20 Essential Behavior Intervention Strategies

Before choosing a support, a team should ask two questions: Does the adult delivering this intervention have a trusting relationship with the student? And does the strategy actually match the function of the behavior? When both are true, an intervention is far more likely to produce real change, a strategy that's mismatched to function (or delivered by someone the student doesn't trust) often falls flat no matter how evidence-based it is on paper.

The 20 strategies are grouped into five categories, most aligned to a specific behavioral function:

Building Trust & Positive Relationships

• 2 x 10 Strategy: 2 minutes of non-academic conversation, 10 days straight
• 5 to 1 Ratio: Deliver frequent positive feedback (5 positives for every corrective)
• Positive Greetings: Warmly greet students at the door daily

Addressing Attention-Seeking Behaviors

• Teach Hand Raising: Explicitly show students appropriate ways to request attention
• Leadership Responsibilities: Assign meaningful roles to boost engagement
• Strategic Seating: Place students near support and reduce distractions
• Cueing Systems: Subtle signals to remind students of behavior expectations
• Peer Support: Pair students with supportive classmates or mentors

Helping Students with Work Avoidance

• Pre-teaching Content: Brief previews to ease anxiety
• Checklists/Task Analysis: Break tasks into manageable steps
• Behavior Contracts: Agreements outlining expectations and incentives
• Chunking: Divide work into smaller, manageable parts
• Behavior Momentum: Start with easy tasks, gradually building to harder ones

Managing Access Behaviors

• Visual Choice Boards: Let students choose preferred activities visually
• Functional Communication: Teach appropriate requests (e.g., "I need help")
• Delayed Gratification: Structured routines teaching patience
• Self-Management: Students track and reflect on their own behavior

Supporting Self-Stimulatory Behaviors

• Environmental Enrichment: Provide sensory tools and activities (fidgets, breaks)
• Prevention & Accommodation: Adjust environment to reduce sensory triggers
• Time & Place Strategies: Teach appropriate contexts for sensory behaviors

Four of these five categories map directly onto the functions identified through tools like the QABF and FACTS, attention, escape/avoidance, tangible/access, and sensory/automatic, so once a hypothesized function is confirmed, this list narrows quickly to a short set of relevant options rather than 20 undifferentiated choices.

Download 20 Essential Behavior Intervention Strategies

In Behavior Advantage: Match the Hypothesized Function identified in the FBA Tab to the corresponding category here, then document the selected strategy in the Prevention or Teaching section of the BIP or Simple BIP.