Job Overview
GENERAL DEFINITION OF WORK
Under the supervision of the Director II – Student Support Services, in collaboration with the Principal, the Behavior Specialist supports and assesses instructional and behavioral programs for students in a therapeutic and behaviorally supported educational environment; performs professional work providing direct-care and consultative services for assigned school/program.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Provide staff development and work collaboratively with teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff to demonstrate best practices, therapeutic interventions and strategies
- Integrate techniques to enhance instruction for students with social, communication, behavioral, and learning challenges
- Collaborate with staff to develop understanding of a variety of methods to improve student behavior
- Assist with the development of functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans
- Provide individual and group counseling to students to include socialization activities
- Plan and confer with the classroom teacher as requested concerning any behavioral, social, or personal problems affecting the students
- Assist staff with the development of crisis prevention and intervention plans, including the behavioral modification program
- Coordinate and conduct individual and group parent education sessions with families as needed
- Assist in developing and maintaining home-school relations in crisis situations with students
- Assist with case-management and team problem-solving with other school and district staff, agency personnel, and other appropriate professionals on a regular basis
- Assist with the development and maintenance of program evaluation procedures
- Demonstrate patience, respect, and a receptive attitude toward students of varied academic and behavioral levels of need and abilities
- Utilize professional knowledge and skills to assure implementation and maintenance of intervention plans
- Identify, document, make recommendations, and report data on students’ behavior based on trends and research
- Receive training on approved de-escalation techniques and physical intervention methods, and utilize those methods when deemed necessary
- Assume responsibility for own professional growth and development by keeping current with the literature and new research findings and by attending professional development as appropriate
- Perform other duties as assigned
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
- Must have knowledge of current trends and methodologies used to address the needs of children with behavioral challenges
- Must have skills in evaluation, development and implementation of positive behavior intervention plans; knowledge of tiered intervention frameworks; knowledge of current accepted best practices utilized in the full continuum of placement options for students with behavioral challenges
- Must have knowledge of data tracking and collection, record management and reporting methods, and a demonstrated understanding of differentiated instruction
- Must have expertise in developing and providing staff development activities for individual schools and/or programs
- Must have a valid driver’s license. Bilingual (English-Spanish) abilities preferred
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, social work, counseling, or related field
- Master’s degree preferred
- Minimum of three years of successful experience working with students who have challenging behaviors in a therapeutic or school setting
- Must have extensive successful experience in analyzing and assessing behavior, developing, planning and implementing behavioral interventions