Features:
Focus Overview | 1 |
Tips for Educators | 1-3 |
Resources | 3-5 |
Caregiver Page | 6 |
APRIL 2012
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
Students who exhibit challenging behavior at school are at-risk for long-term social and aca-demic consequences. In addition, exit surveys indicate that student misbehavior is a primary reason teachers leave or seriously consider leaving the profession. Challenging behaviors are exhibited by students from preschool through high school and can occur for a variety of reasons including: developmental/communication difficulties, medical condi-tions, deficits in social and coping skills, learned behavioral patterns, inadvertent rein-forcement of inappropriate behavior, sub-stance use, responses to trauma, and difficul-ties with emotional regulation. In addition to the negative social-emotional consequences, challenging behavior can also result in tempo-rary removal from class or school, which can lead to academic challenges. The resulting academic frustration can manifest itself in fur-ther behavioral incidents, thus perpetuating a negative cycle.
It is in the best interest of students, school staff, and families to help children learn prob-lem-solving skills that allow them to maintain appropriate behavior. An approach that em-phasizes instruction in prosocial skills for eve-ryone, along with the prevention of negative behavior, provides a foundation for universal behavioral competence. While no brief docu-ment can provide easy solutions for complex problems such as those described in this issue, it is hoped that by reminding school staff and families about a framework for prevention practices as well as providing resources for addressing serious behavioral challenges, our SMCPS community can work together to pro-vide our students with the social-emotional-behavioral skills they need in order to learn, make friends, solve problems, and ultimately become productive citizens.
School-Based Strategies for Decreasing Challenging Behaviors
Students who exhibit explosive and/or non-compliant behaviors present the greatest chal-lenge to schools. These students may be defi-ant, oppositional, verbally aggressive (make threats, use profanity), physically aggressive (start fights, push, kick, grab, bite, throw things), or destructive (school/classroom property). These behaviors can undermine the integrity of the learning environment, in-terfere with academic outcomes, contribute to staff and student stress, and threaten school safety.
This section provides strategies for school
staff to utilize in an effort to decrease challeng-ing behaviors.
Establish a positive school climate.
Student-teacher & student-student rela-tions: foster a high level of caring, respect, and trust
Achievement motivation: get students to believe they can learn
Collaborative decision making: involve caregivers, students, teachers, admin-istration (continued on page 2)
Promote equity and fairness
Ensure order and consistent/relevant discipline
Expect success: staff should expect that students will succeed inside and outside of school
Make the learning environment inviting:
Classroom rules: develop three to eight rules with student input; focus on the positive; make the rules understandable, reasonable, & attainable; visibly post in the classroom
Expectations: introduce behavioral expecta-tions at the beginning of the school year, in-corporate opportunities for learning coping skills into the school day
Remind & reinforce regularly: talk about ex-pectations and behavioral values (morning meetings, school-wide announcements), make these visible (bulletin boards, lockers)
Room arrangement: move around, interact with all of the students, and monitor what they are doing
Break space: designate a place within the classroom or building as a "cool down spot" for students who need to regain self-control
Use research based interventions to develop positive school behaviors. A model that focuses on system change to develop positive, responsive, caring envi-ronments that value learning (i.e., PBIS) or other multi-tiered approach.
Identify the underlying cause of the behavior. Why is the student resorting to violence or aggression in the first place? Ultimately, the behavior is accom-plishing what the student wants (or feels he/she wants) and it is important to know why. Is the student frustrated, angry, avoiding an undesirable task or an-ticipated stressor, seeking attention, exacting revenge, or modeling behavior of others? Address the underly-ing issue(s) and help the student reframe his/her ob-jective while building communication and self-control skills.
Determine the circumstances that trigger out-bursts. Identifying a pattern of when and how the student acts out will help define the factors that trigger the behavior and inform strategies that will most effec-tively correct the behavior.
Identify the precursor behaviors. Students usu-ally have a pattern of behaviors that express their growing frustration. Understanding these behaviors will help clue staff members as to when to intervene before the behaviors escalate.
Stay in front of the meltdown. Use your knowledge of the precursor behaviors and environ-mental factors to help stop the meltdown before it starts. Be proactive.
Show the student that you are an advocate for his/her success. Begin interactions with the stu-dent by acknowledging strengths and competencies. Catch a student succeeding. Spend time with students in positive situations.
Create a positive framework for changing be-havior. Emphasize teaching positive skills, not pun-ishing negative behavior; provide a universal language or set of steps to facilitate learning desired behaviors; and foster values of empathy, caring, respect, self-awareness, and self-restraint.
Develop school-based teams to deal with challenging behaviors.
