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USING A COMPETING BEHAVIOR PATHWAY TO DESIGN AN INTERVENTION

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USING A COMPETING BEHAVIOR PATHWAY TO DESIGN AN INTERVENTION

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Overview of Social Problem

Many students with disabilities display behaviors that are considered "inappropriate" in many schools. These problem behaviors are often the reason a student receives special education services or are removed from their home school. The Individual with Disabilities Education Act (2004) requires educators to complete a functional behavior assessment (FBA) and Positive Behavior Support Plan (PBSP) when a student demonstrates problem behavior. Specifically, the FBA is designed to help determine the underlying function or purpose of behavior. Keep in mind, that all student behavior is purposeful and goal-oriented. Although some problem behaviors maybe socially undesirable, from a student's perspective they serve a function or purpose. In contrast to typical intervention efforts, the "function" of the student's behavior is more critical than its "form."

Historically, a behavior plan would primarily focus on decreasing problem behaviors with little emphasis on the purpose or function of the behavior. Moreover, many behavioral intervention plans were developed without trying to identify and teach prosocial behaviors to the student. However, intervention plans are unlikely to achieve long term success if they do not directly address these two issues. In fact, a problem behavior will often return unless an intervention plan addresses the underlying function of the problem behavior and appropriately identifies an alternative behavior or replacement skill. Both aspects of an intervention plan can be accomplished by using a competing behavioral pathway model.

Competing Behavior Pathway Model

The competing behavior pathway model provides a link between the FBA and the developing PBSP. The model is based on the logic that many different behaviors may serve the same function (e.g., produce the same reinforcing event). The likelihood that a person will use the alternative behavior in the future increases when a positive alternative behavior (e.g., replacement skill) provides the same type of consequence as the problem behavior. Thus, the competing behavior pathway helps to design a multi-component PBSP that identifies competing behavioral alternatives (i.e. Replacement Behavior) to the Target Behavior and determine strategies for making the Target Behavior ineffective, inefficient, or irrelevant through changes to the routine or environment (Crone & Horner, 2003). Stated differently, the basic idea in developing a PBSP based on the competing behaviors model is to make problem behaviors:

irrelevant (there is no need to do them);

inefficient (there are easier behaviors to engage in); and

ineffective (problem behaviors no longer work to produce the desired outcome).

Identifying the Functions of Challenging Behavior:

The competing behavior pathway model involves multiple steps that begin with the completion of an FBA. The primary goal is to determine the function of the problem behavior by examining the variables in the environment. Over the past 30 years, researchers have identified four categories of possible functions for problem behaviors (see Table 1 below). The function of a challenging behavior helps determine what conditions are maintaining or reinforcing a behavior. In fact, challenging behaviors are learned and shaped by reinforcement. A student will continue to repeat the behavior when it is positively reinforced and will likely demonstrate the same behavior when faced with similar conditions in the future. When a behavior is positively reinforced, something in the environment is added that increases a response (attention or access to something). Whereas, negative reinforcement is when a certain stimulus/item is removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. The probability of the particular behavior occurring again in the future is increased because of removing/avoiding the negative stimuli. For negative reinforcement, taking something negative away which increases a response (allows escape from something). Typically, the four functions associated with problem behaviors are 1.) attention, 2.) access, 3.) sensory stimulation, and 4.) multiple functions.

When challenging, behaviors are positively reinforced, they continue to occur or be maintained by gaining access to attention, tangibles, or sensory stimulation. So, the first step in addressing a student's behavior is to systematically examine the variables that influence their interactions within the environment during the FBA. Specifically, the antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) to relate to the problem behavior are analyzed to develop an initial hypotheses or summary statement that identifies what the individuals "gets" or "avoids" as a result of the behavior (Nelson, Roberts & Smith, 1998; Roberts, Marshall, Nelson, & Albers, 2001).

Competing Behavior Model Pathway:

Based on the FBA, four pieces of information should be identified for the competing behavior pathway model as follows: 1.) a definition of the problem behaviors, 2.) identification of the predictor events (immediate antecedents) for problem behaviors, 3.) determination of the maintaining consequence of problem behaviors, and 4.) identification of the setting events relevant to occurrence of problem behaviors. Collectively, these four pieces of information are put together in a summary statement (or hypothesis) regarding the problem behavior that is derived from the FBA. After the FBA summary statement is completed the educational team should determine 5.) the desired behavior in the situation (i.e. what behavior(s) do you really want the person to do?), 6.) the maintaining consequence for the desired behavior, and 7.) the positive alternative behavior (e.g., replacement skill) that will produce the same maintaining consequence as problem behavior (Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer, 2000; McIntyre, (n.d.). The Diagram 1 represented below provides a guiding template for the competing behavior pathway and Table 3 provides an example of how this model looks when completed.

Description of Replacement Behaviors: As you can see in the example above, a replacement skill is an appropriate skill that is maintained by the same consequences as the challenging behavior. Replacement skills are important because they help the individual meet a need in a more suitable way. A replacement behavior also represents the behavior you want to occur instead of the unwanted target behavior (e.g., aggression, destructive behavior, self-injury, or tantrums). For example, what if a student engages in pulling out hair when faced with difficult situations and the function of behavior is negative automatic reinforcement to relieve anxiety. Behavior plans can include response blocking or removal of rewards (e.g., token board) to decrease the behavior. However, while that behavior may decrease, another behavior may pop-up that provides the automatic reinforcement of relieving the anxiety if need for that reinforcement is not addressed. So, the team needs to think about ways the student can access that automatic reinforcement via an alternative behavior or replacement skill in order to truly make a difference for the individual.

Important Considerations When Selecting a Replacement Skill

When selecting replacement skills, there are a few guidelines the team should consider. First, a replacement behavior should be something a student can do or can learn to do. Second, it is important to realize that the more efficient and effective the replacement skill, the more likely it will be used in favor of the challenging behavior. In other words, the replacement behavior should have the same qualities of the challenging behavior. For example, if the student currently has tantrums in order to get attention from the teacher, the student must have a way to gain the same results from the person he/she desires attention from. The replacement skills should always require less effort to produce than the problem behavior. Third, the rewards for engaging in the more appropriate replacement skill should be far greater than that which the student receives for exhibiting challenging behavior. When these conditions occur, the replacement skill will be more likely to increase or used compared to the challenging behaviors (Carr & Durand, 1985). For this reason, the replacement behavior needs to be more efficient than the challenging behavior at accessing the reinforcement.

There are generally three elements that make up efficiency. The replacement behavior has to get the reinforcement (e.g., attention, escape, automatic reinforcement) faster, easier, and more reliably. We can accomplish efficiency of the replacement behavior through the choices we make about the form of behavior we decide to teach as well as about differentiating our response to them (e.g., delay reinforcement for the challenging behavior while reinforcing each instance of the replacement behavior immediately and every time). So, if a tantrum behavior gets the student out of work immediately (i.e., faster) but asking for a break requires the student to do two more problems, then it is less efficient than the challenging behavior and won't be used to replace it.

Likewise, if it's easier to hit someone as opposed to searching for the correct vocabulary word in a communication device to tell the teacher what they want, then hitting is going to prevail. Furthermore, the replacement behavior has to get reinforcement more frequently and more consistently than the challenging behavior. To accomplish this, we need to make sure that the replacement behavior is something that is easily understood and will get the needed response in most situations. If we are teaching a student to ask for attention and the student does so using an idiosyncratic method that is not easily understood by others, then the replacement behavior will not be understood and reinforced across environments. In general, replacement skills must be relevant to the child's unique situation, abilities, and must be an immediately efficient method for communicating wants and needs (see Table 4 for examples).

