Parents, carers and other relevant professionals are essential partners in developing effective responses to students with behaviours that can cause harm to self or others.
Steps for working with parents
Steps for working with parents of students at risk of exhibiting behaviours of concern should include:
- providing them with a copy of parent information sheets
- ensuring they have contact details for the relevant school staff members
- inviting them to participate in student support group meetings and to work with the school to develop a behaviour support plan.
Parent information sheets
Engage with parents
Parents should also be made aware of the option of having an independent advocate involved in this planning to ensure that the student's rights are adequately upheld.
Schools should seek to engage with parents as soon as behaviours leading to harm to self or others are identified.
Parents will often be able to:
- share critical information about a student's needs, preferences and the function of, and triggers for their behaviours
- provide details of others, such as health and support services, who may already be working with the student
- discuss strategies that have been successful at home and could be tried at school (agreeing on strategies at home and school will help to maintain consistency, promote positive behaviour and avoid confusion for the student).
Physical harm or danger
Where a student has demonstrated behaviours leading to physical harm or danger to self or others, and/or has been physically restrained or secluded to protect safety, their school needs to:
- notify parents as soon as practicable, or attempt to notify them as soon as practicable and ideally by the end of the day on which the incident occurred
- invite parents/carers to meet with school staff to establish or review a child's behaviour support plan to include strategies to support positive behaviour and reduce the likelihood of future incidents. In the case of children with disabilities, this meeting should occur via the child's existing Student Support Group
- keep a record of the incident
- report the restraint and/or seclusion (see
response and recovery)
- provide parents with a copy of the
guidance, procedures and resources and the
fifteen principles.
Refer to other professionals
When a student's behaviour has escalated to the point where the existing supports have not been effective in addressing the concerning behaviour it may be necessary to seek the support of other relevant professionals.
A team of individuals who can work together to devise, implement and evaluate an individualised plan (also known as a 'wrap around' service) may be necessary to support the student, family and school in improving behaviour, and thus decreasing the risk of restraint and seclusion.
In addition to supports within the student's life such as family, extended family, cultural or community supports, other professionals may be helpful, depending on the student's needs, and could include:
- psychologists
- speech pathologists
- occupational therapists
- general practitioners (GPs)
- Child and Youth Mental Health Services (CYMHS)
- Board-Certified Behaviour Analysts.
Find a BCBA.
- student support services officers
- school welfare officers
- regional health and wellbeing staff.