Blueprints for Success:

Introduction

“Johnny is biting – what should we do?”

Often what we want when we ask a question like this is a punishment that will stop the behavior once and for all - a quick fix. If that worked, we wouldn’t be scratching our heads and wondering what else we could try. We continue to be frustrated and Johnny’s behavior doesn’t change. Instead we should be asking - “Why is Johnny biting – what is the function of his behavior - and what should we do?”

We should be focusing on the function the behavior serves for Johnny, and finding positive instructional strategies and instructional consequences to try to address that behavior. We need to focus on positive strategies and teach Johnny replacement behaviors. We cannot assume that Johnny knows what to do (a skill deficit) – and even if he does, he may not have had opportunities to practice the new skill. He may not even realize that a particular strategy or behavior is appropriate in a given situation (a performance deficit). Misbehavior may become automatic – the student does not go through a cognitive process and “decide” to misbehave – “it just happens”. The undesired behavior represents a scripted response that is well established, and requires little thought or energy on the part of the student. When a student must unlearn an inappropriate behavior and learn an appropriate replacement behavior, it may take 6 to 10 times longer than is he/she only had to acquire the desired response. For example, try signing your name with your non-dominant hand. Is it easy? It’s not a knowledge issue – you know how to write, you know letter formation, you know your name. You can do it but it takes time and is frustrating because it’s an unfamiliar activity. Signing your name with your dominant hand is automatic and you really don’t have to think about it; using your other hand is an entirely different task. This is how some students feel as they struggle with behavior.

Focusing on the acquisition of positive behaviors is more likely to result in long term behavior change than is reliance on external controls. These may be appropriate while teaching self-reliance, but when the external controls are no longer available, the student does not have the internal coping and control mechanism needed to support the desired behavior. Instructional strategies include direct teaching of a skill, but also require opportunities for practice, reinforcement, and generalization to other settings. In giving feedback and reinforcement to student, positive statements should outnumber negatives by a ratio of at least 4:1. Other guidelines that encourage student engagement are:

· Correct responding – when called on in class, a student should be able to correctly answer 70-80% of the time. This allows the student to feel competent and willing to participate. If the teacher asks questions a student cannot answer, the student may be reluctant to participate and may act up rather than appear foolish in front of peers.

· Compliance – teachers should expect compliance rates of 70% or more. If the compliance rate is lower than 70%, interventions are needed. Do the students know the expectations? Are they motivated to comply?

“Okay, so what is this about functions of behavior anyway?”

Behavior continues because it is reinforced – the misbehavior works for the student. Our challenge is to identify the purpose (function) of the behavior, and try to identify a replacement behavior that is more socially acceptable and will serve the same purpose for the student.

Determining the function of a behavior (or behaviors) can be an involved process, but it may also be as simple as using the information you already have to try to understand what the student is “getting” from the misbehavior. You and others in your district may already be familiar with functional behavioral assessment (FBA). There has been a renewed focus on FBA since the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1997, but FBA is based on applied behavior analysis and is nothing new. FBA is not just for students with disabilities but helps us to understand behavior of any student so we can increase the likelihood for success when we intervene.

Behavior occurs in a context – in an environment - and we need to consider that environment rather than focusing solely on the student. The goal of FBA is not only to identify the function(s) of a behavior, but to look at the variables that influence the behavior (e.g., setting, people, activity or task, time of day, day of week, how others react), and then design an effective intervention. If you want more information, a study guide on FBA and other related materials can be found at www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/een/sbfba.html

Some common functions of behavior as used in this packet are:

· Adult attention

Attention can be positive or negative, and if the student is not receiving enough positive attention, then negative attention (e.g., reprimands, scolding) may be better than no attention at all. The student may be seeking attention from peers, adults, certain individuals, or all of the above.

· Escape or avoidance

The student may be escaping from something or to something. For example, a student might act out knowing that he/she will be suspended from school and can then escape from school (which is probably not a good place in that student’s opinion). Perhaps the student would rather be at home watching soap operas, or hanging out with friends – that student may be escaping to something. We may be talking about a place, a task (‘I hate math!”), a person.

The student may be escaping from a strong emotion such as fear or may be trying to avoid embarrassment in front of the whole class (“I’d rather be bad than stupid.”).

· Power or control

The student may want to dominate, be in charge, control the environment, make the decisions. Each of us needs to be able to control aspects of our lives. The student may come from a home environment that is very structured and he/she has no choices and feels powerless in his/her own life. They may feel that they are always bossed around and would like at least some “say” in things that affect them. Or the student may be used to making all the decisions about his/her daily life because of a lack of supervision or because he/she is in charge of younger siblings and is used to making the decisions. Now he/she has come to school and is not used to following directions or dealing with rules and structure.

· Peer attention and affiliation

The student may want to be part of a group, be included in group activities, maybe just have a friend or two. If the student is isolated or rejected, he/she may act out to try to impress peers or be the class clown to get at least some recognition from other students. The target student may make threats, act tough, or act like a “wanna-be” to try to impress peers.

· Justice or revenge

The student wants to get back at an individual or group for a real or imagined slight. The student may want to even the score on behalf of a friend or family member. If the student has a history of struggling in school, then he/she may view all teachers as unfair and may be misbehaving in retaliation for past problems. Sometimes the “revenge” isn’t personal – the student dislikes teachers or police officers or adults in general.

In addition to the five listed above, students sometimes misbehave to access tangible rewards (the student is trying to get a tangible reward such as an item, money or a privilege) or for personal gratification (the student is seeking to feel good or to get immediate feedback and a reward).

It is important to remember that each of these functions represents legitimate needs/goals for each of us – we all want attention, control in our lives, justice, affiliation with others, and so on . The problem we are faced with is that the behavior the student exhibits as a means of achieving the desired goal is not acceptable.

Consequences for behavior (both for appropriate behaviors and misbehaviors) should be tied to the function of the behavior. For example, we may notice that everyday Russell runs in the hall so that he can be first in line for lunch. Russell also likes to “collect” pencils, so we decide to reward Russell for not running by giving him a pencil. This may work for a bit, but Russell is really not running to earn a pencil. He may be running because he’s hungry and is afraid he won’t get lunch if he’s not first in line. The intervention should be tied to the reason Russell is running – we need to ensure that Russell gets his lunch when he walks. This might include allowing Russell to go to the front of the line if he walks. The bottom line is that we need to teach Russell that he will get the same lunch if he walks in the hall and so he does not need to run.

When selecting consequences for a given target behavior, consider:

· What function does the target behavior appear to serve for the student?

· Does the student understand what behavior is expected and does he/she have the skills to display the expected behavior?

· What behaviors will serve a similar function for the student – what will the student accept as a replacement behavior?

Consequences should

· Maximize efforts to protect, preserve, and strengthen the relationship you have developed with the student; you don’t want to alienate the student or reinforce failure.

· Allow the student to practice the skill or strategy, and get feedback that will prevent future problem behavior

· Minimize student resistance – will the student buy in to the intervention?

· Be reasonable, predictable, consistent

· Be natural and logical

o Natural consequences – learning the hard way. There are some natural consequences that we cannot allow – a natural consequence of putting your hand on a hot stove burner is a burn, for example. When we cannot allow the natural consequence, we may need to use a logical one.

o Logical consequences – “punishment” fits the crime. For example, if a student misuses a toy, it is taken away; if the student betrays my trust, there will be a higher level of supervision until I can establish trust and responsibility with that student.

“Oh, yeah, great. Like I don’t have enough to do already and now you want me to do this on top of everything else?”

You’re already spending lots of time and it’s not effective – otherwise we wouldn’t be talking about it. As teachers, we often feel we cannot spare the time that instructional interventions for behavior would take away from academics. The typical classroom teacher spends more time addressing student behavior (much of it undesired) than in any curricular area. Much of this effort is spent doing things that are ineffective, and often disrupt the learning environment.

Don’t work harder; work smarter.

Instructional interventions for behavior must be integrated across the school day – in each subject and in each setting – if it is to be effective and if students are to generalize behaviors from one setting to another. Almost any curricular area provides opportunities for the direct instruction of expected and desired behavior. Together faculty can identify ways students could be provided with this instruction. Teachers could

Use literature in reading or language arts classes that have the desired behavioral skill as a theme. Bibliotherapy resources provide information on reading materials with a given theme at the desired grade levels.
Use instructional practices that will allow students to learn and practice the skills being taught (e.g., role playing, group discussion, peer tutoring, cooperative learning)
Establish “natural” learning opportunities which call upon students to use the skills. For example, a student who has difficulty with sharing (but who has had some social skill instruction in this area) might be paired with another student in an art project that requires sharing. The teacher pre-arranges this activity at a time when he/she is available to provide guidance and feedback. Given time and administrative support, it is possible to be quite creative at developing ways to “double dip”, providing academic and social skill instruction in the same lesson.