Effectiveness of PBSP

After the competing behavior pathway is completed, the team outlines and finalizes a PBSP that includes interventions for setting events, antecedents, teacher and consequence interventions. The setting and antecedent strategies focus on prevention of the problem behavior. These pieces of the plan explain how staff will adapt the environment to reduce or eliminate setting events and antecedents that trigger the problem behavior. Examples of these strategies could include classroom management techniques, accommodations and modifications to work, visual strategies, or sensory diets. The teaching strategies focus on what skills can be taught to the student to replace or meet the same function as the students target behavior. Lastly, the consequences strategies focus on how staff will respond effectively and consistently in order to support positive behavior and reduce the intensity and frequency of the target behavior (See Table 5).

What follows is an example of a PBSP and its related components. The plan is based on the competing pathway example found in Table 3.

Once the PBSP is developed, it is important to monitor the effectiveness of the plan. This should include measuring the problem behavior as well as the replacement behavior. Additionally, it is important to monitor if the plan is being implemented as intended (e.g., treatment fidelity/ integrity). PBSP data should be graphed and compared against baseline data to determine the effectiveness of the plan. The use of the replacement skills should be documented to determine if students are learning the skill and if the behavior is maintained over time and/or across settings. If minimal progress is made in decreasing challenging behaviors, increasing replacement skills, the behavior support plan should be reevaluated and refined to improve the effectiveness of the plan (See Table 7). Consequently, the development of the FBA and PBSP should not be viewed as a static event but rather as an ongoing process that is conducted on an ongoing basis to revise the PBSP or address new behavioral concerns.

Behavior is a form of communication that serves a purpose. As educators, we need to teach and reinforce the behaviors we want to see in the classroom. Educators should use the competing behavior pathway model to identify the purpose (function) of behavior and collaboratively develop a PBSP that focus on teaching replacement behaviors in a pro-social manner. In turn, a PBSP that includes setting, antecedent, replacement behavior, and consequence strategies can provide a comprehensive and multi-faceted plan that moves beyond the goal of only reducing problem behaviors by providing a powerful and positive plan that can change a student's life.
Works Cited
Carr, E. G., & Durand, V. M. (1985). Reducing behavior problems through functional communication training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18(2), 111-126.

Crone, D. A., & Horner, R. H. (2003). Building Positive Behavior Support Systems in Schools; Functional Behavioral Assessment. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Horner, R. H., Sugai, g., Todd, A. W., & Lewis-Palmer, T. (2000). Elements of behavioral support plans: A technical brief. Exceptionality, 8(3), 205-216.

McIntyre, T. (n.d.). Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). Retrieved from http://www.behavioradvisor.com/FBA.html.

Nelson, J. Ron; Roberts, Maura L.; Smith, Deborah J. (1998) Conducting Functional Behavioral Assessments: A Practical Guide. Sopris West, 4093 Specialty Place, Longmont, CO 80504.

Roberts, M. L., Marshall, J., Nelson, J.R., & Albers, C. A. (2001) Curriculum-based assessment procedures embedded within functional behavioral assessments: Identifying escape-motivated behaviors in a general education classroom. School Psychology Review, 30 (2), 264-277.

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The Competing Behavior Pathway Model: Developing Function-Based Supports for Students with Problem Behavior

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The Social Innovations Journal's mission is to promote innovative ideas and incubate social innovation and thought leadership (i.e. teaching leaders "how" to think and not "what" to think) to spark a culture of innovation to create new models and systems change. The Social Innovations Journal (SIJ) takes a regional approach to sourcing social innovations and enterprises.

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IRIS | Page 9: Design a Function-Based Intervention

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Once a hypothesis to explain the function of the problem or target behavior has been developed, it’s time to move on to the fourth step in the FBA process: designing a function-based intervention. This process often includes teaching or reinforcing a replacement behavior that serves the same functio…

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THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT - Article

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THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT - Article

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A three-phase process helps build strong teacher-student bonds, which can reduce disruptive behavior.

©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

It's a daunting but all-too-common sight for many teachers: A classroom full of rowdy students who are unable to focus on the lesson. Classroom management techniques may get things back on track, but valuable time has already been lost.

Many experienced teachers know that making meaningful connections with students is one of the most effective ways to prevent disruptions in the first place, and a new study set out to assess this approach. In classrooms where teachers used a series of techniques centered around establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships, academic engagement increased by 33 percent and disruptive behavior decreased by 75 percent-making the time students spent in the classroom more worthwhile and productive.

"Strong teacher-student relationships have long been considered a foundational aspect of a positive school experience," explains Clayton Cook, the lead author of the study and a professor at the University of Minnesota. When those relationships are damaged, student well-being may be affected, leading to academic and behavioral problems.

In the study, teachers used an approach called Establish-Maintain-Restore to build positive interactions with students-a total of 220 in fourth and fifth grade-and boost their sense of belonging. (A follow-up study with middle school teachers used the same strategies, with similar results.) Relationship-building was broken down into three phases: the first meeting, maintenance throughout the school year, and points when a relationship may suffer damage, with useful strategies for each phase.

Since it can be easy for some students to fall through the cracks, a relationship reflection form-like the one we share here-can help teachers take notes on each individual student and highlight ones who need the most attention.

Starting on a Positive Note

At the start of the school year, the teachers in the study made time for establishing relationships. "The goal is to ensure all students feel a sense of belonging that is characterized by trust, connection, and understanding," Cook and his colleagues explain. For students with learning or behavioral problems, cultivating positive relationships provided "protective effects" that helped them stay focused on learning.

"Bank time" with students. Schedule one-on-one meetings with students to get to know them better. The goal is to "make deposits into the relationship" to help ease conflict in the future if you have to give constructive feedback or address disruptive behavior.

Encourage student-led activities. Students feel more invested in their learning if given opportunity to share their interests. Teachers can step aside, be supportive, and listen.

Welcome students into the classroom. Activities such as positive greetings at the door and icebreaker questions help create a warm classroom culture.

Use positive communication techniques. Open-ended questions, reflective listening, validation statements, expressions of enthusiasm or interest, and compliments help students-especially shy or introverted ones-ease into classroom discussions.

To establish positive relationships, teachers can:

Maintaining Relationships

Without active maintenance, relationships deteriorate over time, the study authors point out. Teachers may focus too much on academics and not enough on supporting students' emotional well-being, slowly using up the banked time they initially built up with students.

Take note of positive and negative interactions with students. Teachers should aim for a five-to-one ratio.

Regularly check in with students. Ask how they're doing and what support they may need. In an Edutopia article, Todd Finley explains how 5x5 assessment time helped him focus on a handful of students every day.

Acknowledge good behavior. When teachers focus attention on positive conduct, disruptive behavior is stemmed before it becomes an issue.

Teachers can maintain relationships by continuing to implement the strategies above, and in addition they can:

Repairing Harm Before Things Get Worse

Eventually, negative interactions such as misunderstandings, conflict, or criticism can weaken a teacher-student relationship. If these negative interactions are left unaddressed, students may feel disengaged and be less willing to participate in activities. They may also be more likely to misbehave, creating further damage. So it's important for teachers to "intentionally reconnect" with students to restore the relationship to a positive state.

