Using Values-Based SEL in Behaviour Improvement Plans

Behaviour Improvement Plans: A Strong Evidence Base

Values-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs offer a person-centred way to strengthen behaviour improvement plans. Positive Behaviour Support Plans (PBSPs) are an evidence-based approach for supporting individuals who demonstrate behaviour that is challenging in school or community settings (Carr et al., 2002; Sugai & Horner, 2002). These plans focus on understanding the function of behaviour and adjusting antecedents and consequences to promote more adaptive responses.

A key strength of PBSPs is their emphasis on skill development. Rather than simply reducing problem behaviour, effective plans aim to teach new skills that better meet the individual’s needs while improving overall quality of life (Carr et al., 2002). This focus on skill-building aligns well with person-centred and preventative approaches to behaviour support.

How can you use SEL in your Behaviour Support plans?

The Limits of Observable-Only Approaches

Well-designed PBSPs are widely supported by research and are often well received by both students and educators. However, many behaviour improvement plans place most of their emphasis on changing observable variables—how tasks are presented, how requests are made, and what happens before and after behaviour occurs. This raises an important question: Can behaviour improvement plans be strengthened by addressing more than just what we can see?

One limitation of many behaviour plans is their focus on observable events alone. Antecedents such as task demands or instructions and consequences such as attention or escape are carefully analyzed. Thoughts and feelings, however, are often excluded from intervention planning because they cannot be directly observed or measured (Skinner, 1953). While this makes sense from a measurement standpoint, it can overlook important contributors to behaviour.

Including Internal Experiences in Behaviour Plans

Values-based approaches informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intentionally bring internal experiences into the conversation. ACT research highlights thoughts and feelings as meaningful contextual factors that can influence behaviour and, in some cases, function as internal antecedents (Hayes et al., 2012). Rather than attempting to eliminate these experiences, values-based approaches focus on teaching individuals how to notice and respond to them in a way that aligns with one’s values.

Consider a common classroom example. A teacher asks a student to complete work, and the student responds by arguing. In a traditional behaviour plan, the request is identified as the antecedent and the arguing as the behaviour. Intervention efforts may focus on adjusting how the request is delivered—offering choice, reducing task difficulty, or using strategies such as behavioural momentum to increase compliance (Mace et al., 1988). These strategies are well supported by research and can be effective.

However, these approaches may not fully address what is happening internally for the student. Feelings such as anxiety, frustration, or self-doubt may also be triggered by the request and contribute to the behaviour. While the influence of internal experiences is widely acknowledged, many behaviour interventions do not explicitly teach students how to respond to them (Hayes et al., 2012). Values-based SEL offers a structured, non-clinical way to address this gap.

Teaching SEL Skills for Responding to Internal Triggers

As a universal approach, values-based SEL emphasizes helping all students develop awareness of their thoughts and feelings and learn skills for responding to them in adaptive ways. Because these experiences are private, students must ultimately learn to notice and manage them on their own. Research on ACT-informed school interventions suggests that teaching these skills can improve emotional regulation and coping, with promising implications for behaviour over time (Swain et al., 2013; Clarke et al., 2014).

Values-based SEL can also strengthen how consequences are addressed within behaviour improvement plans. Challenging behaviour is often identified based on how it disrupts others. From a functional perspective, however, behaviour persists because it serves a purpose for the individual (O’Neill et al., 1997). For example, arguing in class may allow a student to escape work they find overwhelming. While this behaviour can lead to long-term negative outcomes, in the short term it may be effective.

Behaviour improvement plans appropriately respond to this by reinforcing desired behaviours and reducing reinforcement for undesired ones—an approach strongly supported by applied behaviour analysis (Cooper et al., 2020). Values-based approaches build on this foundation by introducing an additional source of motivation: acting in line with one’s values. When individuals recognize that their actions reflect what matters to them, the behaviour itself becomes reinforcing and meaningful (Hayes et al., 2006).

When behaviour change is connected to values, it may be more likely to persist beyond the formal behaviour plan. External reinforcers may be faded, but values remain. This creates an opportunity for students to monitor and guide their own behaviour while being in pursuit of their own goals. In other words , fostering self regulation.

The Preventative Role of Early SEL Instruction

Importantly, when high-quality SEL instruction is offered early and consistently, it may reduce the need for individualized behaviour improvement plans for some students. Large-scale meta-analyses have shown that universal SEL programs improve social behaviour, strengthen emotional regulation, and reduce conduct problems (Durlak et al., 2011). By proactively teaching students skills for responding to both external demands and internal experiences, values-based SEL may help prevent some challenges from escalating to the point where intensive intervention is required. Behaviour improvement plans remain essential for students with more complex or persistent needs, but early SEL instruction can function as a preventative layer within a tiered system of supports.

Educators may choose to use RAD within a PBSP to provide universal or targeted supports. RAD is informed by principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and aligns with established research on SEL, positive behaviour support, and values-guided action (Carr et al., 2002; Durlak et al., 2011; Hayes et al., 2012). RAD offers a skills-based educational framework designed to support students in developing awareness of their thoughts and feelings and practicing actions that align with what matters to them. Educators may use RAD alongside existing behaviour supports to explicitly teach skills related to responding to internal experiences.

RAD and behaviour change approaches align closely in their shared emphasis on skill development. Effective PBSPs focus on teaching new skills rather than simply reducing problem behaviour (Carr et al., 2002). Values-based SEL builds on this by promoting committed action—the expression of skills consistent with an individual’s values (Hayes et al., 2012). When the behaviours targeted in a behaviour improvement plan align with what matters to the individual, the likelihood of sustained and generalized may increase.

Using Values-Based SEL in Behaviour Improvement Plans: Final Thoughts

This is a complex topic that cannot be fully explored in a short blog post. However, the integration of values-based SEL into behaviour improvement plans is promising. It provides a way to address internal antecedents that are difficult to observe or control, while promoting behaviour through intrinsically meaningful reinforcement.

The lessons in RAD for Life offer one practical way to explore this approach. They are systematic, skill-based, and designed for universal use with little or no preparation. Their potential to help ameliorate behaviour that is challenging while promoting values based behaviour is promising and exciting.

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