Teams should include staff members trained in behavior management, knowledgeable of the code of conduct, and those who have good rapport with the student (administrators, teachers, school nurses, school counselors, school psychologists, pupil personnel workers, safety assistants, school resource officers, community personnel)
Gather, verify, and document information (interview those involved, identify antecedents and risk factors)
Determine an action plan (notification of caregiv-ers, safety plan or behavior contract, warning signs for possible future problems, discipline con-sequences, monitoring and supervision, skill building)
Ensure the plan is communicated. Consider informing the student of the plan.
Allow the input of students. Students often know of potential problems before adults. It is im-portant for students to feel comfortable reporting concerns regarding the behavior of peers.
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SMCPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST NEWSLETTER
School-Based Strategies
continued... PAGE 3
VOLUME 1, ISSUE
Three Tier Behavioral Approach
No student is always bad – catch the student behaving well and attend to and praise the student’s positive behaviors.
Respect – let the student know you care and respect him/her. Remind the student it is the inappropriate behaviors that are not liked, not him/her as a person.
Don’t ignore – ignore minor disruptive behaviors, not inappropriate aggression.
Be positive – remain calm and model positive problem-solving.
Don’t rationalize – avoid power struggles.
Behavior contracts – contracts should list target positive behaviors that are expected, as well as a reward that can be received for meeting a designated goal.
Effective commands – commands should be concise, di-rect, positively stated, and given one at a time.
Communication – increase ongoing communication and cohesion between yourself and the student.
Problem solving – teach effective problem solving: iden-tification of the problem, generating multiple potential responses (both positive and negative), evaluation of the alternative responses, and planning for implemen-tation of the response.
Relaxation – teach relaxation techniques for when the student becomes angry or upset (i.e., deep breathing, counting to 10).
Coping statements – develop a list of coping statements on how to deal with anger.
Perspective taking – teach the student to understand oth-ers’ perspectives (i.e., what others are thinking and feeling).
Negotiating – teach skills for fairly and effectively nego-tiating needs with peers, parents, and teachers for get-ting what they want.
Tier 1: Addressing the Needs of All Students
Students who are behaviorally skilled, nonaggres-sive, and academically goal-oriented play a significant role in mediating the level of aggressive behaviors in school
Implement effective school-wide and class-room rules, rationally conceived and fairly enforced
Provide a classroom-level conflict resolution cur-riculum to all students
Tier 2: Addressing the Needs of Higher-Risk Students
Communicate with feeder schools ahead of time to discuss student needs
Use office disciplinary data to determine infor-mation about behavioral problems, including the type, frequency, time, location, and students and staff involved
Provide skills training to chronic fighters; gen-erally aversive consequences are more effective when paired with effective anger management training (skills training)
Tier 3: Addressing the Needs of Students with Severe and Per-vasive Problems
Develop, monitor, and update individualized be-havior intervention plans
Train staff members in emotional de-escalation, safe restraint, and safe transport techniques (e.g., CPI)
Resources
Books:
Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi
Helping Schoolchildren Cope with Anger by Jim Larson & John E. Lochman
Lost at School: Why Our Kids with Behavioral Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them by Ross W. Greene (continued on page 4) PAGE 4
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
SMCPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST NEWSLETTER
""When every physical and mental re-source is focused, one's power to solve a problem multiplies tremendously."
- Norman Vincent Peale
Books:
Opening Our Arms: Helping Troubled Kids Do Well by Kathy Regan
Positive Time-Out: And Over 50 Ways to Avoid Power Struggles in the Home and the Classroom by Jane Nelsen
Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child: Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries by Robert J. MacKenzie
SOS Help for Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, and Depression by Lynn Clark
Websites and Online Articles:
The Explosive Child: A new approach for understanding and parenting easily frustrated, "chronically inflexible" children by Ross W. Greene
http://www.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/portal/server.pt/doc/18345/aggression_rk....
Aggression in Adolescents: Strategies for Parents and Educators by Tammy D. Barry, PhD & John E. Lochman, PhD
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/Angry%20and%20Aggressive%...
Angry and Aggressive Students by Jim Larson
Best Children’s Books http://www.best-childrens-books.com/
http://www.cpsconnection.com/
Collaborative Problem Solving
http://www.education.com/topic/classroom-behavior/
Education.com
Intervention Central http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/index.html#cat146
KidsHealth
http://www.lostatschool.org/
Lost at School
http://www.pbis.org/
Positive Behavioral Support
http://www.ragefreekids.com/
Rage-Free Kids
http://www.challengingbehavior.org/
Technical Assistance Center on Social-Emotional Intervention for young children (TACSEI)
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/behavior/tantrums_ho.aspx
Additional References:
Barry, T. & Lochman, J.E. (2004).
Charles, C. M. (1999).
Coggshall, J. G. (2006).