Let go and start fresh. Teachers should avoid holding mistakes over a student's head, instead giving them a chance to start each day with a clean slate.

Take responsibility for their actions. Teachers can avoid blaming students when things go wrong, and think, "What could I have done to avoid the problem in the first place?" They shouldn't be afraid to apologize when that's called for-doing so helps build trust with students.

Show empathy. There are two sides to every story, and a teacher can acknowledge that students may have a different perspective about what happened.

Focus on solutions, not problems. Teachers can work with students to find a solution that everyone feels is fair.

Separate the deed from the doer. It's important to criticize the behavior, not the person. If teachers label children as "problem students," there's a danger that they'll internalize that label, making it more likely that they'll repeat the behavior in the future.

When relationships need repair, teachers can:

The takeaway: Effective classroom management starts with relationship building. When students feel a greater sense of belonging, they're more likely to be academically engaged and demonstrate positive behavior.

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The Key to Effective Classroom Management

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A three-phase process helps build strong teacher-student bonds, which can reduce disruptive behavior.

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SCHOOL REFUSAL: 8 EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES - Article

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SCHOOL REFUSAL: 8 EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES - Article

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School professionals and parents/guardians need to work together in proactively addressing the issue of school refusal. An effective means to help the child make it out the front door and into the classroom is to consistently employ supportive home and school-based interventions.

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School refusal impacts between 2 and 5% of students. 1 This anxiety-based mental health issue ranges from mild separation anxiety to more severe cases of anxiety or depression that can cause young adolescents to miss weeks or months of school each year. School-based counseling can provide effective interventions that help students improve attendance and enjoy learning again.

School professionals and parents/guardians need to work together in proactively addressing the issue of school refusal. An effective means to help the child make it out the front door and into the classroom is to consistently employ supportive home and school-based interventions.

Pushing Creates Resistance

It is important to keep in mind that school refusal is a mental health issue that goes beyond childhood tantrums or adolescent defiance. Because the root cause is anxiety, addressing that issue by restoring a feeling of safety while maintaining clear expectations and accountabilities will best guide the student back into a productive educational experience.

The ideal team to effect change may include teachers, family, an adolescent therapist, and any specialist working with the child outside of school. A unified message is critical. Parents, guardians, and school professionals should be aligned in implementing some or all of the following interventions:

1. Assess and Collaborate.

A comprehensive medical and psychological evaluation will identify the underlying causes of school refusal. A multi-disciplinary school meeting including parents/guardians will ensure a unified decision on how to address those issues and assign responsible roles.

2. Address Underlying Causes.

Strategies to reduce anxiety and foster confidence include cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation training, and systemic desensitization. School-based mental health clinicians can coordinate care with outside providers and agencies as needed.

3. Plan A Successful Re-Entry.

The student's support team should work together to create a suitable re-entry plan. This might involve arriving early, planned breaks, involvement of a student aide, etc. Having the student participate in creating a step-by-step plan for a successful day will offer them a feeling of greater control and safety during the transition.

4. Establish Routine and Structure.

Predictable home and school routines reduce anxiety. Avoid over-scheduling and establish regular bedtime and morning routines. A safe launch pad at school might be part of this routine, allowing the child to report to an emotionally neutral place like a counselor's office at the start of their school day.

5. Implement Incremental Consequences.

Not every child will immediately embrace the new routine. Making the stay-at-home experience less comfortable is the motivating counterpoint to making school more comfortable. Appropriate consequences for continued refusal involve limiting or removing daily pleasurable privileges, like access to television, cell phones, or video games.

6. Encourage Healthy Habits.

Sleep deprivation and inactivity contribute to anxiety and depression. Encourage the student to get adequate sleep, exercise regularly, and eat a healthy diet. Address the child's concerns early in the evening rather than continuing a cycle of conflict in the mornings to reduce anxiety-related insomnia.

7. Support Social Involvement.

Help the student develop and maintain social relationships that provide motivation to attend school. Social skills training, team activities, and group therapy can help students develop trust, compassion, and healthy friendships. An assigned peer buddy for recess, lunch, and unstructured time before and after school may bridge the gap.

8. Maintain Team Communication.

The student's support team should continue to collaborate regarding progress and new challenges on a daily basis. Once the child is attending school regularly, make clear to the student that resources and counseling are always available if he or she needs help. If multiple tardy days or absences occur in the future, the team should come together again to create a new action plan.

Support Creates Motivation

If students do not receive the support that enables them to express their feelings of anxiety, school refusal or avoidance can become increasingly entrenched, resulting in social isolation and education gaps. By coming together to identify and address the root causes, parents, educators, and Thrive clinicians can fuel students' motivation to overcome their fears and successfully return to school in a safe and supportive environment.

If you would like to know more about how Thrive partners with school districts and educators to prevent and treat school refusal or avoidance behaviors through comprehensive school-based counseling programs, call or contact us for additional resources and information.
Source:
1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/worry-free-kids/201710/how-help-child-overcome-school-refusal

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School Refusal: 8 Effective Intervention Strategies

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School refusal impacts between 2 and 5% of students. 1 This anxiety-based mental health issue ranges from mild separation anxiety to more severe cases of anxiety or depression that can cause young adolescents to miss weeks or months of school each year. School-based counseling can provide effective interventions that help students improve attendance and enjoy learning again.

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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR - Video

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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR - Video

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Every teachers know that the first step to managing a student's education is managing disruptive behavior in the classroom. In this video, we hope to provide teachers with some classroom management tips to help reduce stress and frustration when your classroom is being disruptive.

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Classroom Management Strategies for Disruptive Behavior

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TEACHING SELF-REGULATION BY MODELING - Video

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TEACHING SELF-REGULATION BY MODELING - Video

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When teachers explicitly recognize and respond to their emotions in class, students learn to engage in these processes themselves

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BUILDING TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOLS - Training Package

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BUILDING TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOLS - Training Package

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source: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Building%20TSS%20Handout%20Packet_ALL.pdf

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TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOL CHECKLIST - Resource

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TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOL CHECKLIST - Resource

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Lesley University - Center for Special Education
Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative
of Massachusetts Advocates for Children
and the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School

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GROUNDING/STRESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS - Resource

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GROUNDING/STRESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS - Resource

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Dr. Nicole Christian Braithwaite
source: https://www.wellmindsconsulting.com/resources.php

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TEN ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION - Resource

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TEN ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION - Resource

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Impact Feature Issue on Fostering Success in School and Beyond for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders
source: https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/18-2/ten-alternatives-to-suspension

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WAYS TO IMPLEMENT RESTORATIVE PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM - Blog Post

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WAYS TO IMPLEMENT RESTORATIVE PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM - Blog Post

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This is the first post of a two-part series
source: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-ways-to-implement-restorative-practices-in-the-classroom/2020/01

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Ways to Implement Restorative Practices in the Classroom (Opinion)

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Some students do not respond to tier 1 universal academic and behavioral instruction. These students who need additional support display minor and fewer major misbehaviors than students getting tier 3 supports. The goal is to provide support to these students to meet their needs, to keep them in class learning and to avoid escalation to more intensive services. This is a manual for implementing tier 2 supports in the classroom.

