The Behavior Code Companion
Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors
Jessica Minahan
paper, 288 Pages
Pub. Date: December 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1-61250-751-4
Price: $34.00
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ebook
Pub. Date: December 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1-61250-753-8
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The Behavior Code Companion delivers a helpful inventory of concrete and practical resources for the development and implementation of successful behavior intervention plans for students.
Special educator and behavioral analyst Jessica Minahan, coauthor of The Behavior Code, delivers a companion guide for educators and parents who want to better support students with challenging behaviors. Used by countless educators, the FAIR Behavior Intervention Plan has been proven to improve proactive classroom management, encourage positive teacher-student relationships, and reduce the need for school discipline.
In this book, Minahan offers a wealth of supplemental materials for each stage of the FAIR Behavior Intervention Plan—which involves determining the function (F) of the behavior, offering appropriate accommodations (A), implementing proactive intervention strategies (I), and practicing positive response strategies (R). Among other invaluable supports, she provides clear and direct exercises for brainstorming and reflection, a series of checklists to help with implementation and monitoring progress, and planning activities and templates that can be customized and put to use immediately. The author also recommends apps and other technology that can assist and simplify plan implementation.
Throughout the book, Minahan offers illustrative case studies, with a special focus on students with mental health diagnoses and those with anxiety-related or oppositional behaviors.
Filled with actionable advice, this highly useful resource gives educators and parents the tools to meet challenging behaviors with both confidence and compassion. This volume will help educators create optimal learning environments for all students.
Praise
Teachers throughout our school system have found The Behavior Code strategies and interventions to be highly effective in supporting students with mental health issues. The Behavior Code Companion adds tremendously to any educator’s toolbox as it provides real, concrete, and doable strategies and interventions, including activities and exercises. This book offers essential, easy-to-implement, professional development for every teacher struggling with inappropriate student behavior.
— Heather D. Larkin, assistant superintendent for special education and student services, New Bedford Public Schools, Massachusetts
The Behavior Code Companion is an invaluable resource for parents, teachers, administrators, and related service providers, filled with tools that allow for effective and positive modification of challenging and interfering behaviors while preserving the child's dignity.
— Alexandre Cron, special education teacher, New York City
Minahan provides so many creative and reasonable ways to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles that she makes me want to go back to public school teaching! What a much better place schools would be if all school personnel and mental health professionals used this book!
— Jeannie Golden, psychologist, behavior analyst, and associate professor, East Carolina University
Jessica Minahan translates complex knowledge about challenging behavior so that teachers and administrators have tools and strategies they can immediately implement. The Behavior Code Companion is a game changer that will help all schools that think they have run out of ideas.
— Michael Cordell, chief academic officer, KIPP DC
The Behavior Code Companion offers brilliant insight into mental health issues in the form of practical, research-based interventions teachers can actually implement.
— Vaughn C. Kauffman, former director of special education, Helena, Montana
The Behavior Code Companion is an invaluable resource for parents, teachers, administrators, and related service providers, filled with tools that allow for effective and positive modification of challenging and interfering behaviors while preserving the child’s dignity. Jessica’s strategies will surely support child success in and outside of the classroom.
— Ruth Uecker, assistant superintendent K–6, Great Falls Public Schools, MT
The Behavior Code and The Behavior Code Companion are essential texts for a graduate teacher education course I teach on understanding behavior and classroom management. Used for the past five years, both in Boston and Barbados, these books help teachers understand the purpose and triggers of children’s challenging behaviors and they provide effective responsive strategies that support a child to learn positive social and behavioral skills. These books have changed the way I work with new teachers, with a focus on social emotional learning, reducing anxiety, and getting to the root of challenging behaviors. Teachers develop FAIR Plans that support an individual child but find that their plans foster a learning environment that supports all children.
— Stephanie Cox Suárez, associate clinical professor emeritus, Teaching and Learning Department, Boston University
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About the Author
Jessica Minahan, MEd, BCBA, is a board-certified behavior analyst and special educator. She is Director of Behavioral Services at Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA), in Newton, Massachusetts, as well as a behavior consultant to schools nationwide. She also holds an adjunct professor position in the special education department at Boston University.
Jessica has over sixteen years of experience in public school systems supporting students with mental health challenges who exhibit concerning behavior. She has extensive experience supporting students with explosive and unsafe behavior, anxiety, trauma histories, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and high-functioning autism. Jessica specializes in staff training and creating behavior intervention plans and systems that combine a behavioral approach with a deep understanding of the student’s psychological profile.
Jessica holds a BS in intensive special education from Boston University and a dual master’s degree in special education and elementary education from Wheelock College. She has a certificate of graduate study (CGS) in teaching children with autism from the University of Albany and received her behavior analyst training from Northeastern University. A sought-after international public speaker, Jessica has spoken on subjects ranging from effective interventions for students with anxiety to supporting hard-to-reach students in full-inclusion public school settings. She is a blogger for the Huffington Post and the coauthor of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, with Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Education Press, 2012). Her speaking schedule, other publications, and more information are available at www.jessicaminahan.com.