Learning and Challenging Behaviors

Learning and Challenging Behaviors • Learning and behavior problems result from interaction between the child and his or her environment and those in the environment • Instructional focus: • Identifying child’s needs • Identify environmental supports required to meet needs

Problem behaviors are often a result of the child not knowing HOW to do the task or perform skill (social competence).

Poor student relationships can lead to: • problems with classroom adjustment • acting out or withdrawing • low involvement in school activities • poor academic performance • school failure

An Educational Approach to Behavior Support • Because behavior problems are often a reflection of skill deficits… • …teaching is often the best intervention.

Think, Pair, Share • Think about the social behavioral challenges in your CBO • Share these with your partner

Positive Behavior Support Historically • Reaction to the use of aversive • No tolerance for interventions that are insulting, degrading, or aversive • Person-centered • Increase in quality of life

Characteristics of Positive Behavior Support • Uses assessment to develop plan • Comprehensive • Proactive, involving teaching alternative skills • Emphasizes lifestyle enhancement • Based on inclusive settings

What has discipline focused on in the past? • Waiting for behavior to occur and reacting to specific inappropriate student behavior • Reprimands, lost of privileges, suspensions • MYTH: All students know what is expected, they just choose to not do it.

Necessary steps to school-wide behavior support • Establish a school-wide leadership or behavior support team to guide and direct the process. This team should be made up of an administrator, grade level representatives, support staff, and parents. • Secure administrator agreement of active support and participation. • Secure a commitment and agreement from at least 80% of the staff for active support and participation. • Conduct a self assessment of the current school-wide discipline system. • Create an implementation action plan that is based data based decision making. • Establish a way to collect office referral and other data on a regular basis to evaluate the effectiveness of school-wide PBS efforts.

Major components of a school-wide system • an agreed upon and common approach to discipline, • a positive statement of purpose, • a small number of positively stated expectations for all students and staff, • procedures for teaching these expectations to students, • a continuum of procedures for encouraging displays and maintenance of these expectations, • a continuum of procedures for discouraging displays of rule-violating behavior, and • procedures for monitoring and evaluating the effects of the discipline system on student behavior a regular and frequent basis

School-wide PBS Objectives • School-wide program posted throughout school • School-wide expectations taught throughout school (classroom & nonclassroom settings) • Procedures developed to discourage problem behaviors • Staff development emphasizes use of these and other effective approaches • Data based decision-making for student/staff behavior: • School-wide program evaluated frequently for effectiveness

Primary Interventions • Those interventions that create a stable “host” environments. • Consists of: • Rules • Procedures • Physical arrangement of environment and supervisors

Primary Interventions School-wide Classwide

Why is it necessary to create stable “host” environments? • Reduces behavior issues for up to 80% of the students in school. • More intensive interventions are less likely to work in a chaotic environment.

Secondary Interventions • Continuous availability. • Rapid access (72 hr). • Very low effort by teachers. • Consistent with school-wide expectations. • Implemented by all staff/faculty in a school. • Flexible intervention based on assessment. • Functional assessment. • Adequate resources (admin, team), weekly meeting, plus 10 hours a week. • Student chooses to participate. • Continuous monitoring of student behavior for decision-making

Tertiary Interventions • Direct toward individuals • Based on functional assessments • Monitored closely, • May consist of: arranging the environment, using proactive interventions to remove the likelihood that problem behavior occurred.

Challenging Behaviors Serves a Purpose • Obtaining • Attention • Tangible • Sensory • Escaping • Task, event, activity • Attention

Name that function? • Zoe is asked to wait for snack, while waiting she takes the snack of another child. • Joe lays his head on his paper when asked to write in his journal. • Rahem pushes his paper to the floor when asked to do a math worksheet. • After working alone in the in the writing center, Mazie throws a pencil at another child on her way to the waste basket. • When the class begins to line up for art, Lizzie begins to scream and push.

Set conditions to ensure appropriate behavior • What does it mean to set the conditions for appropriate behavior? • What would it look like to give feedback for correct performance?

Once the inappropriate behavior has occurred what does it mean to: • Modify the conditions? • Organizationally • Physically • Instructionally

What makes an effective small group? Rules and procedures are taught explicitly • Teach how to participate in group. • Teach each individual small group or center. • Teach each new center or group as they are adjusted and changed. • Teach one group or center at a time.

Students need to know procedures for? • What to do when something does not work. • What to do when they do not understand what they are supposed to be doing. • What to do when they complete an activity at a center or in a group. • How to access help.

Students need to know procedures for? • When and how to interrupt your small group instruction. • How to clean up or transition to another activity. • How to decide who goes first when engaged in a par or group activity.

Teaching Rules and Procedures • State the context • Tell the students what it is you want them to do • Show them what you want • Model • Coach • Provide feedback

Take the time NOW • Think about the group or student you will be working with in your placement • Identify what you will want them to do (what is the context) • Identify the expectations or procedures for getting that done • Script out how you will teach them • Script out how you will provide feedback

Management of Others • Make sure your center or small group is where you can see the whole room • Make sure you attend to others not in the small group you are conducting so they know what they are doing is important

What will you teach? • How will your teach it? • How will you provide feedback for expected behaviors? • How will you provide feedback for behavior that is undesirable? • How will you know when it has been taught?

Acknowledge • Pay attention to what you want the students to continue to do • Acknowledge what students do right • I noticed that many of you got ready quickly • I see Mikala already has her book open and is reading

Remind • PREteach. Be proactive, teach and rehearse expected behavior • Give boosters. • Show me what you will do when you finish your work • Tell me what you will do if you need help

Redirect (give feedback) • When you see or hear behavior that is not desirable, redirect students to the correct behavior. • Redirect the student using a “do” request rather than a “don’t” request.” • I hear a lot of talking. This is the time for … • I see lots of students out of their seats. You need to be sitting and …

If problems arise, ask yourself: • Did I do an effective job explicitly teaching the activity? • Did I acknowledge appropriate behavior and provide corrective feedback for inappropriate behavior? • Is the activity interesting to the student? • Have the students mastered the skill and need to move on? • Is this activity too difficult for students to do independently? • Did I introduce too many new centers/activity areas at once?

Learning and Challenging Behaviors