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Education Guide
Behaviour support plans (BSPs) are proactive, individualized documents that outline strategies for preventing challenging behaviour, teaching replacement skills, and responding to behaviour incidents in school. For autistic students, effective BSPs are built on an understanding of the function of behaviour — recognizing that all behaviour is communication. This guide helps parents participate meaningfully in BSP development.
Case file
What's happening
Behaviour support plans (BSPs) are proactive, individualized documents that outline strategies for preventing challenging behaviour, teaching replacement skills, and responding to behaviour incidents in school. For autistic students, effective BSPs are built on an understanding of the function of behaviour — recognizing that all behaviour is communication. This guide helps parents participate meaningfully in BSP development.
Ask for it in writing today
Whatever you decide to request, put it in writing and date it — a verbal answer leaves no record. The School Support Navigator can draft a letter for your specific situation.
What records to keep
A dated log of calls, emails, and meetings matters more than memory once a dispute runs past a few weeks. The Parent Documentation Toolkit walks through what to track.
The rule or duty that applies
2 governing sources for this topic, listed below with what each one covers.
The escalation ladder
If the first request does not resolve it, there is a standard next step — from the school, up through the board, to the Ombudsman and the Tribunal.
The evidence
4 verified figures for this topic, sourced below.
What to do next
A short list of concrete next actions, including where to raise this with your MPP.
Autistic students may exhibit challenging behaviour in school for reasons that are not immediately obvious. Behaviours such as leaving the classroom, refusing to work, aggression, self-injury, or meltdowns are often responses to sensory overload, communication frustration, unmet needs, anxiety, or demands that exceed the student's current skills. A behaviour support plan must identify and address the underlying cause, not just the surface behaviour.
A Functional Behaviour Assessment asks what happens before, during, and after a behaviour. This helps the team understand the purpose of the behaviour, such as escape, attention, access to something, or sensory regulation.
A strong BSP should name the behaviour in clear terms, explain why it may happen, list prevention strategies, teach a safer replacement skill, set response steps, and track whether the plan works.
Effective BSPs are positive and proactive — they focus more on what to do than on what not to do. They include teaching the student new skills, modifying the environment to reduce triggers, and providing positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviour. Punitive approaches (loss of recess, isolation, restraint) should be avoided except in genuine safety emergencies, and even then, used minimally.
If your child has been identified as exceptional, their IEP must be developed in consultation with you. Share what you know about your child’s needs and what has worked at home. For an autistic student, the principal must invite relevant board and community professionals who have worked with the student to give input in the IEP process.
Check your school board’s current restraint and exclusion procedures. TDSB’s posted procedure says that after an unplanned physical intervention, the principal must call the student’s parent or caregiver and document the incident. If the behaviour may happen again, the procedure says to consider reviewing the IEP and creating a safety plan. OCDSB’s exclusion procedure says the principal must tell parents at the earliest opportunity, and return conditions may include revising the student’s safety plan or IEP.
Ontario Ministry of Education
PPM 145: Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour (ontario.ca/education)
Ontario Ministry of Education
Caring and Safe Schools in Ontario: Supporting Students with Special Education Needs
Escalation ladder
This is general information, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed at any rung. It is the same escalation path used across End The Wait Ontario's School Support Navigator.
Put your concern in writing to the principal. Most issues resolve at this level once there is a dated, written record — and every later rung will ask what you raised here.
If the principal does not respond in writing or the issue continues, escalate to the board's superintendent responsible for special education, attaching your correspondence with the school.
The board level: the Director of Education, and in parallel the board's SEAC (Special Education Advisory Committee) for systemic issues. Suspension appeals also live here — with a 10-school-day notice window (Education Act, s. 309(3)).
Since September 1, 2015, the Ontario Ombudsman takes complaints about school boards. It reviews how the board handled your concern — bring your dated chronology and the record of the steps you already took.
The HRTO hears applications about discrimination, including disability discrimination in education services. Applications must be filed within one year of the incident (or the last in a series) — Human Rights Code, s. 34(1). This site provides general information only; get advice from the Human Rights Legal Support Centre (hrlsc.on.ca) or a lawyer before filing.
Schools must consider mitigating factors before suspending any student, including whether the behaviour is related to a disability. For students in JK to Grade 3, suspensions are further restricted under the Education Act. If your child is suspended for behaviour that is a manifestation of their autism, advocates have argued this may constitute discrimination. Document the incident and consider seeking legal advice if the pattern continues.
Ideally, the BSP should be developed by someone with expertise in behaviour analysis and autism, such as a BCBA or school board behaviour consultant. It should be a collaborative effort involving the classroom teacher, special education resource teacher, Educational Assistant, parents, and the student (when appropriate). External clinicians should be invited to contribute.
The BSP should be reviewed whenever behaviour data shows the plan is not working, when there is a significant change in the student's behaviour or circumstances, and at minimum during each IEP review period. Plans that are not regularly reviewed and updated become outdated and ineffective. Request data on how the plan is working at regular intervals.
Next steps
Commitment to Accuracy: Our data is verified against official government reports (FAO, MCCSS), peer-reviewed scientific literature, and accessible public records. Last updated: March 24, 2026.
Next Steps
Now that you know how it works, here's how to navigate it for your child.
Related Resources
Can autistic students get an educational assistant (EA)?
VerifiedSchools may assign EAs based on IEP needs, but 47% of families report insufficient supports. EA availability varies by board and often fails to match clinical needs, leaving many autistic students without necessary classroom support.
Source: Ontario Education Act & OAC · Verify Link
What rights do autistic children have to timely services in Ontario?
VerifiedCanadian Charter of Rights (Section 15) protects against discrimination based on disability. The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits unequal treatment in services. OHRC has investigated the OAP waitlist as potential systemic discrimination. Families can file human rights complaints for unreasonable delays.
Source: Canadian Charter, OHRC · Verify Link