Behavioural Interventions and

Supports for Children and Adolescents

Faculty of Education

Dr. Chris Brown

Your Learning in this course will be enhanced if we all agree to:

Share our experiences and knowledge

Listen with understanding to what others say

Ask questions

Respect confidences

Participate in the discussions and exercises

Give and receive constructive feedback

Start on time

Do not use cell phones in class

Use your computer appropriately

What are your experiences?

•  In groups, discuss your experiences with behavioural challenges. The discussion can come from your role as a parent, student, teacher, or any other perspective you think informs who you are and how you will teach students in the future. Then we will discuss your experiences as a whole group.

My experience from different perspectives

•  Classroom teacher •  SSP teacher •  Principal •  Resource Teacher •  Guidance

Counsellor

•  Student •  NVCI Trainer for

School Division •  Therapist •  Parent

Topics for discussion •  Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder •  Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder •  Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective Disorder •  Reactive Attachment Disorder •  Oppositional Defiant Disorder •  Conduct Disorder •  Substance Abuse •  Socialized Aggression (Gangs) •  Self-harm/cutting •  Depression/ Suicide •  Stealing/Swearing/ Cheating •  Bullying/ Fighting •  School Avoiders (Anxiety) •  Temper Tantrums •  Social Media •  School Shootings •  Etc.

Some basics

•  Expectations •  Causes •  Teaching •  Defining, measuring, and assessing behaviour •  Work, play, love and fun •  Direct, honest communication •  Modeling and Self-control •  Cultural Differences •  The business of special education: Instruction •  Real people •  Past and future

Definition and Prevelance 1.  How would you respond to someone who suggested

that youngsters who act out are bad kids, not kids with disabilities?

2.  How would you explain to someone who is unfamiliar with special education and child psychology what is wrong with the youngsters who have EBD?

3.  How would you make the case that some youngsters who exhibit problem behaviour should be excluded from the definition of EBD?

4.  If you were an administrator, what types of in-service would you want to provide to make sure that your teachers were ready and able to recognize the early signs of EBD and to intervene effectively to keep problems from getting worse?

5.  Over what factors affecting the prevalence of EBD do teachers have the greatest control?

Expectations

•  What are my expectations of students?

•  Do I expect too little or too much?

•  How do you know?

•  Teaching to manage versus managing to teach.

Causes

•  UNKNOWN much of the time but an interaction between nature and nurture (epigenetics)

•  A number of ideas… – However, correlation is not causality – This will be explained in greater detail as we

go along.

Teaching

Substantive Relationship The connection between the

student and the subject matter and substance of

what is taught

Pedagogical Relationship

The connection between the student and the pedagogy/

teaching

Interpersonal Relationship

The connection between the student

and the teacher

Defining, measuring, and assessing behaviour

•  It is important to be able to name and speak to deficiencies, and come up with a plan to measure the change in behaviour

•  Behaviour intervention plan (BIP) •  Functional Behaviour Assessment

Work, play, love and fun

Mastery

Generosity

Independence

Belonging

Power

Belonging

Freedom

Fun

Compassionate Classroom

Compassionate Classroom

Voice

Authority

Positionality

Constructionism

Direct, honest communication

•  Recognize the interaction between control theory (behavioural approaches) and the drive for choice theory (cognitive approaches)

•  External control may be necessary until internal control is attained.

•  Crisis intervention techniques are control theory driven

•  Positive regard is critical, honest follow through is vital

•  Empaphic listening is important •  Students need to know where they stand

C.Brown

Modeling and Self-control

•  Vicarious learning- you need to be a model of self-control

•  Shaping behaviour in the classroom •  When a person is not able to control their

behaviour, it is our legal responsibility to help them be able to do this. In some cases, this may mean controlling the person physically.

•  Always work towards self-management (self-regulation and metacognition)

Cultural Differences

•  Classrooms are a microcosm of society. Thus, oppression and marginalization play out in classrooms all the time.

•  Understand that you are inevitably a part of the social construction of difference.

•  Work to understand and challenge yourself about how you maintain inequity in your classroom

The business of special education: Instruction

•  Make no mistake, your job is to teach the curriculum.

•  These students require the best teachers and the best instruction- they are counting on it.

