Whole Child Supports

The Whole Child Consultant strengthens and promotes sustainability in the use of effective behavioral strategies through expansion of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). They also work to broaden districts’ and schools’ focus beyond academics to include meeting students' social-emotional, physical and safety needs through training, coaching, and mentoring. The Whole Child Consultant will also provide technical assistance for the development and implementation of Functional Behavior Assessments, as well as Behavioral Support Plans.

The Athens-Meigs Educational Service Center’s Whole Child Consultant is Ashley Ditty. Ashley is a licensed Moderate-Intensive Intervention Specialist and a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst candidate. She has prior experience working with students with emotional disturbances in Federal Hocking and Fairfield County Educational Service Center.

If you are a staff member in an AMESC district and need behavioral support, please fill out this google form and Ashley, Whole Child Consultant, will be in touch. You can also reach her directly at ashley.ditty@athensmeigs.com or (740)797-0064.

Student Wellness and Success: With House Bill 166, passed in July 2019, Ohio invested $675 million to help districts and schools support their students’ academic achievement through mental health counseling, wraparound services, mentoring, and after-school programs. School districts will work with local organizations to determine community needs and resources so they can use the state dollars to make the greatest impact on students’ lives. The AMESC districts collaboratively plan and launch these student wellness initiatives. The plan can be found here.

Whole Child

Ohio’s strategic plan for education, Each Child, Our Future, puts the whole child at the center, where each component of the plan works harmoniously to support a whole-child approach. Likewise, Ohio’s Whole Child Framework also places the whole child at the center, with district, school, family and community supporting the needs of the whole child using a comprehensive approach. A whole child approach broadens district and school focus beyond academics to include meeting students' social-emotional, physical and safety needs. The Whole Child Framework provides a blueprint to meet these whole child needs, which are foundational to a child’s intellectual and social development and necessary for students to fully engage in learning and school. Learn more here.

Whole Child Framework

Whole Child Framework Video

Functions of Behavior

The predominant four functions of behavior are attention, escape, access, and sensory needs. These four functions allow us to understand and categorize someone’s actions, as well as determine why behaviors occur. Learn more here.

4 Functions of Behavior Video

PBIS

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based three-tiered framework to improve and integrate all of the data, systems, and practices affecting student outcomes every day. PBIS creates schools where all students succeed. Learn more here.

PBIS in Rural Schools

What is PBIS Video