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TIPS FOR RESPONDING TO CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IN YOUNG CHILDREN - Article

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TIPS FOR RESPONDING TO CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IN YOUNG CHILDREN - Article

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source: https://www.pbis.org/resource/tips-for-responding-to-challenging-behavior-in-young-children

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Tips for Responding to Challenging Behavior

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Restorative question card formatted to print. Questions used to respond to challenging behavior and to help those harmed by other’s actions.
source: https://www.pbis.org/resource/restorative-questions

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WHAT MAKES A GREAT TEACHER FOR STUDENTS WITH LD? - Article

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WHAT MAKES A GREAT TEACHER FOR STUDENTS WITH LD? - Article

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What Makes a Great Teacher for Students with LD by Jerome J. Schultz
source: https://www.jeromeschultz.com/html/publications.php

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What Makes a Great Teacher for Students with LD

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LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF: WHAT I WISH MY TEACHERS KNEW ABOUT ME - Resource

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LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF: WHAT I WISH MY TEACHERS KNEW ABOUT ME - Resource

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Let Me Introduce Myself: "What I Wish My Teachers Knew About Me: A Free Template for Kids"
source: https://www.additudemag.com/

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WHY SCHOOL STRESS IS DEVASTATING FOR OUR CHILDREN -  Article

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WHY SCHOOL STRESS IS DEVASTATING FOR OUR CHILDREN -  Article

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Chronic stress at school can make kids (particularly those with ADHD or LD) dread going — and change their brains for the worse. But parents and teachers can help alleviate the stress that is stopping these bright kids from succeeding. Jerome J. Schultz

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For over 35 years, I've carried out comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations of kids and young adults, seeking to confirm, clarify, or rule out a diagnosis of ADHD. I've focused on the relationship between attention and the learning disabilities that often go along with ADHD. My role as a diagnostician has been to identify a pattern of neurocognitive weaknesses and strengths, so that I can help my clients and their parents better understand how they learn best.

An important part of the neuropsychological evaluation is to teach students what they can do to overcome or work around impediments to efficient learning and manage stress at school. This process is helpful, but it often falls short of my goal of helping a client change his or her learning trajectory. Many times, after I used test results to explain a client's learning profile or convince a student that he or she had the cognitive capability to do well in school, I heard, "If I'm so smart, why do I feel dumb all the time?"

I felt compelled to find an answer to this question, and set out to do that.
[Free Handout: What I Wish My Teachers Knew]
The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

If you're the kind of parent I've come to know, understand, and respect over the years-the parent of a child with ADHD or LD-you've probably heard the following words from your child:

"I hate school! I don't want to go. You can't make me go!" "I hate my teachers, the kids are mean to me, everything we do is stupid!" "They try to teach us stuff I'll never need. It's so boring!"

Getting your kid off to school in the morning can be traumatic for the family. Cajoling, soothing talk, and bribery aren't always enough to get your kid into the car or on the bus. How many times have you given up and said, "OK, you can stay home, but this is a one-time deal!" Then the tears dry up (yours and your child's), the mood gets calm, and things seem back in balance. But you know the problem has not been solved. Your spouse shakes his head as he leaves for work, and you feel like you've failed again. Your kid seems relieved, but you sense that she feels like a failure, too.

If you haven't figured out why this happens over and over again (even though your child is a bright kid who acts like an angel as long as she's not asked to do anything related to school), I have the answer. I've come to believe that stress is a key factor in solving the ADHD/LD puzzle. I believe that a better understanding of stress among parents, teachers, and learners is the key to unlocking academic potential. Such understanding will lead to a more satisfying, productive life.
[Setting Realistic Expectations at School]
It's a sad fact that many students with LD or ADHD have more failures than successful moments in school, and this affects their attitude toward learning and their behavior. A student with impediments to learning needs a developmentally appropriate level of knowledge about his own cognitive profile. Without it, he is likely to attribute his lack of success to a lack of ability or intelligence.

Repeated bouts of fear, frustration, and failure in school create stress that builds up over time. This state of mind is actually neurologically damaging. It impairs brain function by fouling up the brain's chemistry and even shrinking critically important neural brain tissue, making problems with learning and attention worse.

Chronic stress decreases memory and cognitive flexibility, as it increases anxiety and vigilance. This ratchets up a student's alert level and gives rise to a protective defensiveness. As a result, too much energy is put into escaping the threat by avoidance, resistance, or negativity (see "Stress Tests").

When teachers, administrators, and parents misread this behavior as willful or oppositional-not the defensive, protective stance of a student trying to avoid looking inadequate-they compound the problem by casting the student as a bad kid. Most students would rather be thought of as a "troublemaker" or a "class clown" than as stupid, and many, therefore, live up to their reputations.
[5 School Assessments Your Child May Be Entitled To]
We are equipped with the ability to perceive threatening events in our environment (stressors), and to respond in ways that keep us safe. A saber-tooth tiger at the mouth of the cave meant trouble for our ancestors. Their senses were so sharp that they knew the beast was there even before the firelight revealed its menacing eyes or large teeth. This early-warning system helped them stave off or escape from danger. We are equipped with the same protective mechanisms that kept our ancestors alive and allowed us to develop as a species. Faced with real or perceived fear, we respond by fighting or fleeing. This is not a conscious choice; under stress, the so-called fear centers deep within our brain (most notably the amygdala) go on high alert.

When the fear centers of the brain are activated, the area of the cortex in the front part of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex, is de-activated. The prefrontal cortex, along with the basal ganglia and the thalamus, controls the executive functions (organizing, planning, and executing tasks efficiently) that are critical to learning. In kids who are already at risk for academic difficulty because of ADHD, the secondary impact of stress puts them in a tailspin. Just when they need this important part of the brain, it shuts down. When stress goes up, cognitive ability goes down. In fact, research shows that chronic stress is associated with a larger amygdala and a decrease in the size of the cerebral cortex, suggesting that repeated, highly negative experiences actually re-form the architecture of our brain.

The mental relationship a child has with a challenging task in great part determines how he or she deals with what comes his or her way. When kids believe that they have little control over a task, and they are about to look ignorant or incompetent (yet again), this triggers the stress response. When a kid's brain is sending the message that "This is too difficult! There's no way I can do this!" the task becomes their saber-tooth tiger. Fear centers go on high alert, and the thinking part of the brain shuts down in the service of survival. It's a circular, self-perpetuating cycle of fear, avoidance, and escape.

In my book Nowhere to Hide: Why Kids with ADHD & LD Hate School and What We Can Do About It, I use the term "saving F.A.S.E." to explain this phenomenon. Thousands of kids around the world are caught up in this cycle of defeat. Hundreds of teachers are reacting in absolutely the wrong way and making the problem worse. Only when children and adults understand this, and know how to break the cycle, will things get better.

The impact of stress on the brain is not all bad. Tolerable stress helps the brain grow and can inoculate a child from the negative impact of stress in the future. The key is to interpret the cause of stress so that it can be managed effectively. This means using stress as the fuel for success and not letting it turn inward to erode confidence and competence.

Neuroscientist and Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, M.D., explained that just as fear, distress, and anxiety change the brain to generate sequences of destructive behaviors, the right interventions turn the cycle around. That's what my DE-STRESS model aims to accomplish. It includes the following steps:

Define the condition. Make sure that the adults involved in the child's life understand and agree on the cause of the challenges. If there are "dueling diagnoses," valuable energy is wasted on disagreements, legal challenges, and "doc-shopping" to resolve differences of opinion. The adults need to come to some consensus about the child's condition. A plan built on guesses or misinformation is destined to fail.

