Fun With Firsties, 1 2 3 magic, behaviour management
Do you struggle with classroom management? Here are four strategies that you can add to your toolkit that will make it just a little bit more effective.
Reducing Problem Behaviour using a function based intervention. Here I combined the first and then with the three star reward token boards and came up with this Behaviour Management Tool. Everythin…
These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....
As an educator or parent, getting into a power struggle can be an awful thing. We waste so much of our energy trying to get we we want that we sometimes forget what our goal was in the first place. Power struggles can be especially difficult with kids with ADHD, autism, oppositional-defiant disorder
Hello! Beth and I decided it would be great to start highlighting some different strategies from the book "Teach Like a Champion". If...
Attachment, Developmental Trauma and ACEs What is Attachment? Attachment refers to the emotional bond that we share with others. It “may be defined as an affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one – a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time” (p. 50, Ainsworth…
Operational definitions are invaluable tools in understanding and supporting diverse behavioural expressions. By providing precise, observable descriptions free of subjective language, we can communicate clearly, measure accurately, and develop personalised strategies that embrace neurodiversity. I have written a full article on conducting an effective Functional Behaviour Analysis that will be useful to read with this one.
Anger management strategies can be very useful to even young children as they learn to manage their own behaviour. These calming strategy cards can help!
Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner
A lot of times our students do not know how to communicate what they need in the moment. We can get to know our students by giving them a menu of options regarding things they need when they become upset, angry, nervous, worried, overwhelmed, and confused. Social emotional learning and coping strate...
If you have worked with a BCBA in the past, it is likely that you have heard the term FUNCTIONS OF BEHAVIOR. BCBAs look at function to determine WHY
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Some coping strategies for pupils with SEMH needs. A great visual and some fab ideas here.
(edited June 2017) I did up this poster in 2015 when I was trying to find ways to cope with my child’s meltdowns. After working with my child for a few years, I have come to have a better und…
Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner
special education, behavior, behavior plans, BIPs, writing a behavior plan
No....this mini series isn't about getting married....in the special ed world, we know that elopement is just a fancy word for running away. This is one of the most challenging behaviors to deal with in a school setting as it is disruptive and can be very dangerous. As a consultant in a school district, this is one of the most common issues I get called in to help with. As some of you may already know from reading my blog, I do not like to be put in a position where I have to be re-active on the fly to challenging behavior. I would rather PREVENT the behavior from occurring in the first place...and then if the behavior still occurs (which it most likely will), I want a specific plan laid out so everyone in my classroom knows what to do. This mini series of posts will cover identifying function/replacement behavior for elopement, simple to implement prevention strategies, and creating a safety plan. As we discussed in my last post, identifying the function of the behavior and teaching a replacement behavior are key ways to reduce elopement, but today we will talk about some simple strategies you can implement to prevent the behavior from occurring in the first place. 1) Arranging the environment. The student who elopes should be seated away from the door. Use furniture to make the door slightly harder to get to (not saying you should block the door with furniture, but if you use furniture to define the different spaces in your room, you most likely will avoid having a straight shot pathway to the door). You may want to consider placing some window chimes on the door so you can hear when it opens as well...this may not prevent elopement, but will at least speed up your reaction time if it does occur. 2) Visuals. As I mentioned in my last post, keeping visuals by the door or easily accessible around the room can help your student communicate their wants/needs. This may help to increase functional communication and also decrease running. Two visuals I always keep by my door are one for "water" and "bathroom." I have had a few students who don't run often, but when they do, it is for one of these two reasons. Having these visuals by the door is a prompt for them to grab one and bring it over to me or another adult before leaving the classroom. If your student seems to be running out of the room to visit a certain person/classroom or to get access to something, put a picture of the person or object right by the door. Then, when they pick this up and give it to you (you may need to teach them to do this), make sure to honor their request and at least go look for the person or object they are requesting. It may also be helpful to have visuals on the door such as a stop sign or a visual reminder to ask a teacher before leaving the classroom. 