Managing Antisocial Behavior

1. Managing Antisocial Behavior An Educational Research & Dissemination course by the American Federation of Teachers Presented By Jennifer Nelson August 23, 2011 jnelson@district287.org

3. Audience Check

4. A Unique Ice Breaker for a Unique Topic

5. What is ER&D? The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Educational Research and Dissemination (ER&D) Program is a union-sponsored, research-based professional development program.  It is designed to help local unions build the capacity to deliver high-quality professional development services, either on their own or in collaboration with their school districts.

6. Contents of the Full Managing Antisocial Behavior Course • Who Are These Students • Effective Classroom Management • Behavior Analysis • Building Social Competence • Behavioral Enhancement/Reduction • The Acting-Out Cycle • School-wide Behavior Support Practices • Gangs and Bullying

7. What is the definition of antisocial behavior? “The opposite of …cooperative, positive, and mutually reciprocal behavior.” -Walker, Colvin, and Ramsey (1995) Antisocial behavior in children suggests hostility toward others, aggression, a willingness to break school rules, defiance of adult authority, and violations of the social norms and mores of society.

8. Learning Through Play

9. Tips for Preventing Some Anti-Social Behaviors • Creating an effective classroom structure • A predictable learning context is based on set rules and routines, and well-established classroom schedules and arrangement (Gallagher, 1995). • Establishing 4-5 clearly and positively stated rules • 3=33 Spend the first 3 weeks of school just teaching rules, routines and schedules. This practice sets the stage for the following 33 weeks of school when academics can be taught with fewer disruptions due to behavior problems. • Using effective instructional procedures • An instructional environment that promotes positive student behavior, academic engagement, and learning will decrease the likelihood of problem behavior. Instituting a variety of activities can promote student engagement. Hands-on and cooperative learning have been found to be effective techniques for promoting student learning. • Continuous monitoring of student behavior • Research indicates that systematic and continuous monitoring of student social progress over time allows educators to use this information to adjust their interventions to improve effectiveness.

10. Behavior Analysis—Event Recording

11. Step 1: Define the behavior. • Observable: must be seen or heard • Definable: 2 or more people agree on the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a behavior • Countable: capable of being translated into numbers • Measurable: • Frequency: # of times it occurs during a set time period • Duration: amount of time between initiation of behavior and its conclusion • Intensity: strength or weakness of behavior • Rate: frequency ÷ time period • Latency: time between presentation of stimulus and initiation of response

12. Step 2: Recording Observations Recording sheets must include: • Students’ names(or codes to protect their identity) • 1 or 2 “average” students should be compared during the same time period to have comparison data • Date(s) of observation • Observer’s name and relationship to student • Start time • End time • Setting of observation • Definition of behavior being observed • Key to any codes used

13. Step 3: Take action. • Social skills training • Self-control skills • Behavior enhancement • Social reinforcement • Token Reinforcement • Behavioral Contracting • Behavior reduction • Differential Reinforcement • reward for displaying behavior less than usual • Punishment • Used rarely and along with teaching of more appropriate social skills • Take something away (i.e. recess) • Removing/reducing a privilege

14. Step 3: Take action continued. Behavior reduction cont. • Time out. • Planned ignoring • withheld social attention from student displaying antisocial behaviors • Contingent observation • Separating the student from the group activity so he/she can observe but not participate • Reduction of response reward • Systematic enrichment of the time-in environment then withholding the enriching stimuli in response to antisocial behavior (i.e. having a popcorn party for only students who turned in their homework) • Exclusion • Removing student from classroom

15. The Acting-Out Behavior Cycle 5. Peak 4. Acceleration 1. Calm 6. De-escalation 3. Agitation 2. Trigger 7. Recovery • 1. Calm – student is on-task, following directions, behaving appropriately, self-directed; • 4. Acceleration – student argues, questions, is noncompliant or openly defiant, provoking others, whines or cries, destroys property, threatens or uses profanity; • 2. Trigger – student becomes agitated due to provocations, change in routine, high demands, problems brought in to school (e.g., lack of sleep, disruption at home, substance abuse); • 5. Peak – student hits or kicks, causes serious property damage, tantrums, is out-of-control; • 6. De-escalation – student is calming down, may be confused or withdrawn, attempts to make amends, denies responsibility or blames others, responds to specific requests or directions; and, • 3. Agitation – student becomes angry, upset, frustrated, may become more active (e.g., moving around, drumming fingers, tapping pencil) or less active (e.g., staring, sitting on hands, isolates him/herself); 7. Recovery – student is often subdued and willengage in simple busy-work, be reluctant to talk about the incident and even somewhat defensive. Colvin, 1992

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17. THANK YOU!