Students with significant support needs (SSN) are often at an increased risk of demonstrating challenging behaviors compared with their peers without disabilities. As a result, students engaging in these behaviors typically experience fewer opportunities for inclusive education, strained relationships with educators, and increased likelihood of exposure to intrusive and harmful practices (e.g., restraint and seclusion), thus providing increased support for the use of effective behavioral interventions. Although research has shown that function-based interventions are more effective in addressing challenging behavior and these practices should be implemented for SSN who engage in challenging behavior, unfortunately these supports are often planned without involvement from the student. All students, including those with SSN, should have input in the selection and design of the supports they receive. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide educators with strategies for including student voice in the functional behavior assessment process and when developing a behavior support plan for students with SSN. We describe in detail methods for (a) gathering student input during the indirect assessment interview process, (b) administering direct preference assessments, and (c) increasing accessibility of these methods for students with SSN.
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