Educate. Informed adults (parents, psychologists, teachers) need to educate the child about the nature of his/her challenges. Only an informed child can be a self-advocate.

Speculate. Think about how the child's strengths and assets, as well as his challenges, will impact his prospects going forward. Think ahead: What's going to get in the way of success and what should be done to minimize disappointments and derailments?

Teach. Educate the child about how to use strategies that will address his specific needs and maximize his success. Give the student the tools he needs to take this bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground.

Reduce the risk. Create learning environments that focus on success and that minimize the risk of failure (small classes, individualized attention and support, providing time and space to reinforce learning, decreasing distractions).

Exercise. There is scientific evidence that physical activity reduces stress. Make sure that the student is engaged in a regular program of physical activity. Collect evidence that shows that exercise enhances mood and learning.

Success. Replace doubt with confidence by creating a learning environment that allows the student to experience success more often than failure. Make sure that fear, frustration, and failure are overshadowed by successes. Show the child that confidence and control are by-products of being competent. Help the child internalize a mantra: "Control through competence."

Strategize. Use what you and your child have learned about achieving success in order to plan ahead. Find opportunities to confirm that confidence and a stress-reducing sense of control come naturally from feeling competent. Teachers and parents should make learning from errors part of the plan, and help the child move from strength to strength.

Unless students have the opportunity to learn skills that allow them to bypass or overcome learning weaknesses, they are likely to exhibit the fight-or-flight response. Fortunately, the changes in neuronal circuitry associated with chronic stress are reversible in a healthy, resilient brain. Appropriate interventions like the ones mentioned above are simple, cost no money, and can result in re-setting the brain to a healthy state. Looking at stress through this lens will lead to better learning, enhanced self-esteem, and improved behavior.

The ADHD/LD label is not as disabling as one's view of the label's meaning.

Students who know they have a learning disability but who identify with the negative aspects of that label experience what researchers Claude M. Steele, Ph.D., and Joshua Aronson, Ph.D., call "stereotype threat." Kids worry constantly that they will do something to confirm the stereotype that students with ADHD/LD are less competent than other kids.

Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann, Ed.D., and Samantha Daley, Ed.D., M.Ed., at the Center for Applied Special Technology, in Wakefield, Massachusetts, are currently working on projects funded by the National Science Foundation to better understand stigma and stereotype threat in the classroom. They have found that when students in a research project have to identify as having a learning disability before starting an academic task, they perform more poorly than a similar group of students who are not asked if they have a learning disability. Some take this as evidence that it is the label itself that is disabling, and make a case for not using it.

I believe that when a student does not understand his or her condition (in other words, his or her label), this can lead to a self-assigned label: "I have ADHD. I can't focus well enough to do math. I'm stupid." This is more disabling than the terms ADHD or LD.

My work in schools supports my view that stereotype threat, and the stress it causes, can be countered with positive self-attributions related to the disability label. Having had the opportunity to visit hundreds of programs for kids with ADHD/LD across the U.S., I have seen that those schools and teachers that give self-awareness and self-advocacy training, coupled with specialized approaches that lead to helping the student master academics, have found an antidote to stereotype threat that can be a central feature of the ADHD/LD profile.

Stress Tests

These behaviors are good indicators that your child may be under stress at school:

Refusal to do the work (passive or aggressive negativity)

Devaluation of the task ("This is so stupid")

Acting up or acting out to direct attention away from the challenging task

Acting "in" or becoming sad and withdrawn

Exhibiting signs of anxiety (sweaty palms, tremors, headaches, difficulty breathing)

Becoming engrossed in a task in which he is successful or one that's fun (refusing to stop writing a story or doing a drawing, turn off a video game, or to take off a headset and stop listening to his favorite music)

Efforts to encourage ("I know you can do this") are met with more resistance
Asking an adult to stay close and help with every problem (over-dependence)

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Why School Stress Is Devastating for Our Children

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Chronic stress at school can make kids (particularly those with ADHD or LD) dread going - and change their brains for the worse. But parents and teachers can help alleviate the stress that is stopping these bright kids from succeeding.

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20 TIPS TO HELP DE-ESCALATE INTERACTIONS WITH ANXIOUS OR DEFIANT STUDENTS - Article

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20 TIPS TO HELP DE-ESCALATE INTERACTIONS WITH ANXIOUS OR DEFIANT STUDENTS - Article

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Students’ behavior is a form of communication and when it’s negative it almost always stems from an underlying cause. There are many reasons kids might be acting out, which makes it difficult for a teacher in a crowded classroom to figure out the root cause.

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Anxiety is a huge barrier to learning and very difficult for educators to identify. "When anxiety is fueling the behavior, it's the most confusing and complicated to figure out," Minahan said. That's because a student isn't always anxious; it tends to come and go based on events in their lives, so their difficulties aren't consistent. When we are anxious our working memory tanks, making it very difficult to recall any salient information.

Researchers surveyed a group of first graders none of whom had any reading or math disabilities. Those who had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder were eight times more likely to be in the lowest achieving group in reading, and two-point-five times more likely to be in the lowest quartile in math achievement by the spring.

"Anxiety is a learning disability; it inhibits your ability to learn," Minahan said. But it isn't usually recognized as a learning disability and there is almost never a plan for how to address it in the classroom. "For kids with anxiety, the 'can'ts fluctuate," Minahan said. "When they're calm they can. When they're anxious they can't. And that's very deceiving."

Anxiety isn't about ability, it's about interference, which means that traditional rewards and consequences don't often work with this group of learners.

"Rewards and consequences are super helpful to increase motivation for something I'm able to do," Minahan said. But an anxious person's brain has shut down and they aren't able in that moment to complete the task being asked of them. The best way to combat this tricky problem is to try to prevent anxiety triggers and build up students' social and emotional skills to cope with the moments when anxiety sets in.

When kids are in the throes of bad behavior they have poor self-regulation skills, often get into negative thinking cycles that they can't stop, have poor executive functioning, become inflexible thinkers and lose social skills like the ability to think about another person's perspective. That's why kids can seem so unempathetic when teachers ask, "how do you think that made Sam feel?" At that moment, the student acting out has no ability to take Sam's perspective, but a few hours later or the next day, he might be able to show the remorse educators want to see.

ALL BEHAVIOR HAS A FUNCTION

Bad behavior is often connected to seeking attention, and when kids act out, they can see the results.* "Negative attention is way easier to get and hands down easier to understand," Minahan said. "It's much more efficient." Adults tend to be unpredictable with attention when a student is doing what she is supposed to do, but as soon as there's a dramatic, obvious tantrum, the student has the teacher's attention. And negative attention is powerful -- one student can hijack a whole classroom.

A common teacher response to low-level negative attention seeking is to ignore the student. The teacher doesn't want to reward bad behavior. "I want to caution you about ignoring someone with anxiety because their anxiety goes up," Minahan said. Ignoring an already anxious student can accidentally convey the message that the teacher doesn't care about the student, and worse might escalate the situation. Perhaps a teacher can ignore a student tapping his pencil or banging on his desk, but threatening behavior can't be ignored. And the student learns exactly what level of behavior he must exhibit to get attention.

