Working with Staff to Overcome Challenging Behavior Among People Who Have Severe Disabilities, 2nd Edition

The effectiveness of support plans for reducing challenging behavior among people with severe disabilities is heavily dependent on how those plans are carried out by direct service staff. This book describes a step-by-step approach for ensuring support plans are carried out appropriately and effectively. Relying on their 70 years of combined work experience and over 140 published articles in developmental disabilities, the authors provide tried and tested strategies for enhancing program implementation, including how to prepare program plans to facilitate staff follow through, obtain staff support for the plans, train staff to carry out program procedures, maintain day-to-day staff proficiency in carrying out the plans, and improve nonproficient staff performance. Written specifically for supervisors who oversee staff performance and clinicians who develop support plans, a working protocol of best practices is presented for getting support plans carried out in typical service settings for people who have severe disabilities.

Chapter contents include an outcome management approach for working with staff to ensure follow through with behavior support plans, obtaining management backing for working with staff to carry out support plans, essential components of support plans, effectively training staff in support plan procedures, monitoring program implementation in a manner acceptable to staff, maintaining program proficiency of staff, and correcting problems with program implementation.