It is important to work as a team – one person shouldn’t have to do it all. Also, you may want to consider whether the whole class can benefit from the instructional strategy. What about a small group? Are there other school resources you can access for assistance?

“So what are these blueprints?”

The blueprints provide space to identify key issues to help direct both teacher and student behavior in ways that promote desired alternative behaviors and to decrease the undesired target behavior. Instructional materials and strategies can be identified to promote the learning and practice of the desired behavior.

The goals for the blueprints are:

to develop guidelines for educators that would allow them to address key challenging behaviors through positive, proactive instruction of social and academic problem solving; and,
to encourage the implementation of instructional consequences that promote the learning and practice of desired alternative behaviors that meet the same function for the student as the target behavior. The focus is on instructional consequences – not on discipline or punishment. The goal is to teach and encourage students to learn appropriate behaviors.

Many of the approaches are both instructional strategies and instructional consequences. If the technique was not used proactively as an instructional intervention, it might also be used as an instructional consequence.

You will notice that some columns in the blueprints are shaded gray. This was done because those were not high frequency functions for the specific behavior addressed in that blueprint. There may be some students for whom those functions are relevant, but we wanted to focus on the high frequency functions.

These blueprints were developed by the individuals listed on the cover sheet. At a 2-day meeting in June, 2003, a list of 13 common classroom misbehaviors was developed through brainstorming and prioritizing. Blueprints for each behavior were then developed by sub groups, critiqued by all, and finalized by the facilitators.

“Who should use them?”

These can be used by regular education teachers, special education teachers, and school-based teams such as pre-referral, teacher assistance, or child study teams.

The blueprints can be used in school-wide or classroom instructional programs, with individual students, and/or with teams such as IEP teams or pre-referral teams. Some of the interventions could be used with students in structured homerooms, in-school suspensions, detention, small groups with a facilitator, and so on.

“How do I pick which interventions or consequences to use?”

Consider the function of the behavior for the student - why do we think the student exhibits this behavior? What hypothesis can we develop about the function? The function of the behavior (e.g., Michael wants to be part of the group) is more important than the form (e.g., Michael is always talking out) when you try to develop effective interventions.

We also want to consider the acceptability to the teacher and to the student (e.g., the alternative or replacement behavior fits the student’s idea of self), and the effort it takes the teacher and the student – is it reasonable? Are you (the teacher) prepared to follow through? Is it developmentally and/or chronologically appropriate for the student?

“Anything else I should know?”

The blueprints and the interventions suggested are not all inclusive – there are other strategies and materials – these are just a start. The materials that are included do not require extensive training prior to their use. Some are free and others are relatively low cost.
Not every strategy will work for every student in every setting – and they shouldn’t. Human behavior is not an exact science.
There may be some students for whom you need something different, something else – The blueprints may suggest something you haven’t already tried but there may be some really tough kids who require more discussion, additional evaluation, and/or more specific and intensive interventions.
The blueprints are not checklists - pick and choose carefully. You should not be doing everything at the same time. Be selective – this may be a process of trial and error.
Be sure to give interventions an adequate try – it can take from 4 to 8 weeks to see a change in behavior. Don’t be too quick to throw in the towel.

“Any parting words of wisdom?”

Take time to plan responses – you may need to develop scripts for yourself.
High expectations are individual, not group. Expectations must be realistic – we want to challenge students but we also want to ensure success. Fair is not always equal. For example, imagine a physical education teacher who is working with students on a basketball unit. The teacher is passing the ball to each student in turn. For those students with strong motor skills, the teacher might pass the ball to them straight on and with some force. For other students, the teacher might use a bounce pass or put a great deal of arc on the ball so that the student has some time to get ready to catch the ball. The teacher is giving each student what he/she needs to have a reasonable chance at success. We have a responsibility to meet students where they are. Setting unrealistic expectations only leads to frustration and failure for everyone.
What’s your issue now? If your primary goal is for the student to hand in work, then focus on that. We can work to improve the quality and neatness of that work once the student begins turning something in. The desired behavior may involve a series of steps.

Remember: Behavior change is a process not an event!

Note: there is no implied endorsement of the resources, products or programs by the Department of Public Instruction, CESA 12 and/or the agencies represented by the participants. These are materials the participants have used and felt were worthwhile. Likewise, there are others that were not included that are quality materials.

In addition to the introductory information above, this packet contains the following:

· Glossary of terms

· Addressing context issues in large group settings

· Blueprints

o Active non-compliance

o Attendance

o Difficulty with transitions

o Disrespect to teachers

o Disruption

o Failure to accept responsibility for behavior

o Interpersonal relationships

o Out of control

o Passive resistance

o Physical aggression

o Respecting others property

o Verbal aggression

o Verbal outbursts

o Blank format

Glossary

Active listening

Listening attentively to what is being said, and then repeating (in the listener’s own words) what the listener thinks the speaker said. The listener might use phrases such as “I heard you say….” or “Is it fair to say you….” The listener does not have to agree – it’s enough for the speaker to know that he/she has been heard.

Antiseptic Bouncing

Sending the student out of the room on a task or errand. You may want to set up some “errands” with the office (you need some classroom supplies, a Band-Aid, etc.) in the event that you don’t have a “real” errand, but want to give the student an opportunity to move, get out of the room temporarily, get some attention for appropriately completing the errand, and so on. This also gives you a chance to get the rest of the class working, and they are less likely to respond to inappropriate behavior when the target student returns. You can then work with the target student when he/she returns and get him/her caught up and working.

Bibliotherapy

Using of literature to teach problem solving, coping skills, social skills, perspective taking, and so on. (see www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/booknook/booksbygrade.html or www.ldonline.org/ld_store/bibliotherapy/ldbooks.html . You may also check with your school’s media specialist or local public library for resources.)

Behavior contracting

Contracting with the student so that the student completes something the teacher wants him/her to do and the student is then rewarded. Contracts can be verbal or written, and should be positive. The student should show an accomplishment; e.g., complete a task, participate in an activity, remain outside for recess without fighting, solve a problem positively rather than by fighting. Writing a contract can also help teach a student negotiating skills. Be sure that the student has a reasonable chance of meeting the contract terms.

Classroom Meetings

An opportunity for teachers and students to discuss mutual concerns and solutions. The tone of the meeting is always positive and there are ground rules to be followed (turn-taking, acceptable language, etc.). The idea is to reach a conclusion, not to keep discussing the same topic over and over.

(See http://teachers.net/gazette/AUG00/marshall.html or www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev012.shtml )

Comic Book Conversations

Using word and thought bubbles and colors for emotions to help students identify the thoughts and feelings of people having a conversation (see www.thegraycenter.org)

Cooperative Learning

Learning teams of students that work together. Key features include division of labor, assignment of roles to students, face-to-face interaction, and interdependence wherein all student tasks are necessary for task completion. (See www.cooplearn.org )

Direct Instruction

Using a highly structured instructional approach geared to teaching the specific skills the student lacks. The teacher uses telling, showing, modeling, demonstrating and prompting to get active responses from students. It is focuses on teacher-directed instruction more than on independent seatwork.

Double dipping

Using bibliotherapy to teach both academics and social skills. For example, using war or world conflict to discuss problem solving skills or compromise.

Empathy, teaching

See perspective taking below.

Engineered choices

Giving the student choices or structured options that are acceptable to both the student and the teacher.

Errors in Thinking (Good Thinking, Changing Thinking)

Based on the premise that students may exhibit patterns of negative thinking and that they must change the way they think in order to change the way they act. This type of intervention focuses on the idea that thought can control actions, students have the ability to control and change their negative, self-defeating thinking, and students can be taught how to do this and reinforced for their efforts. For example, a student may give up easily on a task, thinking “I can’t do this – I’m too stupid.” The goal is to point out the error in thinking (“You can do this”) and help the student to try again. Another example of a thinking error is failing to take responsibility for one’s own behavior: “It wasn’t my fault – he made me.”

Feedback loop

Providing the student with an example of his/her behavior and describing the impact it had on the student and/or others. Then ask the student if the outcome was what he/she intended. If the response is “no”, then discuss more appropriate alternatives with the student. If the response is “yes”, let it go and don’t argue – the student may be saying “yes” to cover up or appear tough, but your point has been made.

