Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP): Components, a Sample and a Template
What a behavior intervention plan is, when IDEA requires one, the components every BIP needs, a full sample plan, a fill-in template, and who writes it.
Key Takeaways
- 01A BIP changes what triggers a behavior, teaches a better way to get the same outcome and changes how adults respond. It starts from the function found in a functional behavior assessment.
- 02Every BIP answers six questions: what the behavior is, why it happens, how to prevent it, what the student should do instead, what adults do when it happens, and how you'll know it's working.
- 03The replacement behavior has to work at least as well as the problem behavior. If the replacement is easier, faster and more reliable, it wins.
- 04Define one target behavior so two observers would count it the same way, and take baseline data before the plan starts. Without baseline, nobody can say whether the plan worked.
- 05Write a measurable goal, name who collects the data and set a review date. The sample plan reviews the data at 4 weeks and changes the plan if the behavior hasn't dropped.
What every BIP has to answer
- What is the behavior? One target, defined so two observers would count it the same way.
- Why does it happen? The function, taken from a functional behavior assessment (FBA).
- How do we prevent it? Changes to the triggers and the setting.
- What should the student do instead? A replacement behavior that gets the same payoff.
- What do adults do when it happens? Responses that stop the behavior from paying off, plus a safety plan.
- How will we know it's working? A measurable goal, a data method and a review date.
A student tears up every math worksheet. The adults try a warning, then a trip to the office, then a call home, and the tearing gets worse. The problem was never effort. The office trip ended the math, which is exactly what the student wanted, so every consequence they tried paid the behavior off.
A behavior intervention plan is the document that stops that from happening. Most pages about BIPs are written for parents walking into an IEP meeting. This one is written for the people who build and run them: RBTs, special education staff, students in an ABA program and future BCBAs. It covers what a BIP is, when the law requires one, what goes in it, a complete sample plan, a template you can copy, and how the topic shows up on the RBT and BCBA exams.
What Is a Behavior Intervention Plan?
A behavior intervention plan (BIP) is a written plan for reducing a specific problem behavior by changing what triggers it, teaching a better way to get the same outcome, and changing how adults respond. It's built on a functional behavior assessment (FBA), which works out why the behavior happens. The FBA is the diagnosis and the BIP is the treatment plan.
The name depends on the setting. Federal special education rules say "behavioral intervention plan." Schools usually say behavior intervention plan or BIP, some districts say behavior support plan or positive behavior support plan, and ABA clinics tend to call it a behavior plan or behavior reduction plan inside the client's treatment plan. The parts are the same.
What separates a BIP from a list of classroom rules is the function. A BIP doesn't ask "how do we punish this?" It asks what the behavior gets the person, and then makes a better behavior get it instead. If you haven't worked with functions yet, start with our guide to the four functions of behavior, because every decision in a BIP follows from it.
When Is a BIP Required?
In schools, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) uses BIPs in two places.
- When behavior gets in the way of learning. For a child "whose behavior impedes the child's learning or that of others," the IEP team must "consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies, to address that behavior" (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(i)). That's a duty to consider, not a duty to write a BIP, but a BIP is the usual way teams meet it.
- After discipline that changes a student's placement. A change of placement happens when a student with a disability is removed for more than 10 consecutive school days, or for a pattern of shorter removals that totals more than 10 school days in a year. Within 10 school days of that decision, the school, the parent and the IEP team have to decide whether the conduct was a manifestation of the disability. If it was, the IEP team must either conduct an FBA and "implement a behavioral intervention plan," or, if a BIP already exists, review it and modify it as needed (34 CFR 300.530(e) and (f); 300.536). A student who is removed for disciplinary reasons also receives, "as appropriate," an FBA and "behavioral intervention services and modifications" designed so the behavior doesn't happen again (300.530(d)(1)(ii)).
Two things the federal rules don't do. They don't list what a BIP must contain, so the required sections come from your state and district, which is why BIP forms look different from one school to the next. And they don't stop anyone from writing a BIP in other cases. A school can write one for any student whose behavior is getting in the way, and in an ABA clinic a behavior plan is a routine part of treatment for any client with a behavior to reduce.
