When
NYS Education Department (NYSED) regulations were updated last July they placed
more emphasis on requiring schools to move away from aversive behavior
interventions often utilized for people with disabilities, towards implementing
positive behavior interventions and supports.
Being positive and proactive has been the philosophy and approach of The
Arc of Delaware County’s programs and services for over 40 years, and staff and
leadership at The Arc are pleased to hear that NYSED is offering schools the
necessary tools and support to move in this direction.
Since
the beginning of the school year, The Arc’s Carousel Children’s Services program,
serving children ages 3-5 in an integrated preschool setting, has been fine
tuning its positive, proactive practices by implementing a new system made available
to all preschool and public school systems through NYSED, known as Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
Through PBIS, Carousel Children’s Services staff is creating a positive
school climate where students are learning at unprecedented rates, mastering
social and emotional outcomes, and fostering positive relationships.
What attracted Carousel Children’s Services
to PBIS is that it offers a formalized systematic approach to implementing a
positive behavior approach in a school setting, is easy to follow, and free. PBIS provides evidence-based practices and a clearly defined data
informed decision making process for improving behavior outcomes for all
students, regardless of ability level. Beverly Tuthill, Carousel Children’s Services
Director shares “The
beauty of the program is with the coaching and support of a PBIS Behavior Specialist
from BOCES, the Carousel team was able to decide the best way to implement PBIS;
it isn’t a cookie cutter program. What
works best for one school might not necessarily work for another. We’ve found it is very adaptable to our
unique structure and needs.”
The Carousel team is making great
strides having just begun the process in September. They have regular implementation meetings
with the PBIS Behavior Specialist to talk about progress and discuss goals and
objectives. One area of current focus is
on teaching positive behaviors in the classroom, with the support of various
teaching tools provided by PBIS. They
expect to kick off the new school year in September with the full PBIS system
in place.
Parents,
parent groups, teachers, school administrators, and boards who would like to
see Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in action locally can
contact Beverly Tuthill, Carousel Children’s Services Director, at
(607)746-4240 to schedule a visit to the Carousel Program. You may also contact Stacey Smith, PBIS Behavior
Specialist at the State Education Department’s Regional Special Education
Technical Assistance Support Center, at (607)766-3777 to learn more about PBIS,
or visit www.nyspbis.org
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PBIS Specialist Stacey Smith guides the Carousel
Children’s Services team and leadership of Delhi Campus Child Care Center
through each step of the PBIS process.
Pictured left to right: Lisa Nunley, Sibel Finn, and Beverly Tuthill of
all CCS, PBIS Specialist Stacey Smith of BOCES, Kristina Anderson of CCS, and
Karen Wallace, Director of the Delhi Campus Child Care Center.
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