Foreshadowing

Telling students what will happen next, or at a certain time. For example, “When the bell rings, we will be going to the music room” or “Tomorrow there will be a different schedule because…. And here is what will happen”

Group contingency

Group reinforcement that is contingent on individual student behavior or group behavior. The entire group is reinforced or not reinforced.

Hero System

A behavior management approach in which a child’s appropriate behavior and/or improvement in behavior results in a reward to the entire group/class. The student is then viewed as “hero” to peers.

Hurdle help

Providing the student with the help he/she needs to get through or past a difficult situation. The student may not understand the directions or may get stuck on one of the steps of the problem or assignment. Helping the student understand what he/she is supposed to do, or working with the student to get over the hurdle, may help to avoid escalating a disruptive behavior.

“I” messages

Stating feelings or directions in an “I” or “we” format. The goal is to avoid using “you”, which can cause students to be defensive. For example, instead of saying “You must be quiet”, you could say “We all need to be able to hear the instructions.” The purpose is to tell the student what to do (rather than what not to do) and avoid being accusatory. Another example would be to say “I feel badly when I hear that word. Please use ________ instead.”

Ignoring

If the behavior is relatively minor and will not escalate or spread to other students, it may be best to ignore the behavior and avoid reinforcing misbehavior. Knowing what to ignore often is a result of experience with the student who is misbehaving – a process of trial and error. What happens if you ignore the behavior – does it get worse as the student pushes for attention? Does the behavior go away on its own? Do other students get hooked into the behavior so that you now have a larger problem to address?

Modeling

Acting in a way that you want the student to imitate; using other students as role models for appropriate behavior.

Movement breaks

An opportunity for a student to stand up, move, stretch, wiggle, etc. in an acceptable manner and without distracting or interrupting other students.

Peer mediation

A process of conflict resolution that involves trained student mediators who use a structured process to meet with peers in conflict and try to help resolve the differences. The process is about learning to get along, not about winning and losing. It is not appropriate when criminal activities are involved (see www.schoolmediationcenter.org ).

Perspective taking/teaching empathy

Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes – how would you feel if the tables were turned? Helping students understand that their behavior impacts others and how. It is often easier to teach this using examples (movie clips, TV shows, other scenarios, stories) to minimize student defensiveness. Service learning (see below) is a useful tool, as is restorative justice (also see below) and “I messages” (“I feel frustrated when….”).

Preteaching

Making certain the student knows the expectations and teaching the student how to meet those expectations before holding the student accountable. For example, a teacher might say “When it is ‘study time’, you are to be in your seat, quiet, and working on unfinished assignments or reading silently.”

Power struggles

A battle of wills that typically results in a “win/lose” situation. Example: “Oh, yes, you will! - Oh, no, I won’t!” etc.

Response cost

Loss of tokens or points earned in a token economy (see below) for misbehavior. This is set up as part of the system and the student is aware of the potential cost ahead of time.

Be cautious if the points/tokens aren’t meaningful to the student. The student should not be allowed to dig him/herself into a hole he/she cannot get out of in a reasonable manner or time.

Restorative justice

A response to misbehavior that focuses on identifying and repairing the harm done. For example, the student might clean up the mess he/she made or “work off” damage done to materials or equipment. (see www.restorativejustice.com)

Sensory Integration

The brain organizes sensory input (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) so that the person can function. If all of that sensory information is not interpreted correctly, a student will experience problems. These might include being overly sensitive to sound or touch, an unusually high or low level of activity, poor coordination, or poor organizational skills. There are different activities for different outcomes (arousal, relaxation, etc.). Consult the Occupational Therapists (OTs) in your building or district for more information.

Sensory Breaks (for arousal and for relaxation)

Time for activities that will help the student focus and participate. These activities may be provided with a therapist or teacher, or may be things the student can do himself/herself such as using a small “fidget” toy to help maintain attention, moving rhythmically from one activity to another, having a water bottle or something to chew on, and so on.

Self monitoring

Students keep track of their own behavior on some type of chart, grid, or other recording form. (See http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCINTRYE/SelfMonitoring.html ).

Service learning

Combines service activities with learning objectives so that both the server and the recipient both benefit. This helps the student to learn empathy/perspective taking. (See www.servicelearning.org )

Social Skills

Behavioral skills that allow students to interact more appropriately and productively with others and to cope with social situations. Students may not have been taught appropriate behavior or may have difficulty reading social cues, with unexpected situations, or discomfort displaying a certain behavior. In addition to teaching the behaviors, effective social skill instruction includes role playing and opportunities for the student to practice (with feedback) and generalize the behavior to a variety of settings.

Social Stories

A short story that describes a situation, concept or social skill. Originally developed for students with autism spectrum disorders by Carol Gray, social stories are also sometimes used with children with emotional behavioral disorders and cognitive disabilities. (See www.thegraycenter.org )

Team building

Activities that promote cooperation, trust and teamwork with a group, making the group stronger and more bonded.

Token economy

A system of tokens (stars, checkmarks, chips, etc.) or points that students can exchange for tangible rewards and/or privileges. It may be classroom-wide or set up for an individual student through a behavioral contract.

Trapping

Systematic, careful design of instruction to promote success. As a result, the student finds acceptance and motivation, and it promotes teacher/student relationships.

Verbal de-escalation

Talking to a student to help him/her calm down, regain control, and resume the activity or lesson. In a crisis situation there are several phases and verbal interventions may vary depending on the phase as follows (source: “Verbal Interventions with Aggressive Children and Youth” by Rick Van Acker. Downloaded from www.wm.edu/TTA/articles/challenging/verbal.html on 9-19-03)

Phase

Student behavior

Teacher response

Anxiety

Increasing anxiety; increasing motor or verbal behavior, or unusually quiet and withdrawn behavior; mild disruption

Be supportive; don’t use ultimatums; give hurdle help; help the student see the problem as solvable

Questioning, ignoring

Student questions the teacher; student may ignore teacher direction

Remain calm and businesslike; communicate clear expectations and stress the consequences of the desired behavior

Refusal

Student overtly resists or defies the teacher

Remain calm and avoid a power struggle; offer realistic choices; provide the student with an option that protects the student’s dignity & allows him/her to save face

Emotional release

Student loses control – has little ability to listen or to reason at this point

Provide support & safety. If the student is crying, provide support and empathy; if the student is verbally aggressive, minimize the damage to others (move them out) and talk soothingly to the student; if the student is physically aggressive, get assistance

Tension reduction

The student generally withdraws; he/she still needs time to regain self control; may need to prepare him/herself for consequences of the crisis situation

Provide acceptance and support; assist the student to return to classroom activities when that is appropriate

Vignettes

A short scenario that can be used as the basis for discussion of a particular behavior, social skill, difficult situation, etc. It can be one that a teacher or student has created or could be a excerpt from a book, short story, video clip, and so on. (See Social Stories).

Instructional Interventions for Active Non-Compliance

Examples of behavior

Actively refuses to follow directions (e.g., “no” or “I won’t”)
Assignments not finished
Poor work quality (e.g., messy, carelessly done)
Makes comments or walks away, leaves room
Spends lots of time looking for work or materials
Acts bored (e.g., “This is dumb” or rolls eyes)
Stalls or dawdles

Desired alternative behavior(s)

Follows directions within ___ minutes (or seconds) without arguing or talking back
Completes work neatly (e.g., handwriting is legible, paper is not wrinkled or smudged)
Begins work within ___ minutes (or seconds) (e.g., gets materials out, opens books, begins task)
Shows good effort by having materials ready, beginning task within ___ minutes/seconds, attempting difficult tasks
Asks for clarification if doesn’t understand the task (e.g., by raising hand, waiting for teacher to finish speaking)
Waits his/her turn to speak by raising hand, waiting for teacher adknowledgment

General instructional strategies that might be useful in teaching the desired behavior(s)

Teach expectations and classroom procedures
Be gentle when cueing, correcting, redirecting, etc. – goal is to connect with the student, not push him/her further away
Offer choices in tasks, assignments - focus on strengths and interests
Seat the student near the teacher, away from distractions, etc.
Have clear expectations – allow student input – review periodically
Break multi-step activities into smaller steps with feedback and reinforcement along the way; break long-term assignments into smaller short-term tasks
Teach organizational skills and time management
Teach students problem solving skills, decision making skills
Ask yourself what the bottom line issue is – if it’s getting the assignment done, then perhaps reinforce getting it done and work on neatness as the next step

Instructional materials that might prove useful in teaching the desired behaviors