The Components of a Behavior Intervention Plan
Whatever the form looks like, a BIP that works covers the same ground. Here are the components in the order you'd write them, with the BCBA exam task each one maps to.
1. Target Behavior, Operationally Defined
Name one behavior and define it by what it looks like, so anyone reading the plan would count the same events. "Disruptive" and "defiant" are not definitions. "Tears, crumples or throws a worksheet or workbook page, from the moment it is handed out until it is collected" is. If a student has several problem behaviors, the plan prioritizes, and severe or dangerous behavior goes first.
2. Baseline Data
How often, how long or how intensely the behavior happens now, measured before the plan starts. Baseline is what you'll compare against later. Without it, nobody can say whether the plan worked.
3. Hypothesized Function
The FBA's conclusion, written as a summary statement: when [trigger], the student does [behavior], to get or avoid [consequence]. Add any setting events that make it more likely, such as a bad night's sleep, hunger or a change in routine. This is the line every other section has to agree with. Designing the assessment behind it is BCBA work: the 6th edition outline lists designing descriptive assessments (F.5) and functional analyses (F.6).
4. Prevention (Antecedent) Strategies
Changes made before the behavior happens, so it's less likely to happen at all. For an escape-maintained behavior that might mean shorter task blocks, choice between two tasks, or easier items mixed in with hard ones. For attention-maintained behavior, it might mean scheduled attention on a timer. The strategies have to match the function. Extra attention does nothing for a student who is trying to get out of work.
5. Replacement Behavior
The behavior you'll teach that gets the student the same thing the problem behavior gets. A student tearing worksheets to escape learns to ask for a break. A student yelling for attention learns to raise a hand or tap a shoulder. This is the heart of the plan, and it's BCBA task H.3: "Select socially valid alternative behavior to be established or increased when a target behavior is to be decreased."
A replacement behavior only wins if it works at least as well as the problem behavior. It has to be easier, faster and more reliable at getting the payoff. If asking for a break gets a break half the time and tearing the page gets one every time, the student will keep tearing.
6. Teaching Strategies
How the replacement behavior and any missing skills will be taught: who teaches it, when, with what prompts, and how prompting fades. In ABA terms this is often functional communication training (FCT), one of the differential reinforcement procedures, plus whatever prompting it takes to get the new behavior going.
7. Consequence Strategies
What adults do after the behavior, in both directions. Reinforce the replacement behavior every time at first. Respond to the problem behavior in a way that doesn't deliver its payoff: for escape, the demand stays in place; for attention, the reaction is kept brief and neutral. Plans that use extinction or punishment also have to plan for side effects, which is BCBA task H.4: "Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures." The most familiar side effect is the extinction burst, a short spike in the behavior when it stops working.
8. Crisis and Safety Plan
If the behavior can hurt the student or anyone else, the plan spells out what staff do in an emergency, who is trained to do it, and who gets notified. It should follow your state's and employer's rules on restraint and seclusion. Implementing crisis procedures is on the RBT outline as task D.7.
9. Goals, Data Collection and Review
A measurable goal ("reduce worksheet destruction from baseline to zero or one per week for four consecutive weeks"), the data method (frequency count, ABC data, duration), who collects it, and a date to review it. Writing goals in observable and measurable terms is H.1. Checking whether staff run the plan as written is H.6, and deciding from the data whether the plan is working or needs changing is H.7.
10. Who Does What
Every adult who will run the plan, what each one is responsible for, and how they'll be trained. A plan that only the author understands is a plan that won't be followed.
A Sample Behavior Intervention Plan
Here's what a complete BIP looks like for the worksheet example. The student is fictional and the numbers are illustrative, but the structure is the one most school and clinic forms follow.
Sample BIP: Jordan, grade 3 (fictional)
Target behavior. Worksheet destruction: tearing, crumpling or throwing a worksheet or workbook page, counted once per page, from when the page is handed out until it is collected.
Baseline. Five school days of frequency data: 4 to 7 episodes per day, almost all during independent math.
