Behaviour Support Plans and Student Support Plans in Yukon Schools
If your child is in a Yukon school and has been identified as needing extra support — whether for learning differences, behavioural challenges, or both — you're likely to hear about two documents: the Student Support Plan and the Behaviour Support Plan. These are not the same thing, and the distinction matters for what your child receives, how formally it's tracked, and what recourse you have if the plan isn't followed.
What a Student Support Plan Is
A Student Support Plan (SSP) is an informal, school-level planning document used to coordinate extra supports for students who are struggling but don't meet the threshold for a formal Individualized Education Plan under Section 15 of the Yukon Education Act.
An SSP might outline differentiated instruction strategies the classroom teacher will use, small-group learning assistance sessions with the Learning Assistance Teacher, or referrals for specialist consultations. It is flexible and relatively quick to create.
The critical limitation of an SSP is that it does not carry the legal weight of an IEP. The Yukon Education Act does not mandate specific procedural requirements for SSPs — no minimum review schedule, no formal parental consent requirements for the plan itself, no right to appeal its contents to the Yukon Education Appeal Tribunal. Schools can modify or discontinue an SSP without the formal processes that govern IEPs.
Since policy changes around 2019, the Department of Education restricted formal IEP eligibility more narrowly, and many students who would previously have had IEPs were moved onto SSPs. The territory's IEP rate dropped from 12% in 2017-18 to 6% by 2023-24. If your child has been placed on an SSP but you believe their needs warrant an IEP, you can and should challenge this — in writing, citing Section 15 of the Education Act.
What a Behaviour Support Plan Is
A Behaviour Support Plan (BSP) is a specific type of support document for students whose behavioural challenges are significantly impacting their education or the safety of others. It goes further than an SSP by focusing specifically on:
- Identifying the functions of the student's behaviour (what the behaviour is communicating or achieving)
- Mapping the environmental and situational triggers
- Outlining specific prevention strategies to reduce the likelihood of crises
- Detailing consistent, trained responses for all staff when the student becomes dysregulated
- Establishing communication protocols with parents
A well-constructed BSP is not a list of punishments. Research on neurodevelopmental conditions consistently shows that punitive responses to behaviours rooted in disability — FASD, autism, sensory processing disorders, trauma — are ineffective and potentially harmful. A proper BSP focuses on proactive environmental modification and de-escalation, not consequences.
BSPs are developed collaboratively by the School-Based Team and ideally involve input from a behaviour specialist. For students with complex needs, the BSP may be developed alongside or integrated into a formal IEP.
When Schools Get It Wrong
A common failure in Yukon schools is the use of informal reactive responses to behavioural crises — sending the student home, removing them from class, or in the worst cases, using physical restraint — instead of developing a proactive BSP. The Jack Hulland Elementary scandal exposed exactly this pattern: staff were responding to behavioural crises without structured plans, consistent training, or parental notification.
A BSP becomes an advocacy tool precisely because it converts a reactive, ad hoc response into a documented protocol that all staff must follow. If your child is being regularly removed from class, sent home early, or subjected to interventions you weren't told about, the absence of a formal BSP is part of the problem.
Another common failure is using a BSP as a punitive document — listing consequences and restrictions rather than proactive supports. If you review your child's BSP and it reads primarily as a list of what happens when they misbehave, it is not a proper behaviour support plan. Ask the SBT to revise it to include specific environmental modifications, sensory accommodations, de-escalation protocols, and communication strategies.
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How to Request a Behaviour Support Plan
If your child has regular behavioural difficulties at school and no formal BSP exists, request one in writing. Your request should:
- Be addressed to the Learning Assistance Teacher and the principal
- Reference your child's specific behavioural patterns and their impact on learning
- Request that the School-Based Team convene to develop a formal BSP
- Ask that a behaviour specialist or psychologist be involved in the development
If your child has a diagnosed condition — FASD, autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder — note that diagnosis explicitly in your request. This strengthens the case that behavioural supports must accommodate a disability, not punish symptoms of it.
Keep a copy of your request and note the date. If the school does not respond within two weeks, follow up in writing. If no BSP is developed despite clear evidence that one is needed, escalate to the Superintendent of Education or the Director of Student Support Services.
Connecting BSPs to IEPs
For students who have both learning-based and behavioural needs, a BSP should be integrated into or aligned with the IEP. An IEP that addresses academic accommodations without addressing the behavioural barriers to accessing education is incomplete. Make this explicit in IEP meetings — ask whether the BSP and IEP are being developed together, who is responsible for overseeing both, and how progress on behavioural goals is being tracked alongside academic goals.
Under the Yukon Education Act's requirement for a minimum of three IEP review meetings per school year, any integrated BSP goals should be part of those reviews. If your child's IEP review meetings don't include a discussion of behavioural supports, raise this directly.
The Yukon Special Ed Advocacy Playbook includes templates for requesting BSP development, reviewing and challenging inadequate support plans, and escalating when school-level planning fails to address your child's actual needs.
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