Practical Ideas that Really Work for Students with Disruptive, Defiant or Difficult Behaviors Kit: Preschool through Grade 4 and Grades 5 through 12 by Kathleen McConnell, Gail Ryser, and James R. Patton. Pro-Ed, Inc., 8700 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, TX 78757. www.proedinc.com
What Kids Need to Succeed by Peter Benson, Judy Galbraith and Pamela Espeland and What Do You Stand For? By Barbara Lewis. Free Spirit Publiching, 217 Fifth Avenue North, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55401. www.freespirit.com
Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out – The Anger Management Book” and “The Anger and Stress Book by Jerry Wilde, Ph.D., LGR Publishing, 3083 Main St., East Troy, WI 53120 or through www.amazon.com
Skillstreaming, PREPARE curriculum. Research Press, P.O. Box 9177, Champaign, IL 61826. 1-800-519-2707. www.researchpress.com
TRIBES (a research=based community building program). CenterSource System, LLC. 7975 Cameron Drive, Building 500, Windsor, CA 95492. 707/838-1061. www.tribes.com
Social Skill Strategies, 2^nd edition, Book A and Book B by Nancy Gajewski, Polly Hirn and Patty Mayo. Thinking Publications, P.O. Box 163, Eau Claire, WI 54702-0163. 1-800-225-4769. www.thinkingpublications.com
Short Term Play Therapy with Disruptive Children and Forms for Helping the Oppositional Child. Childswork/Childsplay, 135 Dupont St., P.O. Box 760, Plainview, NY 11803. 1-800-962-1141. www.childswork.com
Discipline with Dignity for Challenging Youth by Allen N. Mendler and Richard L. Curwin. National Education Service, 304 W. Kirkwood Avenue, Suite 2, Bloomington, IN 47404. 1-800-733-6786. www.nesonline.com
www.behavioradvisor.com
www.disciplinehelp.com
www.interventioncentral.org

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control		Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- Give praise and attention for positive behavior - Determine if the behavior is learned helplessness – provide support and then fade it away - Call on the student if he/she knows the answer - Allow opportunities for the student to show skill, ability, competence - Use pre-compliance (ask the student to do something he/she is likely to do and then move to the more difficult task) - Ask for student input - Behavior contract - Seating in proximity to teacher - Ignore if behavior is minor & won’t escalate - Assess if the work is too hard, too easy, too redundant - Give choices – how else could the student demonstrate mastery?	- Teach student ways to be more efficient and/or organized - Provide opportunities for the student to respond correctly (75-80% correction level) - Prompt/cue the student - Focus on effort and improvement - Create a supportive atmosphere (it’s okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them) - Set reasonable goals with student input - Provide for immediate success - Break down tasks into manageable steps - Behavior contract - Movement breaks - Make accommodations for messy work (computer, print instead of cursive, etc.) - Talk with student about the real life effects of the behavior - What does the student think of his/her abilities? Give him/her a better understanding – you may know he/she can do it, but does the student know that? - Reinforce the process, not just the product - Be creative about how to involve the student in drill-practice and demonstrating mastery		- Redirect the student - Reward timeliness - Discuss with the student why the appropriate behavior or activity is important & useful - Have clear expectations - Give the student opportunities for leadership - Give the student choices & help them identify alternatives - Use intermittent rewards (mystery rewards) so student doesn’t know when one might happen & so may maintain effort - Use pre-compliance (ask the student to do a task they are likely to do, and then move to the difficult task) - Be open to ways to involve the student in drill-practice and in demonstrating mastery		- Spotlight a strength of the target student - Give responsibility - Use small groups - Connect the student with the school through an activity, recognition, etc. - Involve the student in class in ways that publicly demonstrate competence - Use hurdle help to get the student past/through difficult situations or times - Use pre-compliance (ask the student to do a task they are likely to do, and then move to the difficult task) - Proximity to teacher
Student: Consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Positive attention; extra time with key adult - Be a peer tutor or model for others - Positive notes home and/or to other key adults - Token economy - Teach social skills of how to ask for help, problem solving, etc. - Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention	- Consider process, not product - Compliance with a request reduces the amount to be done (acknowledge student’s difficulty with the task) - Give the student choices - Work through problem solving model - Have student identify appropriate ways to escape		- Group reward/hero system - Allow student to mentor or tutor another student - Use vignettes, video clips to teach perspective taking - Have the student identify appropriate ways to get power/control		- Reinforce strengths and accomplishment - Use group contingencies - Give the student a leadership role - Extra time with a chosen peer - Mentor a younger student - Teach social skills for peer interactions, problem solving - Have the student develop materials to teach younger children the skill - Have the student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention
Avoid the use of	- Allowing the student too many excuses or engaging in lengthy discussions - Power struggles - Public confrontations	- Pushing the student away, disconnecting the student from the class or school - Power struggles - Public confrontations - Allowing student to “escape” from the task or activity completely	- Trying to force compliance with a public question or reprimand - Giving orders, commands, ultimatums		- Public confrontation - Allowing peer reinforcement
Special considerations	Does the student know what to do? Can he/she follow multi-step directions? Is the work at a reasonable level for the student? What is motivating for the student? Is “I don’t care” sour grapes or has the student really given up? Is there family support for education – is it realistic for this student to do homework, for example? Does the student have a place to do homework? Is there an expectation that the student will care for younger siblings or have other tasks that are given priority in the home? Are the student’s basic needs met – is the student hungry? Does he/she feel safe, etc.?

Adult attention

Escape/avoidance

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Work with the student to set goals for attendance

- Reinforce attendance

- Use a daily check-in & check out system

- Greet the student; ask about him/her

- Make sure student is involved when he/she returns

- Adult mentor

- Increase connections that the student has with school, especially key adults

- Whose attention does the student get (teacher, principal, parent, etc.)? Give attention proactively and positively; maximize that attention for attendance & minimize negative interactions (if possible) with that adult

- If the student is trying to get back at parents or school staff, work with the student to understand how he/she is hurting self

- Teach student how to do own laundry (if lack of clean clothes)

- Follow a less desirable activity with a more desirable one

- Don’t force public participation-make sure student can answer correctly if calling on him/her

- Provide materials

- Provide alternatives (choices on work, alternatives for changing into gym clothes, etc.)

- Allow passive participation (note taker, time keeper, etc.)

- Work with the parents and the student to try to find out what happens when the student is not in school – what is so enticing or reinforcing about non-attendance? Is the student being reinforced for not attending (e.g., parent takes student out to lunch, student gets to sleep in, student gets to watch TV all day)?

- Meet the student where he/she is at – build on success

- Give choices and alternatives

- Provide leadership opportunities

- Work with student to set goals

- Have student self record

- Teach decision making skills

- Reframe the issues into “who does this really hurt?”

- Mentor or tutor for younger students

- If small group skipping together, have a group contingency for increased attendance

- Find ways to connect the student to school (buddy system, school “job”, welcome back)

- Reward for improvement (not perfection)

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Increase involvement from the adult that the student wants attention from (send positive notes home, let the principal know about improvement, etc.)

- Service learning activity with the adult the student wants attention from

- Work with the student to identify appropriate ways for the student to get the adult attention

- Provide the student with a sense of accomplishment & success

- Use improvement rather than perfection

- Work with the student to identify appropriate ways for the student to escape if necessary

- Give the student choices

- Student earns leadership and high status activities (student helps determine this)

- Send a positive note home, to the mentor, principal, etc. as appropriate

- Work with the student to identify appropriate ways for getting power or control

- Group contingency or reward

- Peer mentor

- Leadership role with peer group (make sure student can demonstrate competence)

- Service learning activities with the peer group

- Group contingencies

- Work with the student to identify appropriate ways for getting peer attention or affiliation

Avoid the use of

Stopping class & extending the disruption; meaningless consequences that compound the attendance issues (detentions, suspensions); harsh responses to lack of attendance that further push the student away; starting class late or allowing dawdling – inadvertently giving the message that it’s okay to be late because things never start on time anyway.

Special considerations

Are there home issues – no alarm clock, no one to wake the student up, no clean clothing to wear, no reliable transportation to school, student fears that the family will “fall apart” while he/she is gone? Is this student school phobic? Depressed? Responsible for care of younger siblings? A hypochondriac? Are there medical issues - allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic and/or cyclical illness? Is the student trying to gain parent attention by skipping school so that parents get called and have to attend a meeting (possible inconvenience to them)? What is the student doing while out of school – is it more fun or more reinforcing than being in school? Is the student running from something (school) or running to something (home, friends, etc.)? Who or what is the student trying to escape – peers, teachers, school work, the route to school (gang territory, fears running into bully)?