TIP 1: Instead, "what you need to do is make positive attention compete better," Minahan said. She often suggests that teachers actively engage the most difficult student at the beginning of class saying something like, "I can't wait to see what you think of this assignment. I'm going to check on you in 5 minutes." When the teacher actually comes back in five minutes, validates the student's progress, and tells her another check-in is coming in ten minutes it sets up a pattern of predictable attention for positive behavior. And while it might seem unfair to take that extra time and care with one student, it ultimately saves instruction time when a teacher doesn't have to deal with a tantrum that sends the student out of the room.

TIP 2: Often in an attempt to form a positive relationship with a student teachers will publicly praise positive behavior. That can backfire, especially with anxious kids who don't want any extra attention from peers. Private or non-verbal praise is often better. Minahan recommends pulling students aside at the beginning of the year to ask how teachers can best tell them they're proud. "It's a gift to your February self if you can figure out a system now, otherwise you'll get stuck on the negative attention scale," Minahan said.

Tip 2.1: She also recommends fact-based praise as opposed to general praise. Vague praise is easy to dismiss.
ANTECEDENTS TO BAD BEHAVIOR
Many kids have predictable anxiety triggers like unstructured time, transitions, writing tasks, social demands or any unexpected change. Similarly the antecedents of negative behavior are fairly predictable: unfacilitated social interactions, interaction with an authoritative adult, being asked to wait, when demands are placed, being told no, writing, and transitions.**

Tip 3: "Teach waiting now," Minahan said. "When you are anxious, despite your age, it's very hard to wait." She was asked to observe a boy who constantly disrupted class. Minahan soon noticed the boy often did his work, but if he finished early or there was downtime in the class, he would start causing trouble. When Minahan pointed this out to him he had no idea what "wait time" was. She had to spell out to him that when he finished a task he should apply a strategy, like turning over the paper and doodling appropriately on the back. After this small intervention the student's behavior was so improved that his teacher thought he'd gone on medication.

'You can have really bright, able children whose anxiety is interfering so much.'

For kids with anxiety, there are a number of strategies teachers can employ. The first is not to take any student behavior personally. The student isn't trying to manipulate or torture the teacher, his behavior is reflecting something going on internally. Often a short movement break can help relieve anxiety, but not the way they are commonly given.

Minahan described a seventh grade girl who was recovering from an eating disorder. The girl was scraping her arms so badly they would bleed. After lunch, predictably, the behavior was worse, so her teachers were letting her color and draw to relieve her anxiety. Another common break is to tell a student to go get a drink of water down the hall. The coloring break wasn't working for this seventh grader and Minahan soon figured out why. "We accidentally left her alone to fester in her anxious thoughts," she said.

Tip 4: Leaving class doesn't give the student a break from internal negative thoughts like "I'm fat," or "I'm not smart enough," which paralyze thinking. But a break paired with a cognitive distraction does offer respite from the "all or nothing" thinking that's so common with anxious students. An older student might take a break and record herself reading a book out loud for a younger student with dyslexia. It's impossible to read out loud and think another thought. Other distractions could include sports trivia, sudoku or crossword puzzles. Little kids might do a Where's Waldo or look through a Highlight magazine for the hidden picture.

Tip 5: When teachers want to wrap up a task they often use a countdown. "Silent reading time is going to be over in five minutes." But counting down doesn't support a high achieving anxious child who feels she must finish. And it takes a lot of executive function skills and cognitive flexibility to fight the urge to keep going after the time is up. So instead of counting down, a teacher might walk over to that student and say, let's find a good stopping point. She may stop a minute later than the rest of the class when she reaches the designated point, but it won't escalate into a tug-of-war.

Transitions are another common time for kids to act out. Younger students often don't want to come in from recess, for example. But when a teacher says, "Line up. Recess is over. It's time for your spelling quiz," it's no wonder the student doesn't want to go from something he loves to something he hates.

Tip 6: The teacher can give students an in-between step to make the transition more palatable. Go from recess, to two minutes of coloring, to the spelling quiz. The intermediary step gives that non-compliant student behavioral momentum. He's already sitting down, quiet, with pen in hand, so the jump to spelling isn't as jarring.

For middle and high school students, school is all about being social, but the only times students get to see their friends are in the two to five minute passing periods between classes. Again, the transition is from something they love to something they hate, so don't make that transition extra hard by collecting homework as they come in the door. The toughest kids are probably already not doing well in the class, and a reminder of the homework exacerbates feelings of inadequacy.

Tip 7: One high school geometry teacher started playing two minute YouTube videos about geometry as students came into class. It got students from the hallway into the classroom without thinking negatively and her class started to run more smoothly. She didn't have the same interruptions she used to, which made the lost two minutes seem worth it.

Tip 8: Minahan also likes some of the biofeedback tools that are now available, like the EmWave. A wound up student puts a sensor on his finger and calming down becomes a game. He might start out with a picture of a black and white forest, but as he calms down (and the sensor monitors his heart rate) the colors start to pop in. It can take as little as two to five minutes to completely calm a kid down when they can see the feedback so clearly.

"I like it because it's so concrete," Minahan said. A student with high functioning autism might not even know what a teacher means by "calm down," but with the biofeedback device she can see what it means.

WORK AVOIDANCE

Minahan says it's very common for students to have trouble initiating work, persisting through work and asking for help, but there are strategies to help kids build the skills to get better in these areas.

"You can have really bright, able children whose anxiety is interfering so much," Minahan said. The anxiety isn't coming from nowhere; it's coming from prior experiences of feeling frozen and stupid. In that moment the child's working memory isn't working, so teachers need to find ways to bypass it until the anxiety passes.

Tip 9: One way is to let students preview the work for the day. In the morning, an elementary school teacher might work on the first few problems with the anxious child so she knows she can do it. Then, when it's time for that work later in the day, that child receives the sheet she's already started and can go from there.

Tip 9.1: In high school, teachers can give students with trouble initiating the preview as homework. Students can start at home without any pressure and continue at school. "Fight or flight is the worst when they first see it," Minahan said, so try to bypass that moment and prevent a breakdown.

Tip 10: At the same time, when the teacher names the strategies a student is employing, he is helping the student build a toolbox that can be used independently. Strategies might include, asking a teacher to help her start when she feels frozen, or asking to preview the homework. For perfectionist students, difficulty starting can stem from a fear of messing up. Give those students dry erase boards, where the mess ups can be easily erased. It helps when teachers treat the difficulty starting as a small problem and say something like, "Looks like you're not initiating. What strategy are you going to use?"

'When I shift the reinforcement to skills, I've noticed the skills go up and that's what makes the difference for the kids who have mental health difficulties.'

Tip 11: Some strategies to build persistence include skipping the hard ones and doing the ones a student knows first, working with a buddy, and double checking work on problems that have been completed.

Giving help in class is often a tricky balance, especially if a student is too embarrassed to ask vocally. Instead of acting out because she can't do the work, the student might raise her hand, pass the teacher a note or make eye contact. Then the teacher has to be careful not to give too much help. "We accidentally create dependency because we help so much," Minahan said.

That goes for academics as well as behavior. Often a teacher will notice a student becoming agitated and dysregulated and tell him to take a short walk. But ultimately the student will be better served if he can learn to monitor himself and implement strategies when he notices early signs of agitation. "Kids have to learn how to catch themselves on the way up and calm down there," Minahan said, because that's when the strategies work. But kids need to be taught how to recognize the signs.

