MEA member Lindsey Wilson holds a position in Lowell Area Schools that rarely existed in Michigan school districts just five years ago. Wilson is a behavior coach, assigned to address needs of students exhibiting the most challenging classroom behaviors.

She doesn’t work directly with children most of the time. Like an instructional coach, she brings an expert perspective to help K-12 educators shift their practice as one part of a team effort to find individualized approaches for each young person in need.

Wilson recognizes how difficult it can be to manage just one student whose outbursts may regularly disrupt a classroom of 30 kids. She helps educators understand the reason or “function” behind the most challenging behavior and how to turn a struggling student in a healthier direction.

“That’s where the need was—to help identify what students are trying to communicate by engaging in these behaviors so that we can better meet those needs before behaviors get dangerous or severe in the school setting,” Wilson said.

Over the past several years, educators across the country have reported sharp increases in problematic student behaviors in school, including physical and verbal aggression.

In an MEA survey of Michigan educators conducted last November by Emma White Research, 88% of respondents said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned by student behavior and mental health issues—topping all other concerns, including pay, health care costs, staffing shortages and burnout.

In January, the non-profit magazine Education Week reported national survey findings in which 72% of teachers and school leaders said student behaviors have worsened either “a little” (24%) or “a lot” (48%) since 2019. The EdWeek Research Center survey was conducted in December.

This is the fourth year that Wilson has served as a coach in Lowell helping to design and initiate a Positive Behavior Support Plan (PBSP) for every student on her caseload. She formally supports 12-15 student teams and monitors close to 25 active behavior plans.

All of the students Wilson serves have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) related to a disability or impairment. But she said, “Challenging behaviors are happening across the board, and these principles can be applied in settings with general education and special education students.”

She says most students exhibiting negative behaviors don’t want to do harm; they simply don’t yet have the skills, knowledge or experience to better meet their needs—even in the face of consequences.

Her goal is to develop a plan for classroom teachers and paraeducators to work together with the child in replacing harmful behaviors—often part of a longstanding pattern—with productive ones. Frequently there is a need the student doesn’t understand or know how to communicate or access.

“Self-advocacy and communication is mainly what we’re targeting when trying to shape behaviors, because behavior is a form of communication.”

Wilson begins the process by conducting a functional behavior assessment, involving interviews and questionnaires with family and school staff, followed by classroom observations.

She seeks to find contexts and triggers for challenging behaviors, what “precursor” behaviors tend to occur in a buildup toward bigger ones, and what the student brings in terms of interests and strengths.

Often difficult behaviors in school serve a function for the student to avoid undesirable tasks. Wilson conducts several observations to find reasons, brings findings to the team, and a plan is developed collaboratively.

“I don’t have a teaching background, so I don’t want to throw strategies at a teacher and say, ‘Here’s what you should do.’”

In general, the plan involves teaching the student a more productive way to communicate a need and having the teacher honor those requests. “But it’s a process, too, because you don’t want to live with a student needing to escape all the time. You want to build voluntary engagement as well.”

Slowly and systematically, the student is encouraged to engage more and for longer periods. “That’s where individualized techniques come into play. We use a lot of embedding of their unique interests into different tasks.”

Wilson is a board-certified behavior analyst with a master’s degree in professional behavior analysis and experience in clinical settings. In addition to working with student teams, she has collaborated with Lowell’s Special Education director and coaches at the Kent Intermediate School District to deliver all-staff professional development.

“Whether it’s embedding interests or making sure we’re always valuing the students’ communication and self advocacy—it’s all about bringing back joy in learning for students.”

For districts without their own behavior coaches, similar services can be accessed through most regional ISDs. “It used to be pretty unique to see this role in a school, but it’s becoming more and more common across Michigan now,” Wilson said.