Deb Marcus, NBCT, CAPE Marley Glen School Glen Burnie , Maryland

1. Be Prepared, Be Patient, Be Consistent…The Golden Rules of Behavior Management in Physical Education Deb Marcus, NBCT, CAPE Marley Glen School Glen Burnie, Maryland

2. Introductions • Deb Marcus • Marley Glen School • 15 years! 

3. Experiment… • Follow directions..

5. Discussion • What made the 3rd set of directions so clear? • How does this transfer to our Physical Education classes?

6. Challenges faced by PE teachers • Large group of students with varying degrees of needs • Students with disabilities included in general PE classes • Large space • Unstructured environment • Down time before, during and after activities • Others?

7. Managing Behaviors • Which types of behaviors cause PE teachers the most difficulties? • Following directions • Staying with the group • Staying on task • Sharing equipment • Taking turns appropriately • Appropriate language • Sportsmanship • Accepting NO as an answer

8. BE PREPARED! • Think about the structure of your class, including routines and your teaching style • Assistants that come with students • Skills needed to participate independently (cues, vocabulary, time on tasks, handling down time) • Distractions – classroom /gym environment

9. How information is presented • Verbal instructions • Stop! • Walk and sit in front of me. • Get a ball and find personal space. • Stand next to a partner • Line up • Demonstrations • Skills (part/whole) • Teacher/student

10. Visual supports • Communication • Spots on floor to mark personal space (where to sit, stand, line up) • Schedules • Vocabulary • Graphic Organizers

11. Examples of Visual supports

12. Communication

13. “Circle Map” – Graphic Organizer

14. Social Stories • Stories are used to teach: • What to expect in new situations • Appropriate behaviors across settings • Examples

15. Distractions / Structure & Routines • Eliminate distractions • Equipment • Staff/students walking through • Reinforcement • Cues - music • Structure/Routines • Know what to expect • Know what comes next

16. Schedules

17. Starting and stopping signals • What cues do you use to start/stop your class? • How would they need to change for student with: • Hearing impairment? • Autism? • Visual impairment?

19. Time / Duration • Time of class • Morning/afternoon • Before/after medication wears off?? • Tired in afternoon? • Duration • PE classes per week • Amount of time participating • Amount of time on each activity

20. Visual Timers Examples

21. Whose Turn?

22. What to do with children with behavioral problems? • Identify behaviors that the teacher wants to correct or redirect. • Must be measurable, have clear beginning and end, and able to be defined in objective terms • What is the student doing? How is he acting? When does the behavior occur?Where does it occur? What is happening in the class when it occurs?

23. Motivation Assessment Scale • Scale used to determine the functions of the behavior – attention, escape /avoidance, tangible or sensory • Filled out by teachers, service providers, parents – anyone who sees the behavior being measured

24. Sensory • Behavior would occur over and over if person left alone for period of time • Person calm and unaware of what is going on around him • Person enjoys performing the behavior • Examples – rocking back and forth, running into padding on walls

25. Escape/Avoidance • Occurs following difficult task • When request is made of person • Occurs to upset teacher when you are trying to get him to do what you ask • Stops behavior when you stop working with or placing demands on him

26. Attention seeking • Occurs in response to teacher not paying attention to him • Occurs to get teacher to spend time with him • Occurs to upset teacher in order to get teacher to spend time with him

27. Tangible • Occurs to get a toy, piece of equipment or activity he was told he cannot have • Occurs when teacher takes away toy, piece of equipment or activity • Stops when toy, piece of equipment or activity is given back to student

28. Preference Assessment • Checklist of items that the student and/or family fills out • Lists items that are preferred • Could eventually be used as reinforcers • Helpful when student is non-verbal and not responding to current reinforcement

29. Preference Assessment • Food items (candy, ice cream, chips, fruit, beverages) • Toys/Sports equipment • Electronics (iPod, computer, iPad) • Certificates, awards, stickers • Recess, extra PE time • Time with teacher • Group leader

30. Positive Reinforcement • Intrinsic motivation • Social praise • Physical activity • Sensory stimuli • Tangibles • Group contingencies • Token economies • Contracts • Prompts • Shaping

31. Tangibles • Giving a student something to reinforce behavior • Use age appropriate items • Sticker • Stamp • Certificate • Ribbon • Edible

32. Sensory Stimuli • Providing auditory, visual, or kinesthetic stimuli for reinforcement • Music • Swinging • Jumping • Fidgets • Could be effective for students with autism

33. Shaping • Reinforcing successive approximations • Target behavior – go in the gym and sit on a shape • Student goes into gym and runs around all the shapes, then sits on shape – teacher rewards student for sitting independently on the shape • Reinforcing small increments of improvement will eventually lead to mastery of skill

34. Token boards

35. Behavior Contract • At the end of each class, teacher rates student on whether he met his behavioral goals • Circle smiley face or frowny face • Point system • Student returns contract to classroom teacher for reward, if earned. • Might work if computer time is very motivating – then he could earn 5 minutes when he returns to class

36. Premack Principle • Recommends making high – frequency behavior contingent on completing a low-frequency behavior • Example – Jake likes to run laps around the gym. Jake does not like to do stretching exercises. If Jake does his stretching exercises, he is allowed to run 5 laps around the gym.

37. First – Then Strip

38. BE PATIENT!!!!! • May not work on the first try • Pick one positive intervention, teach it to the student, use it consistently • Try another…. • Try another… •  Keep smiling! 

39. Punishment • Use only when positive reinforcement is not working • Six types of punishment: • Silent look • Verbal reprimand • Extinction • Time – out • Overcorrection • Response cost

40. Verbal reprimand • Address the problem behavior not the student himself. • “Do not bounce the ball while I am talking” • NOT – “You can’t do anything right!”

41. Extinction • Ignoring inappropriate behaviors when seen as attention seeking behaviors • Most effective when combined with positive reinforcement • Very difficult because it takes lots of patience and self control

42. Time out • Removing the student from the activity for a pre-set amount of time • Disadvantage – some students enjoy it because they got out of an activity they did not want to do

43. Overcorrection • Restoring the environment • Vandalism – need to clean what you did plus all of the other areas that need it • Positive practice overcorrection • Running in hallway – need to walk 10 times for allotted distance

44. Response Cost • Penalty box! • Loss of minutes of time to perform activity • Loss of points of grade • Loss of equipment

45. Negative Reinforcement • CAUTION! Use only when necessary – negative reinforcement can increase resistance! • Taking away something to maintain or increase a behavior • Avoidance procedure • Escape procedure

46. BE CONSISTENT!! • First – give it time! Could get worse before it gets better. DO NOT GIVE UP! (or give in!) • Talk to other staff that are having difficulties with the student to brainstorm for more ideas • Look closely at your intervention and see if you are able to put it into play effectively • If not – what do you need to do to make it effective? • HANG IN THERE! 

47. What to do with the rest of the class??? • Ideally the student’s reinforcement system can be used with everyone… • Implementing a positive behavior reward system for all students – “Catch ‘em being good” • Class rewards • Individual rewards • Other ideas?

48. Group Contengencies • Class Behavior Chart - When whole class wears tennis shoes, the football moves up 10 yards. When we score a touchdown, whole class is rewarded with student picked favorite activity class.

49. Other examples of Group Contengencies • Class rewards chart for sportsmanship, following directions, etc • Points given based on criteria created by teacher or students (3 pts – great teamwork, 2 pts – average sportsmanship, 1 pt – poor sportsmanship) • Reward given after so many points have been obtained