This is a question that comes up a lot and one reason I think it can be confusing is that the term “replacement behavior” is used in multiple ways. Sometimes, in the context of PBIS, we talk generally about replacement behaviors for problem behaviors that we are seeing in large numbers throughout a school or program. On the other hand, we also talk about replacement behaviors in the context of problem behaviors exhibited by individual students.

Question: How do we empower staff at lunch/recess to take initiative?
My advice is find a way to involve them in the process, remembering that changing adult behavior by empowering them to take the initiative is a process, not a onetime event or a check box on your implementation to do list! Ask yourself: Have you taken time to train the lunchroom staff in how to teach and reinforce positive behaviors as well as the procedures for responding to students’ behavior errors? If you have trained them, have you followed up with them to ask if they have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for how to improve behavior systems at lunch and recess? Next, have you shared data with them related to the lunch room or recess behaviors?

When I first began at the RSE-TASC, one of the things that was hardest to find a clear answer to was what exactly should PBIS look like with younger learners and what the differences were between the PBIS framework for school-age (K-12) programs and for preschool and early childhood programs. While it was evident that the needs of these two populations differ to some extent, it was challenging to find precise information about how these differences were reflected in the PBIS models.