RTI: Listening to the ‘Teacher’s Voice’…

1. RTI: Listening to the ‘Teacher’s Voice’…

2. ‘Teacher’s Voice’: Behavior Management Strategies

3. RTI Strategies for Working With Emotionally Unpredictable and Defiant Kids Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

4. Access the introductory PPT from this workshop at:http://www.jimwrightonline.com/waukegan.php

5. From the Trenches…Office Disciplinary Referral “ Disrespect toward teachers. Yelled at me while I was helping him with his assignment. Told him to cool down and sit in the center and he started up again. Finally, I asked him to leave. Have called home twice and spoke to grandmother about tardiness, attendance, and behavior. ”

6. From the Trenches…Office Disciplinary Referral “ L. was sleeping in class. I told him twice to wake up and read along with class. He did so, albeit reluctantly. The third time he fell asleep I buzzed the office to tell them he was coming down, with a referral to follow. He cursed and threw his book in the ‘book box’. ”

7. From the Trenches…Office Disciplinary Referral “ For some reason, R. wants to keep challenging me. Today he was being persistent that he wanted to sit on a table not in his chair. This was after I asked him to stop talking 4-5 times, that’s all. I sent him to the office again, second time. ”

8. ‘Big Ideas’ in Student Behavior Management

9. Big Ideas: Similar Behaviors May Stem from Very Different ‘Root’ Causes (Kratochwill, Elliott, & Carrington Rotto, 1990) • Behavior is not random but follows purposeful patterns.Students who present with the same apparent ‘surface’ behaviors may have very different ‘drivers’ (underlying reasons) that explain why those behaviors occur.A student’s problem behaviors must be carefully identified and analyzed to determine the drivers that support them. Source: Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Carrington Rotto, P. (1990). Best practices in behavioral consultation. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.). Best practices in school psychology-II (pp. 147=169). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..

13. Factors Influencing the Decision to Classify as ‘Behaviorally Disordered’ (Gresham, 1992) Four factors strongly influence the likelihood that a student will be classified as Behaviorally Disordered: • Severity: Frequency and intensity of the problem behavior(s). • Chronicity: Length of time that the problem behavior(s) have been displayed. • Generalization: Degree to which the student displays the problem behavior(s) across settings or situations. • Tolerance: Degree to which the student’s problem behavior(s) are accepted in that student’s current social setting. Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, 23-37.

14. Common ‘Root Causes’ or ‘Drivers’ for Behaviors Include… • Power/Control • Protection/Escape/Avoidance • Attention • Acceptance/Affiliation • Expression of Self • Gratification • Justice/Revenge Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West..pp. 3-4.

15. B C Big Ideas: Be Proactive in Behavior Management (Martens & Meller, 1990) • Teachers who intervene before a student misbehaves or when the misbehavior has not yet escalated have a greater likelihood of keeping the student on task and engaged in learning. ABC Timeline A Source: Martens, B.K., & Meller, P.J. (1990). The application of behavioral principles to educational settings. In T.B. Gutkin & C.R.Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (2nd ed.) (pp. 612-634). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

16. ABC: The Core of Behavior Management “....at the core of behavioral interventions is the three-term contingency consisting of an antecedent, behavior, and consequence.” “… subsequent to some type of environmental event (i.e., an antecedent) …” “…which then may be maintained if it is followed by an event that is pleasurable or reinforcing (i.e., consequence).” “That is, most behavior is believed to occur…” A C B Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

17. ABC: Events as Antecedents ‘Discriminative Stimulus’: An antecedent can become associated with certain desired outcomes and thus ‘trigger’ problem behaviors. The student stares at the paper for a moment—then tears it up. If the consequence associated with the behavior is reinforcing for the student, then the antecedent or trigger can serve to signal (discriminate) that reinforcement is coming. Example: A student is given a math computation worksheet to complete. The student is sent to the office-allowing escape from the task. A C B Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

18. Antecedent Strategies to Manage Behavior: Proactive Changes to the Environment “Antecedent interventions typically involve some type of environmental rearrangement. ” Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

19. Advantages of Antecedent Strategies vs. ‘Reactive Approaches’ • Can prevent behavior problems from occurring • Are typically ‘quick acting’ • Can result in an instructional environment that better promotes student learning Source: Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.