•  Make no mistake, students want to succeed in life and be “normal.” Being “normal” means succeeding in school and graduating.

•  You need to be competent and focus on providing a classroom environment conducive to improved behaviour.

Real people

•  Talk is cheap, you need to experience behavioural challenges and learn how to handle them based upon your own teaching style.

•  Understanding theory and being able to apply it is the difference between being a parent and a teacher. Parents will come to you asking for your advice. You need to be able to give it to them based upon more than your gut!

Past and future

•  Students with behavioural challenges are still the most difficult population to work with.

•  We are getting more students through the “pipeline,” including those students with behavioural challenges who, 30 years ago, likely would have left school to work.

•  I still talk to some of the students I worked with over the years. I am aware that several have completed suicide, a number have been diagnosed with mental illness, while a few others have gone on to commit violent crimes. But the vast majority work and contribute a great deal to the fabric of society.

•  How do you think things will change in education for students who have behavioural challenges?

A philosophy of inclusion

•  Manitoba Education is committed to fostering inclusion for all people.

•  Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that allows every individual to feel accepted, valued, and safe. An inclusive community consciously evolves to meet the changing needs of its members. Through recognition and support, an inclusive community provides meaningful involvement and equal access to the benefits of citizenship.

•  In Manitoba, we embrace inclusion as a means of enhancing the well-being of every member of the community. By working together, we strengthen our capacity to provide the foundation for a richer future for all of us.

T o w a r d s I n c l u s I o n : Supporting Positive Behaviour in Manitoba Classrooms

•  Positive Relationships •  Classroom Organization •  Differentiated Instruction •  Classroom Behavioural Expectations •  Social Skills Instruction •  Positive Reinforcement •  Fair and Predictable Consequences •  Gathering Data to Understand Student Behaviour •  Planning for Behavioural Changes

Definition

•  Behavioural or emotional disorder (EBD) is a condition in which behavioural or emotional responses of an individual in school are so different from his/her generally accepted, age-appropriate, ethnic, or cultural norms as to result in significant impairment in his/her self-care, social relationships, school progress, classroom demeanour, work adjustment, or related functioning.

•  The condition may include, but is not necessarily limited to, clinical entities such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorders, or other sustained disturbances of conduct or adjustment. The condition can also co-exist with other handicapping conditions.” (Council for Children with Behavioural Disorders).

Group question:

•  What are the positive and negative implications of “naming” these students?

Legal Responsibility Comes From:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms •  A part of Canada’s Constitution Act which guarantees,

among other rights, the rights of all individuals with exceptionalities.

The Public Schools Act. •  In Canada, education falls under provincial/territorial

jurisdiction. •  Bill 13 and regulation 155/05 was passed in 2005 bringing

Manitoba on-line with the other provinces and territories.

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School-wide systems for student success

Prevelance

•  0.5%-20% variance •  Likely 2% ish

Two dimensions of EBD

•  Disordered emotions or behaviours are described as: –  Internalizing- social withdrawal, self-harm – Externalizing- aggressive, acting-out

Early Identification •  EBD often diagnosed or determined to late

– Need to catch the problem when the child is young and/or when the condition is blooming

Reasonable Arguments

•  Arguments for Early ID •  EBD is under identified •  False negatives are worse than

false positives •  Special education helps students

with EBD •  Earlier identification is better than

later identification

•  Arguments against Early ID •  Too many students are already

identified •  We Don’t want to label the student •  We’d rather risk a false negative

than a false positive •  Special education is ineffective •  We want to keep “including” the

child •  Fear of misidentifying student

because of ethnic or gender differences

•  Identification is based on a medical model

Prevention

•  We know much of what is linked to EBD but do too little to remedy these social factors: – Poverty – Abuse or neglect – Harsh and inconsistent discipline – Variety of factors related to family,

neighbourhood, school and societal conditions

Bullying and the Scary Guy

Education of Antisocial and Violent Students

•  When should antisocial, violent behaviour be declared a disability versus a criminal or delinquent act for which special education is inappropriate?

•  What level of antisocial behaviour can be tolerated in a regular classroom?

•  If students do cross the line of what’s tolerable in a classroom or school, then where and how should there education be continued?

•  What are the legitimate means of controlling antisocial and violent behaviour?