Temper Tantrums: Guidelines for Parents by Robert G. Harrington, PhD Aggression in Young Children: Strategies for Parents and Educators. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Building classroom discipline (6th ed.). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Prospects for the profession: Public opinion research on teachers. Washington, DC: National Compre-hensive Center for Teacher Quality. http://www.ncctq.org/publications/October2006Brief.pdf (continued on page 5)
Resources
continued... Jamie Constantz- HES, LMDES, OES
Chris Grace- EES, GKES, Dept. Chair
Amanda Hebert- GHES, RES, SRMS
Carol Klenk- TCES, PHES, MBMS Stefanie Langton- GWCES, GMHS, CPCS
SMCPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS
PAGE 5
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SMCPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST NEWSLETTER
Dr. Lisa Longworth- DES, LMS, CHS
Amanda Molden- BBES, LES, MES
Gary O’Neill- PPES, LHS, Forrest Center, Fairlead
Emily Tex- LPES, WMES, EMS
Dr. Charles Ridgell- Director of Student Services
Resources
continued... Are you interested in learning about a specific topic? Is there information you would like to appear in future newsletters?
Do you have feedback about the newsletters?
Contact your school psychologist or email the newsletter editor at: agmolden@smcps.org
Additional References:
Cook, B. G., Semmel, M. I., & Gerber, M. M. (1999). Attitudes of principals and special education teachers toward the inclusion of students with mild disabilities.
DiPaola, M. F., & Walter-Thomas, C. (2003).
Gersten, R., Keating, T., Yovanoff, P., & Harniss, M. K. (2001). Working in special education: Factors that enhance special educators’ intent to stay.
Kanan, L. (2010).
Kyle, P., & Rogien, L. (2004).
Larson, J., (2001).
Lehr, C. (2004).
Smallwood, D., (2003).
Remedial and Special Education, 20, 199-207. Principals and special education: The critical role of school leaders (ED/OSERS Report No. COPSSE-IB-7). National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education, Arlington, VA: Florida University, Gainesville. Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education. Exceptional Children, 67, 549-567. When Students Make Threats. Principal Leadership. 12-16. Classroom Management: Preventive Strategies. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Aggression in Adolescents: Strategies for Educators. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psy-chologists. Positive School Climate: Information for Educators. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psy-chologists. Defusing Violent Behavior in Young Children: An Ounce of Prevention: Information for School Princi-pals. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. April is National Autism Awareness Month
In order to highlight the growing need for concern and awareness about autism, the Autism Society has been celebrating National Autism Awareness Month since the 1970s. The United States recogniz-es April as a special opportunity for everyone to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community.
www.autism-society.org VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
SMCPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST NEWSLETTER
Caregiver Page
Tips for Handling Temper Tantrums:
Remain calm. Before you manage your child you must manage your own behavior. Spanking or yelling will only make the tantrum worse.
Think before you act. Count to 10 and then think about the source of the child’s frustration.
Try to intervene early before the child is out of con-trol. Set limits and remind them that they are getting revved up, and need to slow down.
Positively distract the child by getting him/her fo-cused on something else.
Ignore the tantrum, if it is to get attention.
If the tantrum continues, you may need to direct the child to time-out. If you are in a public place, carry the child outside or to your car. At home, warn the child up to three times to calm down and give a re-minder of the rule. If the child refuses to comply, place the child in time-out for no more than 1 minute for each year of age.
Monitor safety. Attempt to prevent a child who is out of control from hurting himself/herself or someone else (remove items that may contribute to danger, gently restrain). Reassure the child that everything will be alright.
Talk with the child, when he/she is calm. Explain better ways to get what he/she wants.
Try to prevent tantrums by reminding children of your expectations prior to an outing or special event T
ips for Dealing with an Aggressive Child:
Catch the child/adolescent behaving well. Attend to and praise the positive behaviors. (No child is always bad!)
Always let your child know that you care and respect him/her. Remind him/her that it is the inappropriate behaviors that you don’t like.
Address inappropriate aggression. (Do not ignore!)
Be an example. Remain calm and model coping skills and positive problem-solving.
Don’t try to rationalize with the child about the ag-gressive behavior or why you are invoking conse-quences.
Be direct. Directives should be simple, concise, and given one at a time. For example, "Keep your hands to yourself," "When you play nicely, you earn more play time," "You can stop this behavior or you will loose your cell phone."
Tell your child what you want him/her to do, not what you don’t want him/her to do ("Walk" instead of "Don’t run")
Establish house rules and expectations. Involve your child.
Prompt negative consequences should follow aggres-sive behavior.
Promote alternative problem-solving strategies.
Utilize relaxation techniques. Deep breathing and counting to 10.
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NEWSLETTER