3) Increase engagement in the classroom. You want your classroom to have it going on and be the place all your students WANT to be. Find activities that are motivating and related to your students' interests. If your student loves Pokemon or angry birds, make their handwriting worksheets with pictures of these characters and have them write words related to these topics. Find ways to incorporate academics into hands-on activities or games (my kids always loved cooking!). If the function of your student's elopement seems to be for escape, try reducing the amount of demands that are placed on him or her during the day or reducing the amount of work he/she has to complete (these can always be faded back in later...but for now, let's just see if it makes a difference in reducing this dangerous behavior). 4) Always reinforce the appropriate replacement behavior. I know I mentioned this earlier, but it is that important. We can't expect our students to change their patterns of behavior unless their requests are honored. Remember, if it is easier to get what they want by running, they will continue to run. We need to make the replacement behavior the easier option in order to get them to decrease running. 5) Schedules. Have a visual schedule to increase the predictability of the day for your student. If you think running needs to be a part of their day, schedule it into their day at regular times. 6) Schedule in attention. If your student seems to be running to gain attention, try giving them attention regularly to prevent them from needing to run in order to get some face time with you. You can download apps on your phone for interval training or use a Motivaider to provide you with reminders. For instance, if you set your interval app to go off every 10 minutes, when you feel the vibration, you can simply walk over to the student, give them a little attention, and then go back about your business. In ABA, we call this noncontingent attention which basically means the student doesn't have to do anything to get the attention...you are just giving out some freebies to try and prevent them from needing to engage in an inappropriate behavior in order to get it. 7) Communication within your building. Talk to your administrator as well as staff that your student comes in contact with when running. For example, make sure the cafeteria staff know not to give him snacks when he comes in without an adult (yes...this happened) or tell staff who encounter him in the hallway to call for back up, but avoid interacting or chasing the student (especially if you think the function of the behavior is for attention). If the severity of the behavior warrants it, you may want to send an email to staff within the building letting them know what to do if they see the student without an adult present. 8) Staff coverage. Any students who elope should be accounted for by a staff member at all times of the day. Make sure that on your staff schedules they know not only what activities they are doing during the day, but also what students they are assigned to. As much as I love my Fitbit steps, I would prefer NOT to get them from running after students. Let me know if you have any other tips that worked for you in your classroom. Email me [email protected] with pictures and I would love to add them to this post!
“Fashion is a form of imitation and so of social equalisation, but paradoxically, in changing incessantly, it differentiates one time from another and one social stratum from other. It unites those…
Anger management strategies can be very useful to even young children as they learn to manage their own behaviour. These calming strategy cards can help!
There are many reasons for dismissing the notion of an unconscious mind, however the one particular notion that I wanted to highlight is cognitive bias.
These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....
Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tomorrow, and be fine with it? This is a repost of a piece that … Continue reading →
Traditional economics views humans as robotic machines who make calculated decisions based on logic. In contrast, behavioural economics views humans as irrational and emotional beings who ar…
The A to Z of Coping Skills display poster for you to use to talk about coping strategies and worksheet for children to come up with their own strategies.
Kids and young adults with ADHD can be extremely bright, creative, and helpful. These are often the learners coming up with new invention ideas, filling up a journal with intricate comic book drawings, and eager to answer all of your questions in class. With that said, learners with ADHD can struggl
This cooperative learning strategy takes the idea of "working in pairs" up a notch.
These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....
Once we established our positive behavior expectations, our PBIS team’s next big goal was to create a sitewide behavior intervention flowchart. In this flowchart, the goal was to: Clearly def…
These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....
Teaching behavior expectations in kindergarten is important, especially in the first few weeks of school. This often sets the stage for yo...
Cognitive flexibility is one of the most important qualities that students AND teachers can cultivate. Learning is easier when kids and their teachers can tolerate change, open themselves to new experiences, solve problems creatively, and take the unexpected in stride. Flexibility isn’t always an easy thing to develop–but as Lynn Cannon and her colleagues stress […]
Understanding Metacognition is essential for teachers guiding their students to a deeper understanding but what is it and how does it work?
Character Reading Comprehension Worksheets, Free Character Reading Comprehension Worksheets, Character Comprehension Worksheets, Free Character Comprehension Worksheets
Learn about RAFT and get this editable RAFT activity that includes a wide range of ideas your students are sure to love.