Hypothesized function. When Jordan is given an independent math worksheet with more than about 10 problems, he tears up the page, and the teacher removes the worksheet or sends him to the hallway. The behavior is maintained by escape from the task. It is more likely after recess and on days he arrives late.
Prevention strategies. Worksheets split into half-pages of 5 problems. Two easy review problems before each new skill. A choice of order (which half-page first). A visual timer showing the end of the work block.
Replacement behavior. Jordan hands the teacher a "break" card to get a 2-minute break at his desk with a fidget item.
Teaching strategies. The special education teacher teaches the break card in three short practice sessions using modeling and role play. In class, the teacher prompts the card at the first sign of frustration (pushing the paper away), then fades the prompt over two weeks.
Consequence strategies. Break card: honored right away, every time, for the first two weeks. After that, breaks are given after one completed problem, then two, then a half-page. Torn worksheet: the teacher calmly hands over a replacement copy of the same page, with no reprimand and no removal from class. Completed half-page: specific praise and one point toward choosing a class job.
Crisis plan. Not required. The behavior has not involved aggression or injury. If that changes, the team meets within one week.
Goal. Worksheet destruction at 1 or fewer episodes per week for 4 consecutive weeks, with independent use of the break card at least once a day.
Data collection. The classroom aide keeps a frequency count of destruction and break-card use during math on a daily tally sheet. The behavior specialist observes once a week to check that the plan is run as written.
Review. The team reviews the data at 4 weeks and changes the plan if destruction hasn't dropped from baseline.
Responsible staff. Classroom teacher (prevention, consequences), special education teacher (teaching the break card), aide (data), school behavior specialist (training, fidelity checks, review).
Notice what the plan doesn't do. It never sends Jordan out of the room for tearing a page, because leaving the room is the payoff. The replacement copy keeps the demand in place, which is escape extinction, and the break card gives him an honest way to get a break. Breaks get thinned over time so he ends up doing more work, not less.
Short Examples for Other Functions
The same structure changes completely when the function changes. These are compressed to the three lines that differ most.
Calling out in class
Function: to get attention
- Prevention
- Scheduled check-ins from the teacher every few minutes
- Replacement behavior
- Raising a hand, answered quickly at first
- Response to the behavior
- No eye contact or comment for calling out; call on raised hands
Hitting a peer
Function: to get a toy
- Prevention
- Visual turn-taking schedule; duplicates of high-demand toys
- Replacement behavior
- Saying or signing "my turn," with a short wait
- Response to the behavior
- Block, follow the safety plan, and don't hand over the toy after hitting
Leaving the classroom
Function: to escape noise
- Prevention
- Headphones available; seat away from the door and the busiest table
- Replacement behavior
- Asking to use a quiet corner in the room
- Response to the behavior
- Calm return to the room using the agreed safety procedure
Rocking and humming
Function: automatic (sensory)
- Prevention
- Movement breaks built into the schedule
- Replacement behavior
- Using a fidget or seat cushion that gives similar input
- Response to the behavior
- Often no response at all unless it interferes with learning or safety
The last row is a reminder that not every behavior needs to be reduced. If a behavior is harmless and doesn't get in the way of learning, the team may decide it doesn't belong in a BIP at all.
Behavior Intervention Plan Template
Copy this outline into a document and fill in each line. Your district or employer may require its own form, but if every heading below has a real answer, the plan is complete.
BIP template
- Student, date, and team members.
- Target behavior. Name and operational definition (what it looks like, when it starts and stops, what doesn't count).
- Baseline data. Measure (frequency, duration, intensity), dates collected, and the result.
- FBA summary. When ___ (trigger), the student ___ (behavior), to get or avoid ___ (consequence). Setting events: ___.
- Prevention strategies. At least two, each matched to the function.
- Replacement behavior. What it is and why it gets the same payoff.
- Teaching plan. Who teaches it, when, the prompts used, and how prompts fade.
- Reinforcement. What happens after the replacement behavior and how often, and how that will be thinned over time.
- Response to the target behavior. Exactly what staff do and say, step by step.
