Brain Health or Behavioral Issues

Table of Contents

The brain is the control center for both cognitive function and behavior. Behavioral issues in children can be a symptom of underlying brain health problems, or they can be separate conditions influenced by various factors, including environment and genetics.

Learners with brain health or behavioral issues may require ongoing health services to address their health needs and emergency planning. Two non-inclusive interventions provided by paraprofessionals who have been delegated tasks associated with the student’s needs include:

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Redirection

Redirection is a proactive strategy used in classroom management to guide students' attention or behavior away from inappropriate actions towards more positive or productive alternatives.

Redirections may also include (non-inclusive list):

  • The action of assigning a student to a new purpose
  • The action of directing a student to a different place
  • Prompting, such as a verbal or physical cue, to interrupt a behavior and guide the individual to engage in a more appropriate, acceptable action instead.
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Therapeutic Positive Reinforcement

Therapeutic positive enforcement includes the paraprofessional offering positive reinforcement within individual behavior management, redirection, and modification that emphasizes building positive habits and skills by rewarding positive actions versus solely focusing on negative behavior that is provided in a rehabilitative nature. These interventions include using tangible rewards, social reinforcement and activity reinforcement in alignment with their treatment plan or program. 

Therapeutic Positive Reinforcement is provided in relation to the hypothesized function, to enhance and encourage appropriate response strategy that supports and reinforces the replacement behavior.

Students experiencing the need for ongoing health services, regardless of whether their status is stable or unstable, require an Individualized Health Plan, and a plan for emergencies (if applicable). Ongoing health services is defined as care that requires:

  1. Interpretation or intervention, 

  2. Administration of health procedures and health care, or 

  3. Use of a health device to compensate for the reduction or loss of a body function.

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