Behaviour support home plan for parents, with a sample
A home behaviour plan format for parents, with sample entries for daily routines, calm responses and a weekly log.
✓Written in the family's own words
✓Practice fits existing daily routines
✓Weekly log to bring back
Free · No sign-up · Saves in your browser
What's inside
What We Are Working On
Who Is Using This Plan
Practising in Daily Routines
Helping Things Go Well
When My Child Is Upset
Encouragement That Works
Weekly Log
Questions for the Therapist
Preview · 8 sections
Behaviour Support Home Plan for Parents
Child's Name
Plan Start Date
Therapist
Review Date
Clinic Contact
Languages at Home
What We Are Working On
Skills we are buildingPlain language, one skill per line.
Why these skills matter for our family
Who Is Using This Plan
Name / Relationship
Routines They Help With
Language Used With the Child
Practising in Daily Routines
Routine
What to Practise
How to Help
What to Say or Show
Morning and getting ready
Mealtimes
Play time
Going out
Bedtime
Helping Things Go Well
☐ Tell my child what is coming next, with a picture or a few words
☐ Give a warning before play or screen time ends
☐ Offer two choices where I can
☐ Praise exactly what my child did well
☐ Keep favourite things for practice time
When My Child Is Upset
Early signs to watch for
What to doThe calm steps agreed with the therapist, in the order to use them.
Encouragement That Works
What My Child Enjoys
When to Use It
Weekly Log
Day
Routine Practised
How It Went
Hard Moment? What Happened Just Before
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Questions for the Therapist
Questions or things we noticed
How to fill it in
1
What We Are Working On
Two or three skills in the family's words, with why each one matters.
More guidance
Write two or three skills in the family's language, one line each, with a sentence on why each matters to them. Use the words they used when you agreed priorities. Technical goal wording stays in the treatment plan; this page should read like a note from someone who knows the child well.
2
Who Is Using This Plan
Everyone who regularly cares for the child, their routines and their language.
More guidance
List everyone who looks after the child regularly and the routines each one handles. In joint families this might be a grandmother at breakfast, a father at bedtime and an older cousin after school. Note the language each person uses with the child so the therapist can provide words and pictures to match.
3
Practising in Daily Routines
One practice per daily routine: what to practise, how to help, what to say.
More guidance
Choose routines that already happen every day and fit one practice into each. For each, write what to practise, how much help to give, and the exact words or picture to use. Short practice inside real routines suits most families better than a separate practice time they struggle to find.
4
Helping Things Go Well
Tick the prevention steps that fit, add the child's own, and strike the rest.
More guidance
The checklist covers everyday prevention: warnings, choices, specific praise, and saving favourite things for practice. Tick the ones that apply, add the child's own, and strike out any that do not fit. Families find prevention easier than managing hard moments, so give this section time in the coaching session.
5
When My Child Is Upset
Early signs and three or four calm steps, taken from the BIP in everyday words.
More guidance
Describe the early signs the family can watch for and the calm steps to take, in order, using the BIP's response plan in everyday words. Keep it to three or four steps. The safety note points families to the steps agreed with the clinic; a family should never be left to manage risk alone without that agreement.
6
Encouragement That Works
What the child enjoys and when to use it, straight after the skill.
More guidance
List what the child enjoys and when to use it, so encouragement follows the skill you want to see. Include things that cost nothing: a favourite song, a game of chase, five extra minutes with a sibling. Praise should name what the child did, so they know exactly what went well.
7
Weekly Log
One line a day: the routine practised, how it went, and what preceded hard moments.
More guidance
Ask the family to note each day which routine they practised and how it went, in one line. For a hard moment, the most useful note is what happened just before it. Any language is fine, and a photo of a handwritten page sent before the session works as well as the printed log.
8
Questions for the Therapist
Space for the family's questions and any new skills they have noticed.
More guidance
Leave room for the family's questions and observations, and ask them to bring the plan to every session so you can read the log together. Families often notice new skills before the therapist does, and this space gives those observations somewhere to go.
