Dealing with chronic behavior

The nice thing about summer is it gives me some downtime to reflect over the past year, which usually goes by like a whirlwind. I usually don't have as much time to reflect in the moment, so it's nice to have some space to do that.

One thing that all of us newbies tend to have a hard time with is classroom management. Since this was my first year working in behavior classrooms, it was definitely a learning experience for me in Behavior Management 101. Amazingly, I got to throw in quite a few Ken Peterson classics, into the repertoire, as well as picking up a few new moves. (I found Peterson's admonition to leave "teacher power" out of the mix VERY useful in behavior classrooms because there is a setting where you definitely DON'T want to end up in a power struggle with a student!)

I've found that a lot of behavior management strategies can be used in both mainstream and Special Education environments. One thing to consider (if you are a mainstream classroom teacher) when you start getting confronted with "chronic behavior" with a student or students is some classic Special Ed moves. I've found that a lot of mainstream classroom teachers are at a complete loss as to what to do with students who have behavior as an issue on their IEPs, and why not? It's not like most of us ever had any kind of training in Functional Behavior Analysis. (Note: while I'm not even remotely crazy about Behaviorist Psychology, I'll readily concede that there are some useful analytical tools that come out of that school of thought).

Sometimes nothing seems to "work" when you are dealing with certain students. When confronted with a student for whom none of my regular "moves" seem to be working, I ask myself the following (which will sound eerily like the kinds of things you look for when doing a FBA):

1. What needs to be changed in the classroom environment? Is it too loud? Too hot? Too cold? Too cluttery or disorganized? Is the room too crowded? Too bright?

2. What in the academic curriculum is causing the student to have a problem? (A lot of "behavior" is the classic "cry for help"; the student does not understand what to do, so he or she acts out instead of seeking help appropriately.) It's obvious, but worthy of repeating, students who understand what to do and how to do it, are usually more successful.

3. What about the seating arrangement needs to change? When in doubt, try a new seating arrangement. A lot of behavior issues can be solved through seating.

4. Is the student seeking peer attention? Adult attention? Students with low self esteem are notorious offenders here. This one can be tough to address and may be a long term project.

5. Do I need to explicitly teach (or reteach) transition skills or expectations? I've found that this is beneficial with nearly all students.

6. Does the students have social skills deficits? It always comes as a surprise to mainstream classroom teachers how many students may need explicit social skills instruction. I'm glad to see that's currently making a bit of a comeback in some schools/settings. Many students, if nothing else, need some conflict resolution skills.

7. Would the student benefit from having increased choices or options? Sometimes you think, no way is that going to help, but often I find the opposite to be true.

8. Would a schedule change be beneficial? Would it be a good idea to change my instructional sequence.

9. Does the student know what order to complete tasks in? Should I outline the steps more explicitly?

10. Does the student need more time for transitions or task completion?

11. Does the student need a break?

12. Does the student need more personal space?

13. Does the student need fewer visual or auditory distractions?

14. Is the student bored? Sometimes a steady diet of the same ol' same ol' breeds discontent. Sometimes it's a good idea to change materials, add some more hands-on learning tasks, high interest materials, independent projects, etc.

15. Is the student missing your cues? This is very common with students on the autism spectrum, but other kinds of learners have this issue as well. Makes sure you use consistent cues, add some modeling, or visual cues.