Tip 12: Teach kids how to do a body check. With younger students a teacher can describe the signs of agitation as they are happening so the student starts to recognize them. With older students, ask them where in their body they feel anxious, for example, "in your belly?" "Give them the data every day," Minahan said. "This is your body on the way up." After the groundwork has been laid, a teacher can just say "body check, please" to let a student know it's time to check in with themselves and start using a strategy.

But what can you do when a kid is already exploding? Minahan says, not much because the child will have a very hard time reacting in a reasonable way once he or she is riled up.

Tip 13: What educators can do is anticipate those moments and rehearse self-calming strategies when the child is calm.

In one case, Minahan knew an elementary student she was working with was going to have a traumatic change in her life. The child's mom was giving her up to foster care and the date had been set. To prepare for what would undoubtedly be a moment when the student couldn't control herself, Minahan had her practice self-calming in the social worker's office, where she would probably go on the day. Twice a day for five minutes she rehearsed a self-calming routine when she was already calm so her working memory was available and she was learning the strategies.

When the day came and the child did freak out, Minahan quickly got her into the office with very little touching or verbal interaction which might further set her off. Once there, the girl got into her routine, and started singing to herself as a cognitive distraction. "The rehearsal allowed for automaticity and did not require cognition or working memory in that moment," Minahan said.

Tip 14: Rehearse replies to confrontations. Minahan worked with a high school student who constantly got in fights. If he felt disrespected he'd start swinging. Together they rehearsed over and over him saying, "I don't have time for this," and walking away. During the rehearsals, Minahan gave him something to hold in his hands as he said this. And soon, he stopped getting in fights. It gave him the moment he needed to make a decision not to use his fists and a go-to automatic reply.

Tip 15: Use data to disprove negative thinking. Writing is a common barrier for kids with anxiety, Minahan said. But one way to begin getting students past this hurdle is to ask them how hard a task will be before they start and again after they've completed it. Almost always the perception of the task is worse than the actual task. With several weeks of data you can show students the pattern in their responses.

Minahan worked with a girl who hated writing so much that she was skipping school twice a week. She would often say that writing was torture to her. Minahan broke writing down into component parts with corresponding strategies for getting started on each part. When the student worked on a writing task Minahan would ask her how many strategies she employed. Often the girl didn't use that many strategies, which didn't fit with her own conception of herself. "We reframed her whole thinking and she felt more empowered to solve her problems," Minahan said.

INTERACTION STRATEGIES

In any interaction with students teachers can only control their own behavior, but that's actually a lot of power. "We are 50% of every interaction with a child," Minahan said. "We have a lot of control over that interaction."

Tip 16: If a teacher gets off on the wrong foot with a student early in the year, try randomly being kind to the child, rather than only giving positive attention based on his or her behavior. This kind of noncontingent reinforcement helps the child to see the teacher likes him for who he is, not because he does math well or reads perfectly, Minahan said.

Tip 17: In areas where the difficult student is competent, give her a leadership role. Maybe let her take a younger child to the nurse or start an activity club. This helps change the child's perception of herself and also her relationship to the teacher.

Tip 18: When demanding something of a student, don't ask yes or no questions and teach kids not to ask yes or no questions. In that scenario, someone has a 50 percent chance of being disappointed with the answer. By changing the question, the teacher opens the door for the answer to be diffusing, rather than an escalation of defiance. For example, if a student asks, "Can I work with Jack?" The teacher can reframe the question: "Oh, did you want to know when you could work with Jack? You can ask: When can I work with Jack." The student might not like the answer, but it likely won't produce the same explosive reaction as getting an outright "no."

Tip 19: Give kids time and space. If a student is prone to arguing, eye contact and physical proximity can escalate potential protests.*** For example, if a kid is humming in an annoying way, a typical teacher move might be to make eye contact with the child and shake your head to get him to stop. But in this situation eye-contact is non-verbally asking the child for a response, which he may be incapable of giving at that moment. Instead, calmly walk over and put a note on his desk that says, "please stop humming." Then run away and do not make eye contact with that student for a few minutes.

"The initial reaction is not pleasant and you have to wait for them to de-escalate before they can comply," Minahan said. Sometimes the mere presence of the teacher prevents that de-escalation.

Tip 20: Reward practice or strategy use, not performance. "When I shift the reinforcement to skills, I've noticed the skills go up and that's what makes the difference for the kids who have mental health difficulties," Minahan said. Ultimately, educators are teaching kids the skills and strategies that they can then use throughout their life when they're anxious, so rewarding practice makes sense.

The more teachers can empathize with students, teaching skill building and focus on preventing challenging behavior, the smoother the classroom will run. Often that means learning about the student in order to identify triggers and design new ways of interacting with even the most challenging students.

*An earlier version of this post overstated the connection between bad behavior and seeking attention.
**An earlier version of this sentence highlighted only one type of negative behavior -- fighting.
*** This section was updated to include the situations under which eye contact could make a situation worse for a student. We regret these errors.

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FUNCTION-BASED INTERVENTION STRATEGIES - Handout

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The following tables provide possible intervention strategies to incorporate into a comprehensive behavior intervention plan based on the function of the problem behavior. Additional resources are listed at this end of this handout.

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WANT POSITIVE BEHAVIOR? USE POSITIVE LANGUAGE - Article

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WANT POSITIVE BEHAVIOR? USE POSITIVE LANGUAGE - Article

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responsiveclassroom.org

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CREATING A CLASSROOM THAT PROMOTES POSITIVE BEHAVIOR - Book Chapter

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CREATING A CLASSROOM THAT PROMOTES POSITIVE BEHAVIOR - Book Chapter

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Chapter 7

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Creating a Classroom that Promotes Positive Behavior

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Understanding ADHD

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Inspirational Video- Be a Mr. Jensen- MUST WATCH!!

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EVERY KID NEEDS A CHAMPION - RITA PIERSON - Video

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EVERY KID NEEDS A CHAMPION - RITA PIERSON - Video

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Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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CHANGING WHAT TEACHERS SAY CHANGES WHAT THEY DO - Article

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CHANGING WHAT TEACHERS SAY CHANGES WHAT THEY DO - Article

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Changing What Teachers Say Changes What They Do:

Increasing Their Specific Praise of Student Behavior

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Changing what teachers say changes what they do

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BEHAVIOR-SPECIFIC PRAISE IN THE CLASSROOM - Article

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BEHAVIOR-SPECIFIC PRAISE IN THE CLASSROOM - Article

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Tennessee Behavior Supports Project @ Vanderbilt University

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Behavior Specific Praise in the Classroom

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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD BOY: CIRCUMSTANCES VIEW OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR - Article

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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD BOY: CIRCUMSTANCES VIEW OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR - Article

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There is no such thing as a bad boy: The Circumstances View of problem behavior - Pat Friman BoysTown & The University of Nebraska School of Medicine

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There is no such thing as a bad boy_ The Circumstances View of problem behavior

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I DIDN'T KNOW HER CIRCUMSTANCES - PAT FRIMAN - Video

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I DIDN'T KNOW HER CIRCUMSTANCES - PAT FRIMAN - Video

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Circumstances view of behavior - Pat Friman - BoysTown

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I Didn't Know Her Circumstances | Pat Friman (BCBA, RBT, BACB)

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10 THINGS ABOUT CHILDHOOD TRAUMA EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO KNOW - Article

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10 THINGS ABOUT CHILDHOOD TRAUMA EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO KNOW - Article

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For children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. WeAreTeachers Staff on July 17, 2019

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10 Things About Childhood Trauma Every Teacher Needs to Know

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TRAUMA-INFORMED TEACHING STRATEGIES - Article

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TRAUMA-INFORMED TEACHING STRATEGIES - Article

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Small changes in classroom interactions can make a big difference for traumatized students.- Jessica Minahan

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POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT STRATEGIES - TIP SHEET - Resource

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POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT STRATEGIES - TIP SHEET - Resource

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Definition/Rationale/Implementation/Evidence

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THE FAIR BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN TEMPLATE - Resource

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THE FAIR BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLAN TEMPLATE - Resource

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Adapted from “The Behavior Code:  Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students,” Jessica Minahan and Nancy Rappaport, Harvard Education Press, 2012.

