1 / 24

Behavior Engineering in the Mathematics Classroom

Behavior Engineering in the Mathematics Classroom. Megan E. Sullivan Kirby, M.Ed., BCBA Longwood University July 16, 2012. A Spectrum of Students: The “New” Norm. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Pervasive Developmental Disability (PDD) Intellectual Disability (ID)

hans
Download Presentation

Behavior Engineering in the Mathematics Classroom

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Behavior Engineering in the Mathematics Classroom Megan E. Sullivan Kirby, M.Ed., BCBA Longwood University July 16, 2012

  2. A Spectrum of Students: The “New” Norm • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) • Pervasive Developmental Disability (PDD) • Intellectual Disability (ID) • Developmental Disability (DD) • Oppositional, Defiant Disorder (ODD) • Emotional, Behavioral Disorder (ED, etc.)

  3. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

  4. Diagnostic Features of ASD

  5. What’s Behavior Got to Do with It? Deficits in behavior can severely and negatively impact a student’s ability to access individual or group instructional opportunities. Knowing a student’s skill deficits is not a way to label or hold back a child from experiencing new or challenging opportunities. Rather, it is a pro-active strategy for teachers to use to promote successful learning and avoid setting their students up for failure.

  6. Behavior Engineering: ABCs

  7. Antecedents: Changing the Classroom for Successful Learning • Antecedents--what occurs immediately before the behavior of interest • Could be: • A teacher’s direction • The presence of a person, item or activity • Change in setting or environment • Change in routine • Structure of the environment • Being told “no”

  8. What does this mean for the student? • A problem behavior always serves a function. • Observation and assessment will provide an answer. • “He just jumped up out of nowhere. ” • “For no reason, she just ripped up the test.” • “She always rushes through the test and fails it, but she does fine when I sit next to her.” • Students do not “behave” poorly because they enjoy doing so. Our job is to find out WHY, and to change the antecedent so they experience success.

  9. What does the student get as a result of their behavior?

  10. What does this mean for the classroom teacher? • Teachers are now behavior engineers! • The basic tools: • Planning for instruction must include planning for behavior problems. Prediction is key! • Incorporate visual supports into everyday use in the classroom and within activities. • The dreaded “D” word: Differentiation!

  11. Instructional Planning • Goals and outcomes of the lesson must be EXPLICIT • Clear, concise, and reviewed with students repeatedly • Check for comprehension often. Don’t wait for the students to ask for help! • Be mindful of social skill deficits in the student population and plan collaborative learning teams accordingly • Invite the special educator, speech/language pathologist to assist students with autism who have social skills deficits during those lessons!

  12. Instructional Planning • Teach math vocabulary and review frequently • Multiple meanings, abstract concepts • Some mathematical terms sound like commonly used English words: • sum/some • sine/sign • cosine/cosign • pi/pie • dual/duel • plane/plain • complement/compliment • graph/graft • plane/plain

  13. Visual Supports • All students benefit from the use of visual supports! • Students often have difficulty: • understanding abstract language/vocabulary • separating essential from non-essential information (e.g. math word problems) • Visual supports can be as simple and low-budget as paper-pencil drawings, or as elaborate as teacher-designed “Boardmaker” visuals to cue appropriate behavior (more to come on the latter!).

  14. Visual Supports • Pairing verbal explanations of math concepts with visual supports (pictures, written words, graphic organizers) will maximize comprehension. • Examples of other visual supports: • Class schedules • Calendars and checklists • Written steps to solve a problem • List of behavior expectations, cues for teacher to use to prompt appropriate behavior without interrupting instruction • Visual calendar with test reminders and homework

  15. Differentiation • Differentiation requires time and effort. • EVERY lesson need not include manipulatives, visuals, and kinesthetic learning opportunities. However, teachers need to plan for their students’ success, and know when their students are likely to need differentiation in materials and presentation. • Now, for some examples…

  16. Make and Take Sessions • First-then schedule • Key-ring behavioral reminders • Back-to-school math activity packet

  17. Behavior Engineering with Staff Collaboration with General and Special Education Teachers and Instructional Support Personnel

  18. Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce! • Positive Reinforcement is important for students to receive • Use the ratio of 7 positive statements to 1 correction, reprimand BUT… • Teachers and co-workers need the same amount of positive reinforcement, if not more, in order to maintain momentum and be motivated to change.

  19. Collaboration with Staff • Educate, and inform through empowerment. • Share materials, not just verbal information • Ideas and suggestions should be concrete… show, not tell • Use the same behavioral principles to change teacher behavior, and to avoid being a therapist for the teacher to make complaints to. • Contact me if you need ideas! • Be proactive in forming teams with the special education, resource and paraprofessional community… they often get overlooked and feel left out.

  20. Collaboration with the Home Effective collaboration includes more than one attempt to gain feedback from the families and students.

  21. Home, School Teaming • Parent Interview forms • Quarterly feedback is often not enough • Send home articles, suggestions for homework help or math skills practice ideas (hands-on projects for academic break periods) • Reinforce pro-active parents and families, and empower them by asking them for ideas to get other parents as/more involved • Share visual supports and ideas with families at home if they work!

  22. Take Home Points • All of the supports and program planning ideas targeting the success of students with autism spectrum disorders can be used for the general population. Good teaching is exactly that… planning for success by putting the supports in place at the start, and changing the antecedents to promote positive behavior and outcomes on an ongoing basis. Thank you for your continued dedication to our students in Virginia, and for your generosity in sharing your time and knowledge with me. Much success to you all this coming school year!

  23. Resources • Free visual supports: www.do2learn.com • Additional reading: • Bley, N.S. & Thornton, C.A. (2001). Teaching mathematics to students with learning disabilities (4th ed.). Pro-ed: Austin, TX. • Fuchs, L.S. & Fuchs, D. (2008). Mathematics disabilities in the primary grades: Seven principles of effective practice. New Times for DLD, 26(1). • Kennedy, J.M. et. al. (2005). Literacy strategies for improving mathematics instruction.ASCD: Alexandria, VA.

  24. Questions, Comments Contact me for additional supports, resources, or to find out more information on autism or behavior programming: Megan Sullivan Kirby, M.Ed., BCBA Board Certified Behavior Analyst ABA Program Manager Grafton Integrated Health Network Email: Megan.e.kirby01@grafton.org

More Related