GNS - New Behaviour Specialist

GYPSD recently added an important role to the excellent resources and supports on the Division’s Inclusion Team; a Behaviour Support Specialist, Ms. Erin Bezzola.

Although Erin has taken on this new role, she is not new to the Division. In 2021, Erin joined GYPSD as the Lobstick Bringing Empowered Students Together (BEST) Success Coach, where she provided universal mental health support to all students and staff in the Lobstick region. The following year, she stepped into the role of BEST Program Manager, overseeing and supporting the BEST team across the Division. In the Fall of 2024, Erin accepted the position of Wellness Navigator Supervisor, leading the team in delivering universal mental health support to all GYPSD high schools, until recently accepting this new responsibility.

She has a Bachelor of Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies from the University of Calgary. During this time she completed a practicum working for Renfrew Educational Services providing support for children and families with significant disabilities, as well as a diploma in Early Childhood Development.

So what is  a Behaviour Support Specialist? Erin explains, “GYPSD recognized that there is a need in our division for this specific support as we have seen a lot of students with challenging behaviours, and we want to provide teachers, educational assistants, and other school staff with additional supports in managing these students. The specific goal is to offer strategies for these students to make them successful in our classrooms by recognizing what goals would be beneficial for each individual student and then creating specialized supports to meet their needs.”

Her main caseload is working with elementary students up to middle school, and collaborating with other members of the Division’s Inclusion Team such as an occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, communication disorders assistant, division psychologist, and others as needed. Students are referred by the schools’ Principal and or/ Learning Support Teacher on behalf of teachers. Erin works across the Division in providing a number of supports that:

• Address challenging behaviours and teach adaptive skills to children, youth and adults with behavioural difficulties such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder and/or intellectual disabilities based on the science of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
• Assist school staff to establish routines, reinforcement strategies, and other best practices in the field to fit the individualized needs of a student within their school community
• Analyze and interpret educational and/or functional behavioural assessments
• Observe students in their daily activities at school to identify patterns in behaviour, and
• Implement strategies with school staff that reinforce positive behaviours and reduce disruptive ones