How to Use This Guide

This guide was designed to be comprehensive and easy to navigate. Each of the six sections in the guide describes a different aspect of reducing restraint and eliminating isolation through positive and effective practice. It is not necessary to read each section from start to finish to benefit from this guide. To assist the reader in navigating and prioritizing, each section is summarized below along with key points of focus.

Section 1: Understanding Positive and Trauma-Informed Behavior Support

Section 1 provides guidance on the fundamentals of student-centered behavior support practice. Content includes key principles of behavior in which effective trauma-informed behavior support is anchored, important concepts (e.g., school climate, student belonging) that influence the effectiveness of behavior support in a school or district, and basic concepts that support educators and family members to develop positive behavior supports. The section also features specific information about approaching behavior support from a lens of equity and avoiding implicit bias.

Section 2: School and District Systems That Support Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Well-Being

Section 2 focuses on improving positive behavior support at the school and district level. It describes a variety of interconnected school and district systems and how they can fit together in a multitiered system of supports (MTSS) to support student and staff well-being. Specific school and district systems, as well as their relationship to student behavior and safety, are discussed in brief with intentional connections to further resources.

Section 3: Classroom Practices for Safe and Inclusive Learning

Section 3 describes practices for improving positive behavior support at the classroom level. Content addresses how social and emotional learning (SEL) can fit into teaching of SEBH skills, how teachers can partner with parents to cultivate an inclusive classroom that supports all students to learn skills for success, and how to design a classroom in which most interfering behaviors are prevented by setting the stage for healthy behavior instead. Specific practices associated with effective classroom management that foster a climate of belonging and safety are included.

Section 4: Effective Support for Students with Extensive Behavior Learning Needs

Section 4 addresses individual behavior support for students who engage in significant interfering behavior, including teaming processes to engage in meaningful and student-centered data collection, problem solving, and cycles of intervention and review. Content also includes best practices and requirements for conducting a functional behavioral assessments (FBA), using the results of the FBA to develop an effective and high-quality behavioral intervention plan (BIP), and making data-based decisions to ensure the student’s supports are effective.

Section 5: Considerations for Students with Disabilities

Section 5 describes best practices and requirements for providing behavior support, in alignment with the legal right to a free appropriate public education, to students who are eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Content includes a summary of discipline protections for students with disabilities and key takeaways from federal investigations into district misuse of restraint and/or isolation with students with disabilities. 

Section 6: Crisis Prevention and De-Escalation

Section 6 focuses on balancing the importance of schools to have an effective behavioral crisis response process with the urgent need to reduce or eliminate the harmful and ineffective practices of restraint and isolation. Guidance includes legal requirements and processes in restraint and isolation use, recommendations for safe de-escalation and reduction of certain preventable harms associated with restraint and isolation, and collaborative practices amongst all members of the school team and family to serve the student safely and supportively.

---

¹³ The most effective way to reduce restraint and eliminate isolation is prevention through positive and multitiered behavior support practices. All other manual sections focus on school and district efforts to build these effective practices. For best results, review Section 6 after or alongside at least one other manual section.