IEP Teams Must Address Behavioral Strategies or Interventions as Part of the IEP When Needed

Julie Weatherly featured an article in a journal titled In Case, Volume 48, Numbers 4-6; and in Volume 49, Numbers 1-2. The title of the article is Avoiding Legal Disputes in Special Education: 21 Training Points for Administrators. According to Weatherly, "The IDEA requires that any time a child exhibits behavior that impedes his or her learning or that of others, the IEP Team must consider appropriate strategies, including positive behavioral interventions and supports to address the behavior. Though the IDEA does not require that a behavior management plan be part of or incorporated into the IEP, where it is determined that a child needs a behavior managment plan, its development should be discussed as a support service or intervention at the IEP meeting. School staff should be trained to understand that this is not just an issue for students who are behaviorally or emotionally disabled. Rather, it is one for any student who has behavior that impedes learning."