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?