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.