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THE EXPLOSIVE CHILD PROGRAM - ROSS GREENE - Article

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THE EXPLOSIVE CHILD PROGRAM - ROSS GREENE - Article

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A guide to the treatment of inflexible-explosive children.

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How to help teachers make a difference with challenging student behavior.

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DELIVERING REINFORCEMENT - IFEED-AV RULES - Resource

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DELIVERING REINFORCEMENT - IFEED-AV RULES - Resource

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GIVING DIRECTIONS - A TEN STEP GUIDE - Resource

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GIVING DIRECTIONS - A TEN STEP GUIDE - Resource

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How teachers can read and respond more effectively to disruptive students.

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About 10 percent of the school population-9 to 13 million children-struggle with mental health problems. In a typical classroom of 20, chances are good that one or two students are dealing with serious psychosocial stressors relating to poverty, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, trauma, or a psychiatric disorder.

These children represent the most challenging students in our classrooms today.

Their mental health problems make it difficult for them to regulate their emotions and focus on learning. Often they lack basic skills necessary to regulate their behaviors and, sometimes, to even recognize their own actions. They can be inflexible and have outbursts for no apparent reason-disrupting the classroom routine daily. They can disengage socially or be clingy, sleepy, or irritable. They can defy school personnel repeatedly and argue incessantly. They are the students who keep administrators up at night and the ones teachers dread having in their classes. Many of their stories are heartbreaking.

School staff today are under enormous pressure to show progress for every student every year. Yet they are in a bind. One disruptive child can effectively derail an entire lesson. Surveys show that coping with disruptive students is teachers' number one problem.

Our experience working in schools has taught us that to be effective and help each student reach their potential, teachers need a new approach to clearly understand what drives student behavior. Teachers also need a variety of strategies that allow them to intervene effectively before the behavior is entrenched.

Understanding the following critical concepts helps teachers choose how to intervene better with students' problematic behavior:

Misbehavior is a symptom

A student would behave if they could. If the student is displaying problematic, maladaptive behavior, it is a symptom of an underdeveloped skill. When students blow up or act out, it is a sign that they are stuck and can't cope with the situation. Some may be oversensitive to stress and have an overactive fight-or-flight response. Others may lack basic social skills that are needed to navigate an interaction with a peer, the flexibility to follow a demand like "clean up after your snack," or the self-regulation to withstand an anxiety-producing task.

Behavior is communication

Even though students' behavior can look bizarre or disruptive, their actions are purposeful and are their attempt to solve a problem. It is critical to step back and try to decipher what the student is trying to communicate and what the function (or intent) of the behavior is. With practice, teachers can learn to stop and "listen" to the message the behavior is conveying, break the behavior code, and respond in more productive ways.

Behavior is never random or aimless. Individuals would not repeat a behavior unless they were getting something out of it. Usually, it is a response from other people that fuels inappropriate behavior. Whining may work to get a teacher's attention, as does swearing. If a student repeatedly has tantrums and then gets to leave a classroom, they have learned that tantrums further their desire to escape. Teachers first need to figure out what the student is getting from inappropriate behavior, in order to find different ways to respond so as not to inadvertently reinforce the behavior.

Behavior occurs in patterns

When teachers feel they have tried everything with a student but the student is still acting inappropriately, the next step is to investigate in a systematic way. The key to breaking the behavior code is to look for patterns. These patterns can be based on time of day (they always yawn in the morning before snack), activity (they always ask to go to the nurse when math starts), people (they participate more in class when Ms. Irving is there), and many other factors. Once the pattern is discovered, the function or intent of the behavior will often reveal itself: "Oh! They refuse to speak every time an unfamiliar adult enters the room." Every behavior also has bookends: the environmental variables that occur prior to the unwanted behavior (the antecedents) and the response of the teacher and peers after the behavior. When trying to understand behavior, teachers need to notice these bookends. These are what fuel the behavior and allows it to persist.

Behavior can be changed

Although behavior plans are typically thought of as a way to improve students' behavior, good behavior plans are really a guide for helping teachers develop new behaviors so they can interact with challenging students in a more productive and preemptive way.

For some students, when the interventions are spot-on in understanding the function of the student's behavior and teaching underdeveloped skills, the student can show change quickly. If the student has been demonstrating an inappropriate behavior for years and lacks the necessary skills, it may take longer for them to change.

We've had students stop behaving inappropriately in only three weeks, whereas other students have tapered off a behavior over a three-year period. The more intensely the student is taught the underdeveloped skills and the more the environment is changed to encourage appropriate behavior, the faster the student's behavior is likely to change.

Building on an understanding of what drives behavior, we provide a framework for a different kind of behavioral intervention plan that we call the FAIR Plan. FAIR stands for functional hypothesis, accommodations, interaction strategies, and response strategies.

The goal of the FAIR Plan is to change inappropriate behavior to appropriate behavior for the long term, rather than, for example, simply "managing the behavior" until the end of the year. Achieving this type of change requires teachers to take five basic steps that use the fundamental concepts outlined above.

This means minimizing or accommodating things in the environment that tend to set off an incident of inappropriate behavior. By understanding what antecedents are problematic for a student, such as being close to other students or reading aloud, the teacher can intervene effectively and create a classroom environment that is supporting and proactive.

If a student can't tolerate academic demands without an outburst, the teacher may start by asking them to do only 10 minutes of work, reinforce them, and over time build up the student's tolerance. As the student demonstrates small attempts at self-regulation or the use of prosocial skills, the teacher will reinforce and reward them.

The student needs to be taught a replacement behavior-an appropriate behavior the serves the same function as the inappropriate behavior- to be used while they are building the skills needed to behave appropriately without accommodations. For example, instead of banging their fists on the desk when they find reading frustrating, they could be taught to ask politely, "Can I have a break, please?"

Teaching the student underdeveloped skills eventually eliminates the need for the replacement behavior. For example, the fist-banging student may need to work on reading skills, perhaps with additional support.

When prevention goes awry and incidents do occur, the teachers' response needs to reinforce the student's desired behavior, and avoid accidentally reinforcing the undesired behavior.

The Behavior Code is available from Harvard Education Press

How do you handle students with behavior problems?

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Breaking the Behavior Code - Child Mind Institute

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Behavior code: how teachers can better understand, anticipate, and respond to reduce problem behavior and increase learning for everyone.