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control	Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- Direct instruction - Modeling - Self monitoring - Teacher proximity and guidance - Praise for appropriate behavior - Verbal or nonverbal cues (e.g., warning bell, hold up a “warning” card, point) - Foreshadowing - Social Stories - Teacher Modeling - proximity - Response cost	- Engineered choices - Foreshadowing what is to come - Practice in small groups - Visual and verbal schedule - Student directed schedule (student chooses) - Sensory breaks - Social stories - Visual timer for student use, “warning” bell or other cue - Practice starting and stopping activities - Teach organizational skills - Passive breaks (time to relax, put head down)		- Foreshadowing what is to come - Visual and verbal schedules - Student directed schedule - Engineered choices - Social Stories - Students rearrange classroom - Visual timer	- Practice in small groups - Practice group starting and stopping - Peer modeling, peer tutoring, buddy system - Cooperative learning strategies - Social stories - Group contingencies
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Select preferred activity - Leadership roles (manage timer, line leader, etc.) - Praise, positive attention - Use a visual response cost (start with 10 stars and erase one) - Have the student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention	- Select preferred activity - Leadership roles - Miss preferred activity - Contracting - Make up incomplete work, activity, time - Mild or gentle prompts - Have the student identify appropriate ways to escape		- Select preferred activity - Leadership roles - Contracting - Response cost - Have the student identify appropriate ways to gain power or control	- Select preferred activity for the group - Leadership roles - Peer acceptance - Lunch or free time activity with peer of choice - Have student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention and affiliation
Avoid the use of	- Removing student - Unsupervised transition times - Public confrontation		- Removing student - Unsupervised transitions - Humiliating the student	- Power struggles - Confrontation - Physical interaction - Unsupervised transitions
Special considerations	Are there issues around medication, physical or mental health diagnoses? Should the student be evaluated for sensory needs (OT)? Are the classroom and/or other school environments set up to promote active student learning – is the “flow” predictable? Is movement between different areas easy and clear? How might it be made clearer to the student?

Adult attention

Escape/avoidance

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Build relationship with student

- Active listening

- Use humor

- Teach appropriate ways to gain attention

- Teach others to ignore verbal and nonverbal disrespect

- Use humor

- Ignore – work with other students

- Stress relief activities

- Relationship building

- Accept student cue for appropriate escape

- Use humor

- Student asks to escape – take self timeout; teach phrases & cues

- Gracefully back off; allow student to save face

- Use humor

- Teach to disagree respectfully (script)

- Give student choices or options

- Include student in planning

- Build relationship

- Accept student cues to escape

- Mentor

- Postpone confrontation/wait to discuss

- Gracefully back off/know when to let it go

- Use humor

- Teach appropriate ways to gain peer attention

- Build relationship

- Use humor

- Give the student leadership opportunities

- Tutor or mentor a younger student (this also gives the target student practice)

- Teach other students to ignore verbal and nonverbal disrespect

- Use humor

- Relationship building

- Anger management

- Accept students viewpoint; validate their feelings but not actions

- Use 3^rd party to mediate, help get at issues

- Teach compromise

- Use “I” messages

- Model respect

- Teach perspective taking

- Gracefully back off

- Use humor

- Talk privately with the student

- Use “I” messages

- Build relationship

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Positive feedback & attention

- Work with the student – spend time with him/her

- Student earns tokens, points, a privilege, etc.

- Ignore (if minor)

- Give feedback in a businesslike way

- Response cost

- Use “I” messages

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention

- Reward the student for completing the task

- Acknowledge the student’s attempts – initially you want to support the process & focus on the product later

- Use a chart or graph to show student progress; make the beginning segments larger to “jump start”

- Make up lost instructional time

- Homework club

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to escape

- Put the student in charge of activities (captain, chairperson, leader)

- Student gets choices & at least limited control

- Allow student to choose freetime activity after task is completed

- Ignore (if minor)

- Be businesslike

- Feedback loop

- Have the student develop a lesson for younger students on dealing with authority

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to gain power or control

- Student chooses peer or peer group to work/play with

- Class reward

- Reinforce the student when appropriate

- Feedback loop

- Response cost

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to gain peer attention and affiliation

- Reinforce the student for appropriate behavior

- Develop trusted adult relationship and support

- Develop conflict resolution skills and resolve disputes

- Feedback loop

- Ask the student to identify what each person in the interaction could do to resolve the conflict

- Use vignettes or video clips for discussion (helps take defensiveness out of the process)

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to just justice

Avoid the use of

- Being disrespectful to the student

- Confronting student when others are around

- Power Struggles

- Cornering the student

- Confronting when others are around

- Power struggles

- Cornering the student

- Overreacting to disrespect

- Cornering or embarrassing the student

- Embarrassing the student

- Disrespecting the student

- Getting visibly upset

Special considerations

Spend time with student to evaluate if he/she understands the task or request given. Is it gratifying to the student to annoy the teacher? Is the behavior because of a habit? Is this “normal” language at home? Is it possible to delay the discussion until later?

Are you the only one who saw/heard what the student said or did? If so and the student did comply, can you ignore the comment/action – pretend you didn’t see or hear it? Try to convey (non-verbally) that you are not bothered by the action or comments.

The behavior may not be personal - Is there something else going on and you (the teacher) are a “safe” scapegoat?

Reflect on your approach to the situations – what do you bring to the interaction? Your approach may be okay but the student may have misinterpreted your words or actions.

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance			Power/control		Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- Give positive attention as much as possible - Direct teaching of group expectations - School or class jobs - Line leader - “Hold that thought” and write it down” – make sure you get to the student asap - Watch for clues or be aware that student is approaching tolerance and move in proximity to student - Visual cue like a color card for attn. - “Hero” system - Nonverbal signals like holding up a hand to indicate you heard the student & will get there next (teach these ahead of time) - Arrange a time for the student to “perform” or get recognition - Address in a business-like fashion - Antiseptic bouncing	- If anxious, cue when student will be called on (e.g., when I stand near you…) - Line leader - Break tasks down into smaller steps or segments - Visual schedule - Teach that uncomfortable situations are a fact of life – how to deal with mistakes - Provide enough frustration to respond to & reinforce student for being appropriate - Give escape strategy - Give choice in activity or order of activities - Trap the student into doing work – does the student know that he or she really can do it? - Antiseptic bouncing - Movement breaks - Sensory tools - Reinforce the student for “sticking to it” – staying on task and working or using free time appropriately - Give the student visuals to show how much work he/she has completed (e.g., a chart or graph). Make the initial sections larger to give the student the feeling that they are off to a fast start - Token economy			- Develop relationship with student to get him/her on your side - Develop classroom rules with student input - Line leader - Leadership activities - Hold thought and write a note about it - Antiseptic bouncing - Sensory tools - Proximity control - Contracting		- Videos with examples and non-examples - Teacher selected groups - Buddy system - Line leader - Use of cooperative learning groups - Hero system - Teacher selected groups - Group contingency - Remove audience
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Leadership role - Special note to mentor or principal or parent - Token economy - Extra privileges (lunch with teacher, peer activity) - Classroom job - Verbal praise - Positive attention - Remove audience - Loses positive attention - Have the student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention	- Time in a private workspace - Headphones - Choice of independent activities - Praise for positive efforts - Direct reinforcement for effort and process - Clear feedback - Completion of work during teacher selected time (if can, but won’t) - Alternate work student can do (if can’t do the work) - Student does not earn points or tokens - Have student identify appropriate ways to escape			- Classroom job - Do errands for teacher - Choose class activity - Leader role - Use vignettes to teach perspective taking - Have the student serve as a mentor for younger kids (work with an adult on this) - Have the student identify appropriate ways to gain power or control		- Special privileges: lunch with a peer - Let him/her take a special role (e.g., class photographer, care for class pet, etc.) - Loss of peer interaction, activity - Have the student serve as a mentor for younger students (work with an adult on this) - Have the student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention and affiliation
Avoid the use of	- Nagging, long verbal interactions - Sarcasm - Lots of verbal reprimands		- - Removal from class, activity, peers (things that allow escape) -	- Power struggle - In-class confrontation		- Public conferencing - Student losing “face” - Withholding peer interaction if the student needs practice or really needs to be included
Special considerations	- Determine if it is a skill (student doesn’t know how to do it) or a performance deficit (student has demonstrated it in the past, but is not motivated to perform the task or does not realize it is appropriate in this setting or situation). Does the student need direct teaching of some social skills? Opportunities to practice, get feedback, generalize? - Evaluate room layout and environment (acoustics, temperature, distractions, etc.) - Assess learning styles of student(s); provide instruction in various modalities (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic, combinations) - Medical/mental health diagnoses