•  How can schools best function as a part of a larger community effort to lessen antisocial and violent behaviour?

Focus on Academic and Social Skills

•  As stated earlier, effective instruction is at the heart of effective special education and behaviour management

•  As well, explicit instruction on often implicit social skills is also important

Functional Behavioural Assessment

Functional Assessment Methods

Continuum of Support •  Regular classroom with supports •  Crisis or resource support in regular schools •  Self-contained special classrooms

– Sometimes including part-time in regular class •  Special day schools •  Day treatment of partial hospitalization •  Residential treatment or inpatient treatment •  Homebound instruction at students home •  Schools in juvenile detention centres and prisons

Multicultural Special Education

•  How can behaviour be assessed without cultural bias? •  What behaviour is normative and what behaviour is

deviant in the student’s culture? •  What interventions are acceptable in the culture of the

student? •  How might racism, sexism, and other forms of

discrimination have contributed to, and how might they still contribute to the creation, labeling, and inappropriate labeling of deviance?

•  Whose culture decides what is normal and deviant behaviour?

Conceptual Models •  Theoretical frameworks anchor us and provide a

way to explain the causes of disturbing human behavior

•  As professionals, we need to understand that theoretical frameworks are social constructions that we take-for-granted as natural and normal and true, but they change as we get better (or different explanations)

•  We also need to know the current theory so that we can apply it to our practice (praxis)

Theoretical Models

•  Biological model •  Psycho-educational model •  Ecological model •  Behavioral Model

•  INTEGRATED MODEL: – A SOCIAL-COGNITIVE APPROACH

Biological Model

•  Understanding biological problem is key •  Medical model •  Often involves medication •  Strength: based on reliable information

about physiological processes •  Weakness: Teachers don’t really have

much say in treatment

Psycho-educational Model

•  Explains behaviour through psychological processes (unconscious motivations and conflicts)

•  Involves teaching about gaining self-control through reflection and planning

•  Strength: Considers interval motivations that are often overlooked

•  Weaknesses: Little empirical research

Ecological Model

•  Takes into consideration the way the student is enmeshed in a complex social system

•  Focus is on understanding and intervening in the students social system and teaching the child to do the same

•  Strength: Considers how behaviour fits in its social context

•  Weakness: Complex and little control over much of the proposed problems

Behaviour Model

•  The essence of the problem is the behaviour itself

•  Behaviour is a function of environmental events

•  Strength: Based on teaching and learning •  Weakness: Focus is only on observable

behaviour

SOCIAL COGNITIVE APPROACH

•  Common model for those teaching and working in this area

•  An integrated approach that consolidates the strengths of the four models

•  Human behaviour is explained from a natural science perspective by integrating what is known about the effects of the environment and what is known about the role of cognition

Triadic Reciprocality

Person

Behaviour Environment

Structure for analysis

HOW YOU WILL SUPPORT STUDENT WITH EBD

Assessment & Intervention

Causal Factors • Biological • Cultural • Family • School

Types of Disorders • Internalizing • Externalizing

Understanding causality

Cultural Family

School

Epigenetic principle •  We develop through stages, in

part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain time, in a certain order, which nature, through genetics, has determined. If we interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower.

Eigenetic Theory

•  Epigenetic theory is an emergent theory of development that includes both the genetic origins of behavior and the direct influence that environmental forces have, over time, on the expression of those genes. The theory focuses on the dynamic interaction between these two influences during development.

Genetics

•  Children inherit more than physical characteristics from their parents; they also inherit predispositions to certain behavioural characteristics.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

•  There is injury to the brain caused by an external force

•  The injury isn’t caused by a degenerative or congenital condition

•  There is a diminished or altered state of consciousness

•  Neurological or neurobiological dysfunction results from the injury

Effects

•  Dependant on the part(s) of the brain damaged

•  Severity of the damage •  Age and when the damage occurs •  The quality of the intervention (treatment)

TBI effects •  Inappropriate manners or mannerisms •  Failure to understand humor or social situations •  Becoming easily tired, frustrated or angered •  Unreasonable fear or anxiety •  Irritability •  Sudden, exaggerated mood swings •  Depression •  Perseveration (stuck on one thought or

behaviour)

