Community News

USING PBIS AT HOME 

Jackson School has been a PBIS/SWPBS school since 2012. In 2023, Jackson School formed a partnership with the Department of Education SWPBS Coach along with a new SWPBS Leadership team. Throughout the last 24 months, with ongoing support and teamwork Jackson School has achieved several positive outcomes across the whole school. Our greatest success as part of SWPBS which continues to have a positive impact in our school-wide culture amongst students and staff was the successful launch or our “Jackstore” in 2024.

PBIS/SWPBS is a highly effective way to build children’s social-emotional-behavioural skills and reduce challenging behaviours.  PBIS/SWPBS can be effectively used at home too.  Below are some recommendations for families and caregivers on how to use PBIS to support their children’s social and emotional growth and minimize behavioural disruptions in the home.

SET ROUTINES 

As many of you would know a lot of our students thrive when they have routines and structure. At Jackson, we set specific routines for students to follow during the day. Each classroom at Jackson will have these schedules on display. Some students may also have an individual schedule as well.  With the summer holidays looming, students may have fewer predictable routines, which can increase their anxiety and challenging behaviours. To cut down on behaviour problems, families and caregivers can mimic school routines with their children and set up times for learning, exercise, and play. It’s helpful if these routines are similar to what students are already familiar with from school. The home schedule can be displayed in a visible central place for all to see (ie the fridge!). The more consistent the routines and schedule can be, the easier it will be to support positive social behaviour and prevent challenging behaviour in the home.

SET HOME EXPECTATIONS 

As your child is in a school that uses PBIS, the school will have a chart with desired behaviours, including a description of how those behaviours will look like in each setting. This is called a Behaviour Expectation Matrix.  At Jackson we ask students to “Be Respectful” (what’s expected) in the classroom (where it’s expected).  This might be demonstrated by raising their hand before speaking (the desired behavior).  Throughout the year, we have set times dedicated to teaching about expectations and the specific behaviours required to meet those expectations. These can be adapted by families to fit the home setting. Examples of an expectations table for home and school are below.

Teach, Remind, and Reward Expected Behaviours with Positive Feedback 

Just like at school, doing so at home is much more powerful with a plan to teach, remind, and reward behaviours using positive feedback. Emphasizing respect, responsibility, and a sense of community is important for maintaining a smooth home-school connection. For example, consider having conversations with your child that match conversations they might have at school on respecting other individuals. If your child’s comment reflects a lack of understanding or bias, calmly discuss factual information (e.g., “Anyone can get sick.” “We are a community that takes care of each other.”). 

Correcting Behaviour

In addition to teaching, rewarding, and reminding, you may need to correct behaviour. When a child makes an error, provide a quick correction or redirection. For example, if you observe your child showing disrespect to others: 

1. Quickly correct or signal the error, (“That was not respectful”) 

2. Re-state the expected behaviour, (“We speak kindly to each other to show respect”) 

3. Provide an opportunity for positive interaction, (“Let’s try that again. How would you show respect?”) 

4. Provide the child positive feedback, (“That was a kind thing to say.”) Redirections can be even quicker (“Remember, you need to wash your hands before coming to the table. Please go wash your hands.”). 

The goal is for a correction or redirection to be calm, brief, and provide an opportunity for the child to practice the desired behavior. In addition, it’s important to maintain a 5-to-1 ratio and use more reminders than corrections. 

• Maintain a 5-to-1 ratio. It's easy to get into a habit of correcting, but the goal is to maintain a ratio of 5 positive interactions or praise statements for every 1 negative interaction or corrective statement. 
• Remind instead of correct. Instead of correcting behaviour after it happens, we can remind children what we would like to see before a behaviour is expected. For example, we can put a sign in the bathroom near the sink to “Wash your hands.” Children can even help create these signs and brainstorm what signs might be needed.  To decrease undesired behaviour, you can also teach alternatives. To decrease an undesired behaviour, like touching one’s face, you can teach your child to do something else. For example, children can be given a fidget that they can play with that keeps their hands away from their face or taught to use a tissue to touch their face.