Before you proceed to developing a behavior treatment protocol, consider the following:

1. Nature of the behavior in question – How urgent is need for intervention? (risk to self/others, interrupting programming, etc.)

2.Individual behavior history: Is this a new behavior? Reoccurrence of an old behavior? Is behavior cyclical?

3. Has there been a significant change in the learner’s environment, the impact of which is expected to be transient?

4. Any medical concerns?

Attached is a questionnaire based on this article that helps you to determine how urgent the need for intervention is.

Also, check out Hanley’s Behavioral Health Index as a tool to track progress over time. This tool illustrates how likely one is to engage in severe problem behavior based on their skills (or lack their of).