Malnutrition & Allergies

•  Severe malnutrition (protein deficiency in particular) can affect brain development and can lead to EBD

•  What we consume (caffeine and sugar) and don’t consume (not enough vitamins and minerals) also affects behaviour

•  There is little evidence that allergies significantly impact behaviour

Temperament

•  A babies temperament turns into their personality as they interact with the world

•  Three types – Easy – Difficult – Slow to warm up

Medication Class of Drugs Examples Stimulants Ritalin

Adderall Dexedrine

Antipsychotics Risperidal Seroquel Abilify

Antidepressents Prozac Celexa Wellbutrin Effexor

Mood Stabilizers Lithium Depakote Topamax Lamictal

Group Work

1.  What are the greatest advantages and disadvantages of medication for EBD?

2.  How should knowledge of a biological cause of a student’s behaviour affect the way you work with that student as a teacher?

Understanding causality

Biology

Culture

School

The Family as Cause •  Natural tendency to blame parental

mismanagement and family disintegration •  While family characteristics are closely

connected with EBD, they are not causal, and are likely linked to a number of other factors

•  Family factors can either increase the probability of vulnerability for EBD or resiliency against EBD

•  Family’s are VERY complex systems that we don’t understand well- be very careful about assumptions

Social learning

•  Vulnerability for EBD is greatly increased by ineffective/inappropriate parental modeling, reinforcement and punishment patterns

Family Function to…

•  Provide care and protect children •  Regulate and control children’s behaviour •  Convey knowledge and skills important for

understanding and coping with the physical and social world

•  Give affective meaning to interactions and relationships

•  Facilitate children’s self-understanding

Family’s change

•  Single-parent families is a risk-factor for EBD

•  However, it is conflict that is most closely associated with this risk, and family conflict can also exist in families that stay together.

Substitute Care

•  Children who are in foster care are at-risk for EBD

•  This may be because of a number of factors that includes the fact that the child was removed because of neglect or abuse

•  Manitoba has a very high percentage of children in foster care

Parenting Styles

Authoritative parenting •  Responsiveness

– Warmth – Recipricocity – Attachment

•  Demandingness – Monitoring – Firmness – Positive and negative consequences for behaviour

Negative Reinforcement Trap

Child Abuse

•  Students with EBD are more likely to be connected with CFS or may be in need of protection

•  CFS can be understood as another support for the family

•  Support often involves helping parent change management strategies away from aversive and punitive management strategies toward more responsive approaches

Child and Family Services

•  When do you contact CFS? •  What is the process for contacting CFS?

Family Influence

•  Family’s have a HUGE impact on school success

•  Work hard WITH family’s of children with EBD

•  Assist parents to have an open, versus closed, system of support

External Pressures Add Up

•  Poverty •  Unemployment •  Underemployment •  Homelessness •  Community violence

Implications for Educators •  Provide critical positive interactions with students

and demonstrate these for parents •  Find and support the strengths of individual

families •  Help families find and use informal sources of

support from friends, neighbours, coworkers, or others in the community

•  Become competent in understanding and valuing cultural differences in families

•  Connect families to useful resources

Group Work 1.  How would you talk with parents whom

you suspect are abusive toward their child?

2.  How could you best express empathy for parents whose child is exhibiting bevaviour that is troublesome to you?

3.  How would you approach parents who do not see their child as exhibiting troublesome behaviour, despite telling them that this is what you are seeing?

Understanding causality

Biology

Culture Family

The school as cause

•  Schools is an important socializing agent and is where teachers have control and can make a difference

•  Academic success is fundamental for social development and lifelong success

Intelligence

•  Generally speaking, students with EBD have low average intelligence (low 90’s)

Academic Achievement

•  Generally speaking, most students with EBD are academically deficient, even when their lower mental age is taken into account

•  Most function at least a year below their peers

Social Skills •  Students with EBD lack social skills that

make them attractive to others – Struggle to keep prosocial friends – Struggle to communicate (verbal and

nonverbally) in prosocial ways – Struggle with pragmatics (the practical, social

uses of language) •  Identifying, labeling, and expressing needs, wants

and feelings •  Describing and interpreting emotions

The Behaviour of School Failure •  Behaviour that requires teacher intervention

or control (teasing, annoying, interfering with others)