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control	Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	o Model and reward honesty - Response cost; loss of points if teacher has to clean up - Be businesslike and don’t allow debate (“you did ___”; report the facts)	- Teach problem solving skills - Allow student to repair own error - Teach difference between “white lies” or social lies and lies - Reinforce student when honest/over correction - Use role playing - Allow time for practice in regular settings - Give student time to process and admit error/wrong-doing - Use humor - Build relationship with student - Provide structure in difficult areas - Foreshadow/pre-teach problem solving behavior prior to difficult situations		- Give choices of ways to solve problem - Give options for apologizing, repairing, replacing, etc. - Wait – use silence to allow the student to think or process - Confront matter-of-factly
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Bonus for admitting responsibility (do this privately and only initially) - Work it off with a key adult from whom the student wants attention - Praise; note home and to other key adults - Vignettes, stories to help the student learn to predict consequences - Be businesslike and give minimal attention - Provide consequences that are easy for the student to accept – the 1^st priority is to get the student to accept any consequences - Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention	- More trust & respect from others - Reduced disciplinary referrals - Vignettes, stories to help the student learn to predict consequences - Help the student understand that failure is natural & help student learn from mistakes - Have student identify appropriate ways to escape		- More responsibility and leadership - Choices - Vignettes, stories to help the student learn to predict consequences; try to teach the student that no one really is in control all the time & especially in tense situations - Teach anger management - Teach student how to ignore the inappropriate behavior of others and increase his/her own self control - Have the student identify appropriate ways to gain power or control
Avoid the use of	- Asking “did you…?” – this gives student the option of denying - Drawing attention to the problem - Power struggles - Prolonged discussion; lecturing		- Punishment for honesty - Power struggles - Public reprimand - Repairing conflict yourself; don’t do it for the student	- Power struggles - Public reprimands
Special considerations	Is work too hard? Are expectations clear? Disciplinary style used at home – what is student used to? Any medical or mental health diagnoses? Is there or should there be outside agency involvement (social services, parole officer)? What is the student’s developmental age? Is this habit? Learned helplessness? Victim mentality? Is the consequences reasonable? Can it be accomplished in a reasonable period of time or has the student dug him/herself into a deep hole so that he/she gives up because it would be impossible to reach the top?

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control	Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- Praise for correct behavior - Direct teaching of social skills to whole class - Self monitoring - Token economy - Redirect the student - Guided practice - Nonverbal signals for “good job” - Investigate reported behaviors quietly - Have clear expectations - Teacher helper	- Teach student to write down concerns and discuss them later one-on-one - Teach social skills for peer interaction - Structure social situations but still allow students freedom to learn and develop independent skills - Provide opportunities for practice and feedback		- Choices - Leadership opportunities - Pre – teach - Student input on consequences - Student input on acceptable vs. not acceptable - Teach negotiating skills - Teach perspective taking/empathy - Involve the student in structured activities to learn turn-taking and social problem solving - Use vignettes, social stories	- Create and reinforce activities in which students work together for a common goal - Group contingency - Friendship groups to work on social skills (making friends) - Supervised play groups in unstructured settings or free time - Teach perspective taking - Teach team building - Allow the student to teach skills to younger students
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Positive adult attention - Earn token or other reward - Adult mentor - Be teacher helper - Work with teacher or other key adult - Have student identify how to get adult attention appropriately	- Choice in peer group (who is in it, how much time spent) - Select activities - Work with younger children - “Buy outs” – do 4 and you can skip 1 - Have student identify how to appropriately escape		- Leadership opportunities - Choices - Teacher helper - Time limits for using any toy or piece of equipment; automatic switching at end of time - Peer mediator - Give student leadership role - Have student identify how to appropriate get power or control	- Choose activities with peers - Have a peer mentor - Be a mentor for a younger student - Opportunities to get positive peer attention - Have student identify how to get peer attention appropriately
Avoid the use of	- Removing the student - Attention for inappropriate behavior		- Removal from class or playground	- Public confrontation - Power struggles - Lecturing the student	- Public confrontation
Special considerations

	Attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control	Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- Teach negotiating and compromise - Teach and practice problem solving & conflict resolution - Role play - Teach to respect personal space - Teach to “read” body language - Teach about voice tone & volume - Remove audience - Use verbal de-escalation - Peer coaching	- Identify triggers - Set clear and realistic expectations - Teach about feelings, emotions, ways to appropriately express - Teach relaxation & coping skills - Acknowledge feelings may be legitimate even if actions aren’t - Teach negotiating skills - Teach appropriate escape options that are developmentally reasonable - Can the student do the work? Does he/she believe they can? May need to reinforce this with the student - Is it a skill or performance deficit? - Sensory breaks; other break time - Minimize transition time - Minimize competition between students - Reinforce students for asking for help - Verbal de-escalation Visual and verbal schedules and/or cues such as a warning bell		- Leadership activities - Choices - Flexible work schedule - Foreshadow what is to come - Be flexible in the nature of the task (reduce length, change order, etc.) - Non-verbal cues/signals - Minimize transition time - Stay near the student in order to intervene before behavior escalates - Visual and verbal schedules and/or cues such as a warning bell		- Acknowledge feeling may be legitimate but actions aren’t - Conflict resolution, peer mediation - Anger management - Teach names of feelings, emotions; how to identify own feelings; ways to express them - Is the student mistargeting what they’re mad about? - Teach empathy, perspective taking - Provide sufficient structure to promote success but enough freedom for the student to expand his/her skills
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Allow choices for activity - Token economy - Positive feedback - Earned “down” time - Notify parents and other key adults - Corrective teaching or processing activity - Make up lost instructional time - Minimize punitive approach and maximize shifting the student back in - Have student identify how to get adult or peer attention appropriately	- Errand runner - Homework coupons - Choices for activities - Earned “down” time - Raise student’s awareness of own competence - Praise - Notify parents and other key adults - Teach anger management; self control - Teach conflict resolution - Have student identify how to appropriately escape		- Leadership role or privilege - Choose either a group or individual activity as reward - Reinforce/praise appropriate behavior - Notify parents and other key adults - Use vignettes, video clips, social stories - Teach anger management - Use feedback loop - Teach relaxation techniques - Teach social skills for dealing with authority figures - Have student identify appropriate ways to get power or control		- Leadership role or privilege - Repairing the relationship - Acknowledge & praise the student’s skill - Student becomes a peer mediator - Notify parents and other key adults - Teach errors in thinking - Teach perspective taking, empathy - Teach student about rights and responsibilities - Teach student how to appropriately get justice
Avoid the use of	- Ignoring - Threats to others - Power struggles - Raising voice		- Overwhelming the student - Power struggles - Sensory overload - Removal of activity, allowing student to get out of doing it	- Letting the student intimidate you - Power struggles - Physical & negative verbal interactions - Public reprimands - Cornering student			- Power struggles - Sarcasm, demeaning comments - Disrespecting student - Embarrassing the student
Special considerations	What led to the behavior – what were the antecedents? Are low level behaviors being allowed and then escalating? Are there medical issues, mental health concerns, medications? Are outside agencies involved (social services, mental health, physician)? Are there similar patterns at home and in the community? Is school culture reinforcing problem behavior? Is the school environment and/or classroom setting a trigger for outbursts? Are there academic tasks, times of day, activities, certain people that are problems for this student?

Adult attention

Escape/avoidance

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Mentor

- Build relationship with the student

- Greet student when he/she enters room or is in other school setting

- Have the student “work” in a school job (library, with computers)

- Review expectations with student

- Student has input on appropriate expectations

- Token economy

- Use lots of little “hooks” – ways for students to get involved & get attention

- See note at left

- Mentor

- Set clear expectations

- Social skill instruction on group participation, asking questions

- Work on improving academic skill deficits

- Set realistic expectations, meet the student where he/she is “at”

- When student works for “x” amount of time, he/she earns that amount of free time

- Review expectations with student

- Student has input

- Token economy for participation

- Break time

- Give students choices

- Set clear expectations

- Give the student choices when possible (example: use extra credit points on test scores or on daily work; options for homework)

- Make the student a leader

- Give the student some responsibility or a “job” at school

- Flexible schedule (e.g., do math first or spelling first)

- Set goals with student

- Student(s) brainstorm, have input on appropriate expectations

- When student works for “x” amount of time, he/she earns that amount of free time

- Use small group counseling or interest groups

- Cue other students to engage the target student

- Give the target student opportunities to be the leader, to do classroom or school “jobs”

- Encourage peers to compliment each other

- Use peer modeling

- Acknowledge that emotions are okay; actions are the problem (e.g., it’s okay to be angry – how can you better express that)

- Peer mediation

- Third party meet with teacher and student to try to work it out

- Counseling to address issues and redirect anger away from teacher

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Praise for effort

- Special reward or recognition for engagement

- Note home and/or to other key adults

- Grade on improvement and effort (primary goal is to get the student involved)

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention

- Positive reward for work and engagement

- Grade on improvement and effort (primary goal is to get the student involved)

- Make up lost time

- Homework Club

- Have to complete essential task to earn grade

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to escape

- Opportunity to choose activity, order of work, etc.

