resulting from the actions of the youth. Restitution may occur in one of the following
methods;
 Financial-the youth may be required to financially reimburse for the loss and this may be
made from the youths weekly allowance
 Work- the youth may agree to perform supervised community service in or around the home
to make restitution
 Direct-the youth may work out restitution with the individual (s) which may include
forfeiting personal property, i.e., the youth may replace lost item with his/her own property
No form of restitution is finalized without the direct approval of the program supervisor and documentation
that the guardian has approved of the intervention
7.
Call 9-1-1 for assistance, if needed.
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Formal charges – On rare occasions and only as a last resort it may be necessary to contact the
police (non emergency number) or file a formal complaint due to the actions of a youth in the
program. If the youth is determined to be at risk to the other residents or the community he/she may
be removed from the program.
III
CONTRAINDICATIONS
When caring for a child or adolescent who has been identified as having disabilities the individual behavior
management plan will address both the cognitive and/or physical limitations unique to the child or
adolescent and list any contraindications to the use of specific behavioral interventions as applicable.
Examples of contraindications consistent with the needs of children with disabilities may include the
following:
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History of physical or sexual abuse - age/gender/ethnicity/race of perpetrator.
History of types of abuse, which could be triggered by a time-out request - i.e., having been locked
in a closet or a room.
Developmental or cognitive delays which would impair the child or adolescent’s ability to comply
with a behavioral contract.
Medical conditions which are present, but not imminently life threatening (obesity, asthma,
pregnancy, cardiac conditions, medication side effects, etc.)
The previous placement history of the child (AWOLS, disciplinary problem, etc.).
History of psychological issues, diagnosis, and associated behaviors.
The nature, patterns, and number of complaints or adjudicated felonies against the child.
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5101:2-5-13 (A)(14)
IV
Required Agency Policy
RESTRICTIONS OF CHILD’S RIGHTS
If a residential facility places any restrictions upon a child’s rights for more than two hours any rights of a
child including those pursuant to paragraph (A) of rule 5101:2-5-35 of the Administrative Code (Children’s
Rights) the facility shall:
1) Inform the child and the child’s custodian of the conditions of and the reasons for the restriction of
rights
2) Place a written report summarizing the conditions of and reasons for the restriction of the child’s rights
in that child’s record pursuant to rule 5101:2-5-10 of the Administrative Code
3) When a restriction of a child’s rights affects another individual, inform the individual, as appropriate, of
the conditions of and reasons for the action
4) Document review of this decision the restriction at least weekly. Any such restriction shall be included
in the service plan and approved by the child’s custodian.
V
PERSONNEL CREDENTIALS
The Twelve of Ohio, Inc., Behavior Management Policy/Program was developed/designed by the agency’s
Leadership team, which is comprised of the following: Executive Director, MPA, Director of Quality
Assurance, MPA, LSW, Three Regional Directors, LISW, MA. Ed., LSW, MA, LSW, (respectively)
Clinical Supervisors, LPCC, LISW, House Manager, LSW, Group Home Manger, LSW, Foster Care staff,
LSW.
The agency’s Executive Director and Board of Directors have approved the agency Behavior Management
Policy/Program.
The agencies Behavior Management Policy/Program will be implemented by the agency’ certified foster
caregivers and child care workers.
It will be monitored by the professional staff in coordination with the Clinical Staff and in the residential
facility in conjunction with the Nurse.
It will be supervised by the agency’s licensed staff supervisors and the House Manager.
Approved:
April 16, 2003
Revised:
August 31, 2007
Revised:
May 24, 2010
Revised:
June 11, 2010
Revised:
June 24, 2010
Board Approved June 29, 2010
Board Effective Date: June 29, 2010
Revised:
August 17, 2010
Board Approved: August 18, 2010
Board Effective Date: August 18, 2010
Revised:
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August 25, 2011