•  Dependence on the teacher for direction •  Difficulty paying attention and concentrating •  Becoming upset under pressure •  Sloppy, impulsive work •  Low self-confidence

The Behaviour of School Success •  Rapport with teacher, including friendly conversations

before, after and during class •  Appropriate verbal interaction, including asking

relevant questions, volunteering, and participating in class discussions

•  Doing more than the minimum work required, taking care to understand directions and to master all details

•  Originality and reasoning ability, quickness to grasp new concepts and apply them

•  Sensitivity to the feelings of others

Trifecta Antisocial Behaviour

Below Average Achievement

Below Average IQ

Behaviour Intervention Planning

•  See example in shared drive

Keys For EBD Plans

•  Social-Learning Needs •  Personal/Emotional Needs •  Reactive Strategies •  Proactive Strategies

•  Behavioral Targets

•  Functional Understanding

1

2

3

Two Student Specific Plans

I.E.P.

B.I.P.

to Identify and Address: •  academic learning

needs •  other learning needs

including social, behavior and communication

to Identify and Address: •  emotional/behavioral

needs •  outside service

requirements •  sometimes the system

needs

Behavior Intervention Plan FIVE COMPONENTS

• Critical Programming needs • Interventions • Supports

• Purpose and background

• Outcomes and evaluation

Purpose and Background Purpose •  What are we trying to

accomplish with this plan?

Background •  What is the student

trying to accomplish with these problem behaviors

What behavior gets!

What drives the behavior and what is its function? 1

Discussion: “I don’t care what you do. It doesn’t bother me!” “If he touches me, I’ll kick him again!”

Patterns: Problem behaviors occur at recess, just before or just after. Problem behaviors occur just after you have a positive meeting with parents Life Experience: “I’m stupid, I’ll never be able to do this stuff!” “I don’t care, it doesn’t bother me.”

Triggers: The word “no” or any direction telling them to stop what they are doing or that they are unable to do what they want. Any positive statements or encouragement.

Examples

Community / School

Social-Learning

Personal /Emotional

Our Need

Child Should Learn

Child Must Have

2

What we need from the Child

What we will teach the child

What the child needs from us

ProgrammingNeeds

Interventions

Proactive

Reactive

• What can we do so the negative behavior isn’t necessary?

• How will we deal with problem behavior when it does occur?

3

Supports •  School and Divisional/District

(Resource, clinicians, counselor, assistants)

•  Outside Professionals and Community Supports (Mental Health, Child Welfare, AFM Worker)

•  Family Supports (Respite, Family Preservation, Crisis Stabilization Units, Home Care Workers)

How Schools Can Contribute •  Insensitivity to students’ individuality •  Inappropriate expectations for students

– Effects of labels – Effects of classroom standards

•  Inconsistent management of behaviour •  Instruction in nonfunctional and irrelevant skills •  Ineffective instruction in critical skills •  Undesirable models of school conduct

Destructive contingencies of reinforcement •  Providing positive reinforcement for

inappropriate behaviour •  Failing to provide positive reinforcement for

positive behaviour •  Providing negative reinforcement for

behaviour that allows students to avoid work

Positive & Negative Reinforcement: Dynamic Duo

•  Reinforcement – Positive (get something) – Negative (avoid something) (Both usually at work at same time)

•  Not understanding the effect of the consequences is deadly

Group Work

1.  As a teacher, how can you make sure that you are aware of how you might be contributing to a student’s problems?

2.  Describe your most important goals for the students you teach, and what rationale can you provide for choosing these goals?

Understanding causality

Biology

Family

School

Cultural implications

•  Conflicting cultural values and standards •  Our own biases may affect our treatment

of students

Biology, Family, School, Culture

•  Mass Media •  Peer Groups

– Negative peer groups •  Neighbourhood and Urbanization •  Ethnicity •  Social class and poverty

Implications for educators

•  Beware of how cultural factors can contribute to EBD, but can also lead to teacher bias and the overrepresentation of minoritized students as EBD

Group Work 1.  What cultural biases and preferences do you bring

to thinking about children’s behaviour in school, and what can you do to minimize or eliminate your biases?

