Educational & Behavioral Interventions for Challenging Students Program

The Educational and Behavioral Interventions for Challenging Students (EBICS) Program is for students who exhibit aggressive and/or severe disruptive behavior and are diagnosed with mental retardation.

The program began in September 1988 and utilizes a functional, structured, skill-oriented curriculum. The major program goal is to prepare students to function as independently as possible in the most complex and least restrictive community, domestic, vocational and recreational environments.

Each classroom, with four to six students, is staffed with a certified special education teacher and a school/community trainer or a teaching assistant. A coordinator and support staff provide supervision, direct support and overall program development to each classroom.

It is expected that students in this program will have challenging behaviors which frequently include physical aggression toward themselves and others. A functional analysis of behavior, which provides descriptive information regarding the purpose of a student's behavior, may be completed on each student. This information is used to design school-based programs to teach those skills necessary to decrease the frequency of the challenging behavior.

Results from all assessments are combined in the formulation of an individualized educational program (IEP), which focuses on communication, vocational, and behavioral training within the school setting, with the ultimate goal of transition into a community work environment.