- Crisis and safety plan. Needed or not; if needed, the procedure, trained staff and who is notified.
- Goal. Measurable criterion and time frame.
- Data collection. Method, who collects it, and how often.
- Fidelity check. Who observes the plan being run, and how often.
- Review date and what result would trigger a change.
- Signatures or acknowledgment from the team and the family.
Who Writes a BIP, and Who Carries It Out?
In schools, the IEP team is responsible for the plan, and the writing usually falls to whoever on that team has behavior expertise: a school psychologist, a behavior specialist, a special education teacher or a district BCBA. Teachers, aides, related service staff and the family give input, and the plan only works if the people in the room every day can actually run it.
In ABA clinics and home programs, the BCBA writes the behavior plan. The 6th edition BCBA outline covers the whole job, from interpreting assessment data to choose behavior-change goals (F.8), through recommending interventions "based on assessment results, scientific evidence, client preferences, and contextual fit" (H.2), to making data-based decisions about whether the intervention is working (H.7).
RBTs don't write BIPs. They run them. An RBT spends much of every session carrying out the plan a BCBA designed, and most of the RBT outline's Behavior Reduction domain is BIP work: implementing antecedent interventions (D.2), differential reinforcement (D.3), extinction (D.4), punishment procedures (D.5) and crisis or emergency procedures (D.7). Documentation is part of the job too. Task E.3 asks RBTs to report variables that might affect progress, such as illness, medication or schedule changes, and E.4 to communicate objectively what happened in the session. If the plan isn't working in the room, the RBT is usually the first to see it, and telling the supervisor is part of the role. For more on the job itself, see what an RBT does, or the behavior interventionist career guide for the school-side version.
Why BIPs Fail
- The plan doesn't match the function. Time-out for escape behavior, attention-based rewards for sensory behavior. This is the most common failure and the most damaging, because the plan can strengthen the behavior it targets.
- The target is vague. "Will be respectful" can't be counted, so nobody can tell whether it's improving.
- There's no replacement behavior. A plan that only says what to stop leaves the student with a need and no approved way to meet it. The old behavior comes back.
- The replacement is harder than the problem behavior. If the break card takes three steps and a wait while tearing the page works instantly, the page loses.
- Nobody was trained. The plan sits in a file while staff do what they always did. Fidelity checks exist for this reason.
- The plan is never revisited. No data, no review date, no changes. A BIP is supposed to change as the data comes in.
BIPs on the RBT and BCBA Exams
On the RBT exam, BIP content sits mostly in Behavior Reduction, which carries 14 of the 75 scored questions (19%), and Documentation and Reporting, which carries 10 (13%). Expect scenarios: a behavior plan says to do one thing, something happens in session, and you choose the response that follows the plan, or the thing to report to your supervisor.
On the BCBA exam, the plan-writing itself is tested. Domain H (Selecting and Implementing Interventions) covers goals (H.1), choosing interventions (H.2), replacement behavior (H.3), unwanted effects (H.4), relapse (H.5), procedural integrity (H.6) and data-based changes (H.7). Questions tend to give you FBA results and ask which intervention fits, or give you graphed data and ask what to change. Our BCBA task list guide lists every task with its weight.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a behavior intervention plan (BIP)? +
What is the difference between an FBA and a BIP? +
What are the components of a behavior intervention plan? +
Who writes a behavior intervention plan? +
Is a BIP required by law? +
Is a BIP part of an IEP? +
How often should a BIP be reviewed? +
Do RBTs write behavior intervention plans? +
Sources
- 34 CFR 300.324 - Development, review, and revision of IEP (special factors; annual review)
- 34 CFR 300.530 - Authority of school personnel (manifestation determination; FBA and behavioral intervention plan)
- 34 CFR 300.536 - Change of placement because of disciplinary removals
- BACB, RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.) - tasks D.2 to D.7, E.3, E.4, scored questions per domain
- BACB, BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) - tasks F.5, F.6, F.8, H.1 to H.7
Keep going
Explore ABA programs
Ready to take the next step? Browse our expert-ranked program listings.