Parents and caregivers of children with and without autism often ask many questions that start with- "Why does my child do (blank)?" or, "Why can’t I get my child to do (blank)?" To be able to answer these questions in my own life, it was imperative for me to first understand the FUNCTIONS OF BEHAVIOR- "FOB"- (Just kidding. For once, that isn't an actual acronym, but it made me giggle so I'm keeping it in here.) Understanding the function of behavior is a cornerstone of ABA. Applied Behavior Analysis is a researched-based science in which the environment is manipulated to change behavior. ABA calls for the assessment of behavior and the environment it occurs in, prior to any treatment. Once extensive data is collected, treatment is applied to decrease problem behavior AND increase desired behavior. This all sounds very formal and fancy, so let's break it down. Behavior is any observable action made by an individual. Behavior is NOT synonymous with bad behavior. The following things are behaviors: working out, eating, riding a bike, raising your hand in class, cleaning up, HIDING IN THE PANTRY EATING KIT KATS. The function of a behavior is the reason why people behave in a certain way (Yep, even you and me). The book, Behaviorspeak defines Function of Behavior as, "the variable maintaining a given behavior (e.g, what might be reinforcing behavior?)" People engage in millions of different behaviors each day. Although everyone's behaviors are unique, the reasons for doing these different behaviors fall into four main categories. We have to become private detectives to figure out the function in order to understand how to appropriately design an intervention to stop unwanted behaviors and increase wanted behaviors. Without understanding the function of a behavior any intervention put in place could be ineffective, or unfair to our learners. The four main functions are: • Sensory: The individual behaves in a specific way because it feels good to them or meets a sensory need. • Escape/Avoidance: The behavior occurs to escape a person, task, or environment. • Attention Seeking: The individual behaves to get focused attention from parents, teachers, siblings, peers, or other people that are around them. • Access to Tangibles: The individual behaves in a certain way in order to get a preferred item or engage in an enjoyable activity. Free graphic found HERE We can use an acronym for this one: SEAT. Sensory, Escape/avoidance, Attention, Access to Tangibles. I don't believe all behavior is communication. However, I do believe that all behaviors serve a function. Kids don’t do things like injure themselves simply because they have autism. When behaviorists analyze the situation, its important that they have: A clear description of the behavior (the topography). An understanding of what is happening before the behavior occurs; to include the environment and behaviors of other people within it. Within behavior analysis, this would be called the "antecedent". A description of what happens after the behavior occurs; This would be called the "consequence" within behavior analysis. The identification of desirable behaviors that the child can already engage in so they may be used to substitute the challenging behavior. For example, if a child can already make requests, then they could be taught to say “I need a break” instead of screaming or becoming aggressive. A data analysis of the behavior occurring in diverse environments which includes the above information. Here is more information on Functional Behavior Assessments. So, let’s use a hypothetical behavior of a boy named Luke. Luke hits his head on the table. We can’t assume anything from just this sentence. Let’s talk about what the function COULD be based on the functions of behavior. 1st: medical should be ruled out for any behavior. This is important! Sensory- the pressure on his head meets a sensory need. He only engages when he needs the release. Escape/avoidance: He hits his head when he is given a task to complete that he doesn’t want to do. Attention: whenever he hits his head adults surround him and give him attention. At home it’s- Oh baby, don’t hurt yourself. And an adult picks him up and rocks him. At school he is scolded-DO NOT BANG YOUR HEAD! That’s dangerous Luke! Access to tangibles: He hits his head because when he engages in this behavior, his mom attempts to distract him by giving him his favorite toy or candy. The intervention must be based on the WHY, and all the above factors must be analyzed. If not, in cases like Luke's mom giving him candy- we can mistakenly increase an unwanted behavior. Luke has learned- if I want candy- all I need to do is hit my head. Instead, the mom should give candy to Luke when he is engaging in wanted behavior, and she should withhold candy when he is engaging in head banging. She should also teach a replacement behavior of requesting candy with Luke's current method of communication. ALL PEOPLE NEED A FUNCTIONAL METHOD TO COMMUNICATE TODAY. Vocal, Picture exchange, Speech Generating device- doesn't matter what, as long as they have one. Or in the case of the SENSORY function- enjoying the pressure of the hit- a replacement behavior must be offered. Perhaps Luke needs tight squeezes, or a weighted vest, or to engage in exercise before the pressure builds up. Consulting with an Occupational Therapist can be imperative for our sensory seekers and avoiders. When we understand the functions of behavior, we better know how to support our learners. Some behaviors need to be replaced with a behavior that fulfills the same function, some behaviors need to be ignored (the behavior- not the child). But we don’t know which is which without understanding WHY. That's why there is no simple answer to the question of, "Why is my child engaging in XYZ?" But understanding the WHY is the first step. HERE are some function based strategies for affecting behavior. Understanding the functions of behavior has been life changing for my parenting, and for homeschooling my oldest son Greyson. It's even helped me understand myself better. But even better, it's helped me understand and support my sons better, and helped them be happier and more understood. I often say, being misunderstood is one of life's most painful experiences.
Challenges with focus and attention can become a huge roadblock to learning for kids and young adults. Simply put, attention is critical to learning. If students can't focus on the lesson, they are going to struggle with understanding the new content. If students can't focus on the directions, they
Help kids learn impulse control skills using these practical strategies to support development of executive functioning.