2.  Under what circumstances do you see making assumptions about a student’s behaviour because of his or her ethnic identity becoming a stereotype?

3.  What are the most important aspects of culture of which teachers should be aware, and how do you think teachers can best be made aware of them?

Crisis Intervention

The goal of any Intervention is to provide the best care, welfare, safety

and security for everyone

Two forms of Aggressive Behavior

Verbal Aggression Physical Aggression

Verbal Intervention Physical Intervention

Two forms of Aggressive Behavior

Verbal Aggression Physical Aggression

Physical Intervention Verbal Intervention

Escalate the

Situation

Crisis Development Model An Integrated Experience

Crisis Development: Teacher Attitudes: 1. Anxiety – A noticeable increase or change in behavior.

1. Supportive – Letting them know that you are there and that you care.

2. Defensive – The Beginning stage of loss of rationality.

2. Directive – A firm approach to setting limits. -Simple -Reasonable -Enforceable

3. Acting Out Person– A total loss of emotional and physical control

3.  Physical control.

4. Tension Reduction – Subsiding of energy.

4.  Therapeutic Rapport – processing, setting up prevention and teaching.

Anxiety Level Nonverbal Behaviors

A noticeable change or increase in

emotions and or behavior.

Activity

Supportive Stance Reasons for using the Supportive Stance:

1.  Personal Safety

2.  Non-challenging and less threatening

3.  Respects and honors a persons space.

Nonverbal Behavior Proxemics (personal space)

•  The area surrounding the body

Ø  Average person space = 1 ½ to 3 feet distance. Ø Backpacks, lockers, desks, personal items would be Considered an extension of personal space.

•  Things the effect personal space.

- Relationship -Gender -Hygiene - Culture -Setting -Past experience - Age -Size -Demeanor

Nonverbal Behavior Kinesics (body language) •  Nonverbal messages transmitted by the

movement or posture of the body. (Level of comfort or discomfort in our personal space)

Examples of Body Language: -crossed arms or legs -eye contact -looking away -rolling eyes -hand placement -speed of approach -body posture

Para verbal Communication

How we say, what we say.

Para verbal Communication is effected by:

Tone – Inflection of your voice.

Cadence – Rate and rhythm that we speak.

Volume – is the volume appropriate for the situation.

Para verbal Communication

Tone

Para verbal Communication

Cadence

Defensive Level Verbal Escalation

A slight loss of rational understanding and behavior.

1.  Questioning A.  Information Seeking

Staff: Provide information

B.  Challenging

Staff: Redirect and refocus

2.  Refusal Non-compliance, slight loss of rationality Staff: Set limits:

-Simple

-Reasonable

-Enforceable.

3.  Release Acting out, emotional outburst, venting (Verbal)

Staff: Allow venting, remove the audience or acting out individual from

the area.

4. Intimidation Verbal or Nonverbal threats.

Staff: -Documentation

-Team Approach -Isolation

5.  Tension Reduction

Drop in Energy-Regaining rationality

Staff: Processing the Situation, setting up

prevention and Teaching

Defensive Level Verbal Escalation

Continuum

Verbal Intervention Tips DO

1.  Remain calm. 2.  Isolate the situation. 3.  Enforce limits. 4.  Listen. 5.  Be aware of non-

verbals. 6.  Be consistent.

DON’T 1.  Overreact. 2.  Get in a power

struggle. 3.  Make false promises. 4.  Fake attention. 5.  Be threatening. 6.  Use jargon (it tends to

confuse and frustrate).

Tips for Increasing Compliance

•  Achieve (but don’t demand) eye contact

•  Decrease the distance between you and the student before correcting behaviour

•  Allow student time to process request, but follow-up

•  Use more start requests than stop requests

•  Be aware of student’s body language

•  Speak calmly, yet firmly •  Keep emotion out of your voice

•  Don’t take the behaviour to heart

•  Use descriptive requests •  Provide structured choices •  Avoid demands or ultimatums •  Prompt with reminders •  Consistantly reinforce

compliance •  Monitor your tone •  Keep it simple •  Avoid nagging

Empathic Listening is an active process to discern what a

person is saying. Key elements to Empathic Listening: 1.  Be non-judgmental. 2.  Give undivided attention. 3.  Listen carefully to what the person is really

saying (focus on feelings, not just the facts). 4.  Allow silence for reflection. 5.  Use restatement to clarify message.

