Schools & Educational Settings

Behavioral Consulting for Schools and Educational Settings

Many public and specialized schools are impacted by the challenges associated with severe problem behavior: student and staff injury, rising staff turnover, and inconsistent implementation of FBAs and BIPs. By implementing Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment (PFA-SBT), educators learn that severe problem behavior is not inevitable in special education.

Educator implementing PFA-SBT in a classroom setting

Schools and Programs We Work With

FTF Behavioral Consulting supports school teams to implement this Tier 3, evidence-based approach in a range of educational settings.

FTF has experience empowering educators to effectively eliminate severe problem behavior using PFA and SBT across all of these settings.

Why Traditional Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) Fall Short in the Classroom

Educators create behavior plans that look perfect on paper but eventually fall short in the classroom. We get it, and we unpack this issue in each of our courses. Long-term solutions to severe problem behavior require plans that focus on skill-building. Yet problem behavior itself is the barrier educators most often cite to building those skills. Schools require an approach that stabilizes behavior first, so teachers have a safe context in which to challenge students toward new skills.

FTF consultant coaching a teacher through a functional assessment — Identifying why a behavior is happening, not just what it looks like

1 What Is PFA-SBT for Schools?

Practical Functional Assessment (PFA) starts by identifying why a behavior is happening, not just what it looks like. Our team works alongside your staff to run a functional assessment for each student, pinpointing the specific triggers and reinforcers driving the behavior. From there, we build a skill-based treatment (SBT) plan that teaches the student a functional set of replacement skills, so the problem behavior no longer serves a purpose. FTF provides the training and consultation your team needs to ensure PFA and SBT become a repeatable part of how your school supports students, not a one-time evaluation.

2 Why It Outperforms Traditional BIPs

Most BIPs fail for four predictable reasons. They take too long to complete, leaving students without support for long stretches. They're based on artificial conditions instead of authentic classroom challenges. They're too generic, failing to address what's specifically hard for that student or which skills they're missing. And they arrive with little real training, so even a good plan falls apart in practice.

PFA-SBT training through FTF fixes each problem. Assessments happen fast, delivering support in 1-2 hours instead of months. The approach is built around the personalized challenges that happen right in the student's own classroom. Every plan targets the exact situations and skill gaps unique to that student. And instead of handing teachers a document, FTF trains them hands-on, practicing the plan until they can use it confidently on their own.

From a Single Classroom to Districtwide Implementation

FTF Behavioral Consulting provides a classroom-to-district scaling framework for PFA-SBT in a school setting. Our goal is to build the capacity of school professionals who can sustain safe and effective, Tier-3 intervention practices independently over time.

1 Classroom-Level Support

We start where the behavior is happening: one classroom, one student, one team. Our consultants work directly alongside your educators, running live functional assessments, modeling PFA-SBT strategies in real time, and coaching staff through their first sessions with a student. Sessions fit into your existing timetable, ensuring PFA-SBT is built into the school day as part of sustainable practice. The goal isn't a binder your team never opens again. It's a repertoire of skills your team can implement confidently and independently once we step back.

2 District and Statewide Rollout

Our "Train the Trainer" model builds an aligned, sustainable strategy for school-based PFA-SBT across your district or state. Learning to implement PFA-SBT and learning to teach others to implement it effectively require different skill sets. That's why our Train the Trainer experience builds not just PFA-SBT expertise, but also the leadership and soft skills needed to build capacity and inspire change across a district.

3 Training Formats (In-Person, Virtual, Ongoing Consultation)

FTF approaches training in three steps. First, our team provides on-demand courses and interactive workshops, so educators enter the process with a solid understanding of PFA-SBT. Next is hands-on training, where educators apply that knowledge in real time with guidance from our team. The third step is ongoing, weekly consultative support via Zoom, where our team checks in on your progress.

What Changes for Teachers and Students

FTF provides the support needed to improve day-to-day outcomes for teachers and students. With our guidance, educators learn to identify the earliest signs of challenging behavior and address them calmly, instead of reacting to the same crisis week after week.

Our training helps educators maintain structure and an inclusive classroom environment, while teaching students to safely persevere through learning challenges instead of resorting to problem behavior. And because staff feel equipped rather than worn down, schools see a follow-on benefit of PFA-SBT training: fewer educators burning out and leaving the classroom.

Bring PFA-SBT to Your School or District

Tell us about your district's current behavior support model, and a behavioral consultant from our team will map out what implementing PFA-SBT looks like for your school. FTF has a proven track record of delivering behavioral training and consultation in schools where previous interventions have failed. Reach out to bring PFA-SBT to your classroom, school, or district.