Ron Weinstein
Director
       

I've found that teachers will always get more motivated to work with students with challenging behaviours when they see a program that not only helps the student, but is also meaningful to their class or their district.  

Unfortunately, some educators still feel the behaviours result from students wanting to be noncompliant. Accepting the fact that challenging behaviours usually serve a function is the starting point for developing a program that will work. 

In order to draw up a working positive behavioural support plan, educators need  to realize and accept what students with challenging behaviours are trying to tell them. That realization will  only come from accepting the following:

1. Challenging behaviours result from unmet needs. Whether it is self-stimulation, hitting other children, or just "acting out" in the classroom, students resort to challenging behaviours to fill a void. They act and react to their lives based on their environment or even sensory issues such as a room being too loud.

2. Challenging behaviours are context-related. For every behaviour, there are antecedents, or something happening around the student that causes them to shift into that behaviour.  

3. Effective supports and interventions are based on a thorough understanding of the student and his or her problem behaviours.  The effective supports should grow directly out of the student's functional behavioural assessment and an understanding of why a student acts out in a certain way. 

It is critical that school districts establish system wide protocols and methodologies for collecting data on students with challenging behaviours.  

Trying to teach students to stop behaviours without teaching them the new skills to deal with their environment just won't work.                         Dr. Ron 
 

Discipline: 
To teach or to punish? 

The new federal regulations pertaining to what constitutes "school discipline", what type of discipline is permissible and whether the "inappropriate" behaviour exhibited by a child is, or is not, a manifestation of their disability, is causing quite a stir in the academic community. And it should because of the vagaries of the terminology and how we interpret the regulations.  

 

If we look up the word discipline in Webster's Dictionary, the first two definitions are punishment and instruction. Hmmmm? Can we use these two definitions in the same sentence? 

• If a child doesn't know how to read, we teach. 
• If a child doesn't know how to swim, we teach. 
• If a child doesn't know how to multiply, we teach. 
• If a child doesn't know how to drive, we teach. 
• If a child doesn't know how to behave, we..uh... teach? punish?
  

Can you honestly answer that  question? Didn't you have to stop and think about it first?  Why can't the answer be automatic?  

Are you, the parent or educator, only interested in a quick fix and are you willing to accept the long term consequences?  

Do you care if you put off the inevitable if you can solve today's problem?  

The first priority of most school administrators must be safety. Students who are exhibiting behaviours that are disruptive or which can be harmful to themselves or other students must be removed in some capacity. 

 

What troubles me is that there is a double standard with regards to whether a student continues to receive services. If the behaviour has been shown to be a manifestation of their disability, the student must continue to receive services. If the student does not have a disability, or if it's decided that the behaviour was not the result of the student's disability, no educational services are provided. I don't get it. 

 

First, why should either student be deprived of access to educational services? It doesn't take a research study to know that they will fall behind in their studies, get frustrated.......

 

Second, why aren't all students who have be expelled or even exhibiting behaviours which are challenging or even mildly inappropriate receiving skills training to address their behaviour? 

While we grapple over the first part - the inequality of educational services, Congress has made the second part easier to address.

 

Since all children can learn, it is the school's responsibility to teach, regardless of whether the topic is arithmetic or appropriate behaviour. The responsibility for the what and the how of teaching the appropriate  behaviour is placed in the hands of the IEP team. 

 

It's all very clear. Section 614(d)(3)(B) states that the “IEP team shall,.....in the case of a child whose behaviour impedes his or her learning   or that of others, consider, when appropriate, strategies, including positive behavioural intervention strategies, and supports to address   that behaviour;..."

 

Section 614(k)(1)(B) explains, “Either before or not later than 10 days after taking a disciplinary action described in subparagraph (A) (changing placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting)...if the child already has a behavioural intervention plan, the IEP team shall review the plan and modify it as necessary, to address the behaviour.

 

And finally, Section 614 (k)(3)(B) requires, “Any alternative educational setting...shall be selected so as to enable the child to participate in the general curriculum, although in another setting, and to continue to receive those services and modifications, including those described in the child's current IEP, that will enable the child to meet the goals set out in that IEP; and include services and modifications designed to address the behaviour...so that it does not recur."

 

Which brings us back to teaching. Some children learn to read without formal teaching. Some learn to multiply on their own. Some children learn to behave appropriately without formal instruction, but most don't. We need to teach reading. We need to teach arithmetic. And for many children, we need to teach appropriate behaviour. 

The challenge is to teach the skills in a way appropriate to the learning and reasoning style of the child, so that they make sense. Only in this way can they begin to internalize the skills and utilize them when challenged. 

 As parents and as educators, it's always difficult and painful for us to deal with a child whose behaviour, for example is threatening. It's never been more important however, to look beyond just acting to relieve our pain of the moment. It's crucial that we empathize with the pain the child is experiencing and will continue to experience if they never learn how to deal with themselves.

 

            If a child doesn't know how to behave, we..uh... teach? punish?

DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR PLAN

 

Any behaviour plan developed and implemented for students with AD/HD must be short and to the point.

Any behaviour management plan filled with a lengthy checklists of expected goals, behaviours, objectives — and whether or they've been met — will, in all likelihood, be hastily done with questionable results.

1. On-Task - If you are able to keep the student on task, you've covered a lot of ground regarding his behaviour, academic and social skills. If the work is challenging, the student will remain in his seat, doing his work, and not disrupting the class. 

2. Compliance with first request - Address the student directly and expect them to comply with something the first time you ask him something. Don't repeat yourself. 

3. Appropriate talk only. This covers whistling, singing, burping (any oral noise). Effectively stopping these behaviours is usually accompanied by ‘what's in it for me' and ‘what's in it for me now?' Therefore, you must be ready to have a reinforcer ready. This is not bribery. A reinforcer must be something the student really wants and cannot have any other way. To accomplish this, at the end of the period or at the end of the day, the teacher can take out the students plan and check off the three areas that indicate whether or not the student's expected goals have been met.

When addressing a student with ADHD you must be forthright, exact and you must maintain control. 


1. Pay attention to and name the behaviour you want to see. "Show me listening." "Show me control." "I need you to ... " 

Many AD/HD kids often have a difficult time modeling behaviour. Have the teacher and then other students demonstrate what, for example, respect looks like and provide examples. When the student's peers recognize it, they too can participate.

2. Be stingy with your words and don't tag on "OK" to the end of the sentence. As soon as the student has complied, say, for example, "Good job, you showed me control."

3. Ignore or unemotionally label those behaviours you don't want. "That's arguing. I need you to do number five."

4. Speak and Spin. This technique combines the process of unemotionally labeling behaviours you don't want with breaking eye contact and turning away from the student, demonstrating that the conversation is over. 

Always shut down your half of any argument. A debate requires the participation of two people. "Only a fool insists on having the last word," "You're the adult." 
Remember, this requires practice. You're giving a visual cue to the student. It's a stop sign. When you spin away it says, 
"My friend, this conversation is over."

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