Behaviour support home plan for parents, with a sample: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
What We Are Working On
Asking for help with the “help” card instead of throwing things. Waiting for a turn on the tablet with the sand timer.
Who Is Using This Plan
Dadi: mornings and lunch, speaks Gujarati. Papa: bath and bedtime, Hindi and English. Cousin (Class 10): homework time, English.
Practising in Daily Routines
Mealtimes: ask for “more” before a second helping. Wait three seconds for a word or sign; if none comes, say “more” and wait again before serving.
Helping Things Go Well
Show the bathroom picture two minutes before bath time. Offer a choice of the red or the blue towel.
When My Child Is Upset
Early signs: rubs his ears and starts pacing. What to do: lower your voice, point to the quiet corner, sit nearby and wait. When he is calm, offer water and go back to the routine.
Encouragement That Works
Spinning in the office chair: straight after using the help card, with “You showed me the card!” and a high five.
Weekly Log
Wed: lunch, asked for “more” twice. Hard moment at 6 pm, just after the TV was switched off.
Questions for the Therapist
“He said ‘bye’ to the watchman on his own on Sunday. Should we practise that too?”
Home behaviour plan vs reward chart
Home behaviour plan
Sticker or reward chart
What it covers
Skills, routines, prevention, calm responses and a log
Rewards for one or two behaviours
Based on
The child's BIP or treatment plan
Often set up by the family alone
Difficult moments
Calm steps agreed with the therapist
Records outcomes only
Who it suits
Families working with a behaviour therapist
Children who understand waiting for a reward, for short-term goals
How they combine
Can include a reward chart as one strategy
Works best inside a wider plan
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Write the plan with the family in their home language, and ask them to explain it back.
Model each step in a session, then watch the parent try it.
Keep it to two pages so it stays on the fridge.
Agree which one or two practices continue through weddings, pujas and exams.
Let families send the weekly log as a WhatsApp photo or voice note.
Avoid
Using clinical words such as “antecedent” or “prompt hierarchy”.
Asking the family to practise more than two or three skills.
Leaving out grandparents or other carers who spend the most time with the child.
Handing over the plan without coaching each step first.
About this home programme
A behaviour support home plan gives parents and caregivers a short, plain-language guide to the skills their child is learning in therapy, how to practise them in everyday routines, what helps things go well, and what to do in difficult moments. This template includes a routines table, a calm-response section and a weekly log to bring back to the therapist.
When parents ask what to do at home
When a BIP is in place and home must match
Before holidays, festivals or travel
When grandparents or a nanny share daily care
Read more
Therapy takes a few hours a week, and the rest happens at home. A home behaviour plan, sometimes called a behavior plan for parents, gives the family the therapist's approach in their own words.
The therapist writes it with the family from the child's BIP or treatment plan, and it fits on two pages. It builds skills through routines, encouragement and calm responses, and uses no punishment or threats.
Questions
What is a behaviour plan for home?+
A short guide for parents and caregivers, written with the child's therapist, explaining which skills to practise, how to practise them in daily routines, how to prevent hard moments, and how to respond calmly when they happen.
Is there a filled sample of this home plan?+
Each section guide shows a fictional sample entry, using initials only, written the way a family might use it. A real plan comes from the child's own BIP or treatment plan, so fill yours in with the therapist.
Should we use punishment if the plan is not working?+
No. Talk to the therapist first. If things are not improving, the plan probably needs adjusting, for example a simpler replacement skill or more support in one routine.
How long should we practise each day?+
Use routines you already have. A few practice moments at meals, bath and play add up to many opportunities without setting aside separate time.
What if grandparents do things differently?+
Invite them to a session and give them their own copy in their language. Agree on the two or three things everyone will do the same way; small differences in style matter less.
Can we use this plan without a therapist?+
The template is designed to be filled in with the child's therapist, because the steps should match the child's assessment and BIP. A qualified behaviour therapist can help you set it up.
How do we share the log with the therapist?+
Bring the plan to each session, or send a photo of the log beforehand. In healhab, a clinic can also publish the home plan to its Family Portal, where permitted family members can see it.