Precipitating Factors:

The internal or external causes of Acting Out Behavior that the

staff has little or no control over.

Precipitating Factors:

Influences: -displaced anger -failure -domestic problems -drugs/alcohol -peer pressure -gangs -lack of food/shelter -change in schedule -death in family -lack of medication -learning disability -illness -mental illness -language/communication -fear -loss of power -self-esteem

Precipitating Factors: Looking at Precipitating Factors will

help staff to: 1. Rational Detachment

The ability to stay in control or ones own behavior and not take the acting out behavior personally.

2.  Integrated Experience Concept that the behavior and

attitudes of the staff impact the behavior and attitudes of the individual.

Staff Fear and Anxiety Fear and Anxiety are universal human emotions.

Unproductive reactions: 1.  Freezing-inability to react to a

situation.

2.  Overreacting Psychologically-perceiving a situation worse than it is Physiologically-motor skills do not function normally.

3. Responding inappropriately Verbally or Physically

Productive reactions: 1.  Increase in speed and

strength. 2.  Increase in sensory. 3.  Decrease in reaction time.

Ways to control fear and anxiety:

1.  Understand what makes us afraid.

2.  Learn techniques to protect ourselves and the individual.

3.  Use a team approach. 4.  Learn physical intervention

techniques to manage acting out behavior.

Coping

•  C •  O •  P •  I •  N •  G

123

Setting Limits

124

Rational and Primitive Communication

Rational Communication:

Hear words, able to measure logical context and respond accordingly

Primitive Communication:

Respond to everything but words, awareness of personal space and body language, and

voice inflection

C.Brown

Rational Communication:

Hear words, able to measure logical context and respond accordingly

Primitive Communication:

Respond to everything but words, awareness of personal space and body language, and

voice inflection

C.Brown

Characteristics of Effective Limit Setting

•  Avoid personal power struggles •  Establish clear, objective limits and

enforce consequences •  Listen actively

C.Brown

Common Types of Power Struggles

–  Defending your authority or credibility –  Reacting to personal button pushing –  Issuing unenforceable consequences –  Getting sidetracked by irrelevant issues

C.Brown

Establishing Clear, Objective Limits and Enforcing Consequences

Myth Reality 1. I can make students choose

appropriate behaviour. 1. You cannot make students do

anything they do not choose to do.

2. By setting limits, I take the position as the enforcer or punisher.

2. By setting limits, you are offering choices. The student chooses the positive or negative consequence.

3. I am responsible for a student’s behaviour.

3. You are responsible for providing a structure which outlines choices and consequences available to the student.

C.Brown

Establishing Clear, Objective Limits and Enforcing Consequences

Myth Reality 4. When setting a limit, I must

strictly adhere to that limit and not deviate from it.

4. Each person and each situation is different. You must be as flexible as possible if you want your limit setting to be successful.

5. Educators who set limits successfully get students to listen to them.

5. Educators who set limits successfully listen actively to students.

6. If I don’t gain compliance, I have failed.

6. If a student chooses not to comply, by enforcing your consequences, you’ve provided a structure for future learning to occur.

C.Brown

Five-Step Approach to Setting Limits

•  Explain exactly what behaviour is inappropriate.

•  Explain why the behaviour is inappropriate.

•  Give reasonable choices and enforceable consequences.

•  Allow time. •  Enforce consequences.

C.Brown

Listen Actively (CARE)

Concentrate: Be aware of body language, physical proximity and non-verbal communications. Give person your full attention. Listen to

what is being said.

Acknowledge: Be aware of your facial expression and body position and make sure that you are nonverbally letting the person know you

are listening. (Nod, umhuhh)

Respond: Use reflective questions, paraphrase, avoid interrupting, and do not take things personally.

Empathize: Understand, from the other’s point of view, what they are feeling and thinking.

C.Brown

The CPI Crisis Development Model

Crisis Development/ Behaviour Levels

Staff Attitudes/ Approaches

•  Anxious •  Supportive

•  Defensive •  Directive

•  Acting Out Person •  Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention

•  Tension Reduction •  Therapeutic Rapport