- Grade on improvement and effort (primary goal is to get the student involved)

- Teach student when being “passive” is okay – when is it appropriate to be more reserved

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get power and control

- Group reward

- Peer modeling

- Reward other students who are engaged

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get power and control

- Involve the student in being a peer mediator

- Teach students when being “passive” is okay – when is it appropriate to be more reserved.

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get justice

Avoid the use of

- Power struggles

- Arguing, cajoling

- Going overboard with praise

- Overwhelming the student

- Expectations that change (set expectations & stick to them)

- Power struggles

- Going overboard with praise

- Buddies or group work if that is punishing for the student

- Power struggles

Special considerations

From “Managing Passive-Aggressive Behavior”, pages 75-84: Know the characteristics of this type of behavior so that you can work to avoid responding in kind and/or becoming visibly upset with the student (that’s what he/she often wants); Avoid using group pressure to get the student to conform(e.g., “we can’t go out for recess until Mary does her work”); Use benign confrontation (back off quietly from confrontation and leave the student with the point you wanted to make); Respond differently to “temporary deafness”, feigned misunderstanding, delay tactics (e.g., set clear expectations, time limits and consequences for non-compliance and then do not argue about it).

Are there issues at home – not enough sleep, responsibility for younger siblings, etc.? Are there medical issues? Depression? Is there a need to involve pupil services staff (counselor, school nurse, school psychologist, school social worker) and/or outside agencies?

Instructional Interventions for Physical Aggression

Examples of behavior

· Hitting, punching, slapping, poking, kicking, pinching

· Throwing objects

· Getting into fights

· Attempting to cause injury with pencil, pen, ruler (using everyday objects not legally considered weapons)

· Destroying property or materials (trashing the room, kicking a desk, throwing a book)

Desired alternative behavior(s)

· Use conflict-resolution/problem-solving strategies when in a conflict situation (e.g., identify problem, list options, identify consequences of choice, evaluate effectiveness of choice, review/revise)

· State feelings and needs when in a conflict situation

· Request adult assistance to deal with conflict

· Use relaxation techniques (e.g., deep breathing, count to 10, visualization) to defuse negative feelings (anger, frustration)

· Walk away from conflict/escalating situation

· Use pre-selected phrases when in conflict (e.g., “I’m not going to get into a fight with you”, “I’m going to get a teacher to help here”)

General instructional strategies that might be useful in teaching the desired behavior(s)

· Social Stories & Comic Book Conversations

· Response-cost system

· Bibliotherapy – double-dipping with curriculum

· Stress reduction techniques

· Direct teaching of social skills

· Role playing

· Modeling

· Anger management

Instructional materials that might prove useful in teaching the desired behavior(s)

· Second Step Curriculum, PK-5 and Junior high/Middle school. Committee for Children, 568 First Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104-2804. 1-800-634-4449. www.cfchildren.org

· Good Thinking Sopris West, 4093 Specialty Place, Longmont, CO 80504. 1-800-547-6747. www.sopriswest.com

· Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out – The Anger Management Book and the Anger and Stress Book by Jerry Wilde, Ph.D. LGR Publishing, 3083 Main Street, East Troy, WI 53120 or www.amazon.com

· Thinking Mistakes ( elementary curriculum) by Orv Clark and Wayne Hull. Available from CESA 6. Contact Bunny Boelter ([email protected]).

· Changing Behavior by Changing Thinking (Secondary level materials) by John Bemis. [email protected]

· Strong Kids Curriculum (grades 4-8) and Strong Teens Curriculum (grades 9-12). Materials can be downloaded free of charge. Oregon Resiliency Project, www.uoregon.edu/~orp/

· Products and Resources from the School Mediation Center, 5485 Conestoga Court, Suite 101, Boulder, CO 80301. www.csmp.org/products

· TRIBES Curriculum (a research-based community building program)

CenterSource System, LLC, 7975 Cameron Drive, Bldg. 500, Windsor, CA 95492

707/838-1061. www.tribes.com

· Social Stories; Comic Book Conversations . Carol Gray. The Gray Center, 2020 Raybrooke SE, Suite 101, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. 616/954-9747. www.thegraycenter.org

· What Works When with Children and Adolescents by Ann Vernon, Creating the Peaceable School, Skillstreaming series by Arnold Goldstein and others, PREPARE Curriculum, The Passport Program, Aggression Replacement Training. Research Press, P.O. Box 9177, Champaign, IL 61826. 1-800-519-2707. www.researchpress.com

· Anger Management for Youth: Stemming Aggression and Violence by Dr. Leona L. Eggert. National Educational Service, 304 W. Kirkwood Ave., Suite 2, Bloomington, IN 47404, 1-800-733-6786, www.nes.org

· Short Term Play Therapy with Disruptive Children Childswork/Childsplay, 135 Dupont St., P.O. Box 760, Plainview, NY 11803

1-800-962-1141. www.childswork.com

· Reduction of School Violence: Alternatives to Suspension by Beverley H. Johns, Valerie G. Carr, & Charles W. Hoots. LRP Publications, 1-800-341-7874. www.lrp.com

· Teaching Social Skills to Youth. Boys Town Press, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010. 1-800-282-6657. www.girlsandboystown.org/products/btpress/index.asp

· Teeth are not for Biting and Hands are not for Hitting. Free Spirit Publishing. 217 Fifth Ave. North, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55401. 1-866-703-7322. www.freespirit.com

· Teaching Tolerance Curriculum and other related materials. Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104. www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index.html

· Multicultural Education Supersite. By Paul Gorski. The McGraw-Hill Companies. www.mhhe.com/socscience/education/multi/

· Don’t Laugh at Me: Creating a Ridicule Free Classroom from Operation Respect created by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary). Packets for Grades 2-5. 6-8, after school, and summer programs. Can be downloaded free of charge from www.dontlaugh.org

· www.behavioradvisor.com

· www.disciplinehelp.com

· www.interventioncentral.org

Adult attention

Escape/avoidance

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Teach and practice problem solving, conflict resolution, negotiation, compromise

- Role play

- Teach student to respect personal space (remaining at least an arm’s length away; hands & feet kept to oneself)

- Teach appropriate body language, voice volume, etc.

- Build a relationship with the student

- Service learning

- Remove the audience

- Talk the student down

- Peer coaching

- Group contingency

- Identify things that trigger anxiety

- Teach names of feelings, emotions; more acceptable ways to express them

- Teach relaxation techniques

- Paired play; peer modeling

- Engineered environment (safe place, safe person to be with)

- Teach relaxation and coping skills

- Teach negotiating skills

- Teach empathy for others’ point of view

- Diversity curriculum

- Be a peer coach for others

- Teach friendship, group participation skills

- Teach communication skills

- Teach empathy for others’ point of view

- Be a peer mentor

- Service learning

- TRIBES

- Teach diversity curriculum

- Teach negotiating skills

- Teach empathy for others’ view

- Acknowledge feelings may be legitimate but actions aren’t acceptable

- Thinking errors

- Teach diversity curriculum

- Teach empathy for others’ point of view

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Involvement in leadership roles (tutoring, mentoring)

- Engineered choices

- Positive attention and praise

- Restorative justice working with adult whose attention the student is seeking

- Teach anger management

- Back off – give the student time to cool down & return to task

- Discuss with student: does he/she have a victim mentality? Is the student feeling vulnerable? What triggers that?

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention

- Earned “down time”

- Homework coupons (get out of an assignment)

- Use head phones

- Choose preferred activity

- Teach anger management

- Restorative justice

- Make up work or time missed

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to escape

- Involvement in leadership activities

- Participation in school clubs, activities, sports

- Engineered choices

- Provide escort

- Mentor

- Have student identify appropriate ways to gain power or control

- Involvement in leadership activities

- Participation in group activities, clubs

- Structured play group or free time

- Teach empathy

- Address victimization issue – is the student feeling vulnerable? Does he/she have a victim mentality? What triggers are there?

