Teaching · Special Education

Describe the behavior so anyone would count it the same way.

Write what the behavior looks and sounds like, how often and how long, what happens just before and right after, and what you have already tried. The summary turns it into a referral the team can work from, works out how many minutes a week it takes and catches words that judge instead of describe.

Start a referral What you get

$12one-time · every device you sign in on

Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the New special education teacher kit, $39 for 31 items.

The referral organizer

One referral per behavior. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with: For each referral, an observable description of the behavior with what does not count, how often, how long and how intense, where and when, before and after, the referrer’s guess, strategies tried with results and data attached, with a summary the team can read in a minute.
Who it is for: Classroom and special education teachers referring a behavior concern, and the school psychologists, behavior staff and student support teams who receive referrals.
Format: Browser organizer with a strategies table. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank paper form; CSV with one row per referral; export and import a file.
Access: $12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the New special education teacher kit ($39) and the Special Education toolkit ($99), and 2 more bundles. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives: The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support: Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

Drawn for this page. A behavior described well enough that two adults count it the same way is a behavior a team can work on.

How to use it

Start a record with the student’s initials or a code and the date.
Name the behavior and describe what someone would see or hear. Add what does not count.
Estimate how often, how long and how intense, and mark where and when it happens most.
Tick what usually comes before and after, and give your best guess at what it helps the student get or avoid.
List what you have tried with weeks and results, tick the data you are attaching, and read the summary before sending.

Start a referral

What the referral is for

Describe, do not judge

“Defiant” means different things to different adults; “says no and puts head down when given a writing task” means the same to everyone. A team can count, compare and change a behavior only once it is described that way. The summary flags common judging words so you can rewrite them.

Before and after

Behavior usually makes sense in its setting: what comes just before sets it off and what happens right after can keep it going. The referral records your best guess; a functional behavioral assessment tests it. Under IDEA, when a student’s behavior gets in the way of learning, the IEP team considers positive behavioral interventions and supports.

Safety first

If a behavior is unsafe, follow your school’s safety procedures now; a referral is not an emergency response. Records use a code, never a name, and stay in this browser.

Sources

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(i) (positive behavioral interventions and supports) and 300.530(d)–(f) (functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention plans in discipline).
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., and Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson, on defining behavior and ABC recording.
O’Neill, R. E., Albin, R. W., Storey, K., Horner, R. H., and Sprague, J. R. (2015). Functional Assessment and Program Development for Problem Behavior (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (pbis.org).
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99.

The example student is made up. The organizer prepares a referral; it is not a functional behavioral assessment or behavior plan, does not diagnose and holds no state rules. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.