20. ABC Timeline: Example

21. Big Ideas: Behavior is a Continuous ‘Stream’ (Schoenfeld & Farmer, 1970) • Individuals are always performing SOME type of behavior: watching the instructor, sleeping, talking to a neighbor, completing a worksheet (‘behavior stream’). • When students are fully engaged in academic behaviors, they are less likely to get off-task and display problem behaviors. • Academic tasks that are clearly understood, elicit student interest, provide a high rate of student success, and include teacher encouragement and feedback are most likely to effectively ‘capture’ the student’s ‘behavior stream’. Source: Schoenfeld, W. N., & Farmer, J. (1970). Reinforcement schedules and the ‘‘behavior stream.’’ In W. N. Schoenfeld (Ed.), The theory of reinforcement schedules (pp. 215–245). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

22. Big Ideas: Academic Delays Can Be a Potent Cause of Behavior Problems (Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000) Student academic problems cause many school behavior problems. “Whether [a student’s] problem is a behavior problem or an academic one, we recommend starting with a functional academic assessment, since often behavior problems occur when students cannot or will not do required academic work.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West, p. 13

23. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail

24. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail • Student problems are defined in vague rather than specific terms, making it more difficult to select the right intervention(s) to support the student.When student concerns are stated in vague terms (e.g., “The student is disruptive” or “The student has an attitude”, they lack details about the setting(s) in which behavior problems typically occur, a specific description of the problem behavior, and information about its severity.

25. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail • The problem behavior is viewed as residing primarily within the student.This focus on the student alone can cause schools to overlook the important positive impact that instructional staff can have on students by changing instruction, work (curriculum) demands, and the learning environment.

26. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail • The school selects an incorrect hypothesis about what is supporting the student’s problem behavior, so the strategies to promote the positive, replacement behavior don’t work.For example, the school may incorrectly hypothesize that a student is misbehaving to win attention from peers when in fact that student is acting out to escape classwork.

27. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail • The ‘replacement’ behavior does not take hold because it is not being adequately reinforced. If the replacement behavior was not a part of the student’s repertoire before the intervention plan began, that replacement behavior simply fails to take hold in the absence of reinforcement. If the replacement behavior does appear intermittently (e.g., student occasionally complies with adult requests), these ‘flickers’ of positive behavior may be extinguished completely because of lack of reinforcement.

28. Common Reasons Why Behavior Plans Fail • The student’s problem behavior continues, even after the replacement behavior has been taught.The reason that the problem behavior persists is that antecedents (triggers) and / or consequences supporting the negative behavior still remain in place.

29. Team Activity: Select a Behaviorally Challenging Student… : • At your table: • Discuss students in your classrooms or school who present challenging behaviors. • Of the students discussed, select one student that your team will use in an exercise of defining student problem behaviors. • Write a brief statement defining that student’s problem behavior(s).

30. Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for TeachersJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

31. Teacher Tips for Working With ‘Emotionally Unpredictable’ Students • While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by: • remaining calm • following pre-planned intervention strategies for misbehavior, and • acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with or disciplining students.

32. Classroom Conflicts: Students can become caught up in power struggles with teachers because: • they are embarrassed about (or try to hide) poor academic skills • they enjoy ‘pushing the buttons’ of adults • they use misbehavior as a deliberate strategy to have work expectations lightened

33. Classroom Conflicts: Teachers can become caught up in power struggles with students because: • they do not realize that they are simply reacting to student provocation and are mirroring the student’s escalating behavior • they may misinterpret innocent student behavior (e.g., laughing in class) as deliberate misbehavior and an attack on their authority

34. Defiant Kids: What should I keep in mind when working with defiant students? • The primary rule teachers should follow is to stay outwardly calm and to behave in a professional manner. The benefits of this approach are that: • Over time students may be less defiant because the teacher no longer ‘rewards’ them by reacting angrily • Because the teacher deals with misbehavior impartially and efficiently, she or he has more time left for instruction

35. Defiant Kids: How do I deliver a command without power struggles? • You can increase the odds that a student will follow a teacher command by: • Approaching the student privately, using a quiet voice. • establishing eye contact and calling the student by name before giving the command. • stating the command as a positive (do) statement, rather than a negative (don’t) statement. • phrasing the command clearly and simply so the student knows exactly what he/she is expected to do.

36. Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version • Make the request.Use simple, clear language that the student understands. If possible, phrase the request as a positive (do) statement, rather than a negative (don’t) statement. (E.g., “John, please start your math assignment now.”) Wait a reasonable time for the student to comply (e.g., 5-20 seconds)

37. Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version (Cont.) • [If the student fails to comply] Repeat the request as a 2-part choice. Give the student two clear choices with clear consequences. Order the choices so that the student hears negative consequence as the first choice and the teacher request as the second choice. (E.g., “John, you can use your free time at the end of the day to complete your math assignment or you can start the math assignment now and not lose your free time. It’s your choice.”) Give the student a reasonable time to comply (e.g., 5-20 seconds).

38. Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version (Cont.) • [Optional-If the student fails to comply] Offer a face-saving out. Say to the student, “Is there anything that I can say or do at this time to earn your cooperation?” (Thompson, 1993).

39. Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version (Cont.) • [If the student fails to comply] Impose the pre-selected negative consequence. As you impose the consequence, ignore student questions or complaints that appear intended to entangle you in a power struggle.

40. Defiant Kids: What other effective communication strategies can I use ? • Active listening. • “Let me be sure that I understand you correctly…” • “I want to summarize the points that you made, so that I know that I heard you right…” • “So from your point of view, the situation looks like this…”

41. Defiant Kids: What other effective communication strategies can I use ? • I-centered statements. • “Zeke, I find it difficult to keep everybody’s attention when there are other conversations going on in the classroom. That’s why I need you to open your book and focus on today’s lesson.”

42. Defiant Kids: What other effective communication strategies can I use ? • Pairing criticism and praise. • Description of problem behavior: “Trina, you said disrespectful things about other students during our class meeting this morning. You continued to do so even after I asked you to stop.” • Appropriate behavioral alternative(s): “It’s OK to disagree with another person’s ideas. But you need to make sure that your comments do not insult or hurt the feelings of others.” • Specific praise: “I am talking to you about this behavior because I know that you can do better. In fact, I have really come to value your classroom comments. You have great ideas and express yourself very well.”

43. Defiant Kids: What are some conflict ‘pitfalls’ that I should watch out for? • Avoid a mismatch between your words and nonverbal signals. • Take time to plan your response before reacting to provocative student behavior or remarks. • Do not become entangled in a discussion or argument with a confrontational student • Do not try to coerce or force the student to comply.

44. Defiant Kids: What are proactive steps to minimize conflict with students? • Offer the student face-saving exit strategies. • Act in positive ways that are inconsistent with the student’s expectations. • Select fair behavioral consequences in advance. • Avoid making task demands of students when they are upset.

45. Tailoring ‘Defiant Kids: Tools for Teachers’ to Your School: Checklist • How can you see yourself using these ideas (or some adaptation of them) with teachers in your school or district? • What are possible concerns or objections that teachers may have about any of these strategies? • What unintended side-effects might occur, and how would you deal with them?

46. Defining Student Problem Behaviors: A Key to Identifying Effective Interventions Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

47. Interventions: Potential ‘Fatal Flaws’ Any intervention must include 4 essential elements. The absence of any one of the elements would be considered a ‘fatal flaw’ (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004) that blocks the school from drawing meaningful conclusions from the student’s response to the intervention: • Clearly defined problem. The student’s target concern is stated in specific, observable, measureable terms. This ‘problem identification statement’ is the most important step of the problem-solving model (Bergan, 1995), as a clearly defined problem allows the teacher or RTI Team to select a well-matched intervention to address it. • Baseline data. The teacher or RTI Team measures the student’s academic skills in the target concern (e.g., reading fluency, math computation) prior to beginning the intervention. Baseline data becomes the point of comparison throughout the intervention to help the school to determine whether that intervention is effective. • Performance goal. The teacher or RTI Team sets a specific, data-based goal for student improvement during the intervention and a checkpoint date by which the goal should be attained. • Progress-monitoring plan. The teacher or RTI Team collects student data regularly to determine whether the student is on-track to reach the performance goal. Source: Witt, J. C., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Gilbertson, D. (2004). Troubleshooting behavioral interventions. A systematic process for finding and eliminating problems. School Psychology Review, 33, 363-383.

48. Defining Problem Student Behaviors… • Define the problem behavior in clear, observable, measurable terms (Batsche et al., 2008; Upah, 2008). Write a clear description of the problem behavior. Avoid vague problem identification statements such as “The student is disruptive.” A well-written problem definition should include three parts: • Conditions. The condition(s) under which the problem is likely to occur • Problem Description. A specific description of the problem behavior • Contextual information. Information about the frequency, intensity, duration, or other dimension(s) of the behavior that provide a context for estimating the degree to which the behavior presents a problem in the setting(s) in which it occurs.

50. Defining Student Problem Behaviors: Team Activity • Using the student selected by your team: • Step 1: Define the problem behavior in clear, observable, measurable terms. • Five Steps in Understanding & Addressing Problem Behaviors: • Define the problem behavior in clear, observable, measurable terms. • Develop examples and non-examples of the problem behavior. • Write a behavior hypothesis statement. • Select a replacement behavior. • Write a prediction statement.