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention and affiliation

- Involvement in leadership activities and opportunities

- Token economy

- Peer mediation

- Counseling

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get justice

Avoid the use of

- Physical contact

- Ignoring

- Threats

- Power struggles

- Yelling or raising voice

- Allowing the student to escape through removal of the activity, sending the student out of class, etc.

- Physical contact

- Yelling, raising voice

- Directives or ultimatums

- Group consequences

- Problem solving or confronting in front of group

- Personal bias statements to student/group

- Homogeneous grouping

Special considerations

Are there medical issues, mental health concerns, medications? Are there similar patterns in the home and in the community? Are other agencies (social services, mental health) involved? Are there sensory needs?

Is the school environment and/or classroom setting a trigger for aggression? Are low level behaviors (e.g., name calling, horseplay) being allowed and then escalating? Is the school culture reinforcing aggression?

Adult attention

Tangible rewards/personal gratification

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Reinforce when borrowed item is returned

- Reinforce students in classroom who demonstrate appropriate behavior with other’s belongings

- Identify the items that have been stolen and provide same or similar as reinforcers for desirable behavior

- Maintain visibility to and from student

- Teach about personal rights; respect for property, perspective taking (cost of theft, etc.)

- Have clear expectations & teach about giving, lending, returning, etc.

- Prompt students at the end of a period to return materials, etc.

- Social stories or comic book conversations

- Teach diversity/empathy (including socio-economic issues)

- Help students see what they have vs. allowing them to focus on what they don’t have

- Connect students with jobs they can do to earn extra money or items

- Provide materials needed to complete the task

- Allow student to borrow items with collateral or “rent”

- Discourage student from bringing items to school that might be targets for theft

- Label items

- Restitution

- Relationship building

- Give student a role as class security guard

- Keep items in a supervised area

- Teach how to monitor own belongings

- Allow student to be banker

- Use student as delivery person in the building

- Teach student about personal space, proximity,

- Teach sharing

- Relationship building

- Peer modeling

- Involve student as a peer mediator

- Allow student to be the checkout person (banker)

- Group contingency for sharing, cooperation

- Teach about space, proximity

- Restitution

- Contracting

- Peer mediation; peer “court”

- Student develops own consequences

- Student tells how he/she feels and why; explains reason for revenge

- Teacher or counselor works with the student to acknowledge feelings; find “better” options

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Praise for complying, taking care

- Student earns the item (pencil, etc.)

- Restorative justice (especially with the person from whom item was stolen)

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention

- Token economy to “earn” the desired item(s)

- Restorative justice

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get the item

- Teach perspective taking & empathy; real cost of theft, vandalism, etc.

- Restorative justice

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get power or control

- Restorative justice

- Teach perspective taking & empathy

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention, have a sense of belonging

- Restorative justice

- Teach perspective taking & empathy

- Have student identify appropriate ways to deal with revenge issues

Avoid the use of

- Public reprimand for taking items

- Taking away material things as a consequence

- Power struggles

- Minimal consequences or ignoring the behavior

- Allowing peers to take matters into their own hands (retaliation)

- Power struggles

- Belittling feelings of the student

Special considerations

Are there medical issues, mental health diagnoses? Is there a change in the family’s financial situation – has a parent recently lost their job or are there big expenses that may impact whether they can afford needed materials and/or “extras”?

Adult attention

Escape/avoidance

Power/control

Peer affiliation

Justice/revenge

Teacher:

Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior

And/or

Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior

[Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]

- Teach negotiating, compromising, problem solving , conflict resolution

- Role play

- Teach respect,

- Teach about nonverbal communication, personal space, body language, voice volume, etc.

- Prevent lag time, lots of down time

- Have clear expectations

- Charting

- Remove audience

- Talk the student down (verbal de-escalation)

- Peer coaching and modeling

- Behavior contracts

- Teach the student the skill that he/she is avoiding

- Identify anxiety triggers

- Teach self-esteem

- Work with the student to develop an appropriate signal for the student to use when he/she needs help

- Match demands to skills levels

- Paired play

- Engineered environment (safe place, safe person)

- Clear classroom expectations

- Teach conflict resolution skills

- Teach empathy, perspective taking

- Teach tolerance curriculum

- Teach how to voice opinions in an appropriate fashion

- Remain calm

- Use humor to diffuse

- Behavior contracts

- Have student serve as peer coach to others

- Charting

- Friendship groups

- Teach participation skills

- Teach communication skills

- Teach how to provide constructive feedback to others

- Anger management

- Teach empathy & perspective taking

- Team building

- Diversity curriculum

- TRIBES

- Group contingencies

- Conflict resolution

- Teach empathy, perspective taking

- Errors in thinking

- Tolerance

- Remain calm & use humor

- Behavior contracting

- Teach diversity curriculum

- Teach perspective taking

Student:

Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior

And/or

Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior

- Involvement in leadership activities (mentoring, tutoring)

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention

- Earned down time

- Engineered choices

- Successful involvement in classroom

- Make up work or missed activity

- Have the student identify appropriate ways to escape

- Involvement in leadership activities

- Engineered choices

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get power or control

- More friends

- Involvement in activities, clubs, etc.

- Choices of peers or groups to work & socialize with

- Assigned mentor

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention

- Involvement in leadership activities

- Token economy

- Repairing relationships

- Have student identify appropriate ways to get justice

Avoid the use of

- Power struggles

- Yelling or raising voice

- Ignoring

- Not following through with consequences

- Announcing scores publicly

- Removal of the student

- Removal of the activity to allow the student to get out of doing it

- Arguing, power struggles

- Physical contact

- Raising voice

- Cornering the student

- Ultimatums

- Empty threats

- Embarrassing the student

- Group consequences

- Problem solving in front of others

- Drawing attention in front of others

- Announcing test scores, etc. to whole group

- Personal bias statements to group

- Embarrassing

- Homogeneous groupings

Discussion of topics that are sensitive to student

Special considerations

Does the student realize he/she is talking in this manner – is it habit & so we need to raise their awareness? Are students motivated to respect each other? Is adequate supervision provided in areas and at times when problems tend to occur? Are there medical issues, mental health concerns, medications? Are there similar patterns at home and in the community? Are other agencies such as social services or mental health involved? Is the school culture reinforcing problem behavior? Is the school environment or classroom a trigger? Is low level behavior being allowed and then escalating? Is there a cultural mismatch – does the student know what is acceptable behavior?

	Adult attention	Escape/avoidance		Power/control	Peer affiliation	Justice/revenge
Teacher: Instructional strategies to promote desired alternative behavior And/or Instructional strategies to reduce the target behavior [Note: when alternate behavior is incompatible with target behavior, the same strategy may work both to promote & to reduce]	- “Hold that thought and write it down” - Call on student when hand is raised - Call on another student with hand raised and reinforce correct behavior - Mentor or build relationship with the student - Give a school or class job - Modeling - Teacher proximity - Teach other students to ignore - Use social stories	- Identify anxiety triggers - Teach names of emotions and how to express them appropriately - Set clear expectations - Determine if work if too difficult – does the student have the skill to do it? - Use vignettes, social stories - Minimize “down time”; maximize time on task & time of engagement (time student has a task to be done)		- Teach how to disagree - Give choices or options - Deal with issues before they escalate - Teach other students how to react to behaviors - Have the student self-monitor - Minimize “down time” - Provide high level of instruction; time student has a task to be done - Non verbal cues - Verbal and visual cues and schedules	- Teach how to get peer attention, make friends, interact with peers - Humor - Build relationship - Use small groups - Peer mentors - Teach others to ignore misbehavior - Friendship circles - Team building
Student: Instructional consequences for alternative appropriate behavior And/or Instructional consequences for inappropriate target behavior	- Positive feedback - Earn positives for work & engagement - Choice of a preferred activity - Extra time/attention - Token economy - Positive notes home - Have student identify appropriate ways to get adult attention	- Choice of preferred activity - Earned “down time” or break time - Reduce # of problems or questions student has to do - “Buy outs” – if you do 4, you can skip 1 - Praise the process, not the product (reinforce effort) - Use cues, reminders - Redirect the student - Have student identify appropriate ways to escape		- Student can plan or choose activity - Token economy - Choice of preferred activity - Use cues, reminders - Redirect the student - Cost response system - Have student identify appropriate ways to get power or control	- Student takes leadership roles or participates in leadership activities - Student is a mentor to another student - Have student identify appropriate ways to get peer attention
Avoid the use of	- Raising your voice - Answering and so inadvertently reinforcing callouts - Ignoring the student		Removing the student or the task completely (allowing escape)	- Power struggles - Arguing - Threatening
Special considerations	Is there a medical diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome? Autism or related disorders? ADHD? Other medical issues?