SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS SPECIAL EDUCATION COOPERATIVE

1. EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS SPECIAL EDUCATION COOPERATIVE

2. Presenter: Bud MoorePosition: Behavior Program DirectorOffice: SCKSEC – Pratt, KSPhone Number: 620-546-4467E-mail: bud@scksec.comJob Responsibility: Director of the behavioral programs for SCKSEC and behavioral services provider to SCKSEC member schools.

3. What I have learned about Behavior Management. • Management is for us to deal with and Control is for the child to deal with. • There is a time for action and there is a time to wait and remain calm. • You must pick your battles as it relates to student behaviors. • Consequences yes but winning no. • Consequences, however minuscule, may need to be communicated every time.

4. What is a day school for? • A Day School is an alternative placement for a child with a behavior disability or a specific behavioral need. • It is not a juvenile detention center or a punishment center. • Day schools are not avoidance centers. • A day school is an alternative placement where the child’s behavioral needs may be met and an environment in which the child may have a chance to learn.

5. Schools do not have the authority to assign students to a day school. • Placement in a day school comes as a result of an IEP Team decision to place the child there because of a specific behavioral need the child has. • A day school is not the least restrictive environment for a child as identified in IDEA but it might be the best learning environment for the child to learn in while behavior control is an issue. • Day schools teach students ways of controlling their own behavior and when they reach that plateau and have completed the program at the day school they are encouraged to return to the LRE.

6. Behavior Disordered and Conduct Disordered. (Contrast) • Behavior Disordered Student (SPED Eligible) • This student has an emotional disability which will not allow him/her to control themselves in an acceptable manner. • The student lacks the skills or the ability to control their own behavior. • Emotional outburst in all forms are common to a behavior disordered child. • They are usually fairly easy to manage given the time and patience necessary reach them.

7. Conduct Disordered Student (SPED Ineligible) • This student has an agenda and has a need to control the environment based on an environmental or social influence. • The student has the skills and the mental ability to control their behavior but chooses to do the opposite in order to gain control. • This student is in many cases disrespectful, mean and calculating. • Often times this student is intellectually superior.

8. There is a fine line between the two disorders and it is often times misdiagnosed. • The interventions used to teach behavior control work with both disorders but are much more effective with BD than with CD. • Most of the behaviors we experience in both cases are learned behaviors that have gone unchecked.

9. Student Behaviors • Why are the behaviors of some kids good and some kids bad? • The only explanation I have for this is that they have learned the behavior somewhere both good and bad. • If a behavior is socially unacceptable it is our task to teach a replacement behavior that is socially acceptable. • Regardless of the behavior, good or bad, there needs to be consequences and the child needs to know they have earned those consequences as a result of their own behavior. • This is natural and needs to be consistent.

10. Can we blame the parents? • Sure we can! Blame the parents but by doing that we have alienated a very valuable resource and blaming anyone does not solve the problem. • In many cases the parents don’t know how to fix the problem or don’t realize that their actions have in fact, created the problem. • Parents often times parent like their parents did and the world is not as it was two generations ago. • We can't affix blame if we want things to get better, we need to offer help to develop an understanding and solve problems.

11. Can we blame the school system? • It would be “sticking our heads in the sand” to not shoulder some of the blame. • Our historical response to student behavior has been punishment and avoidance in the form of expulsion, suspension, detention and coercion. • We have not spent near enough time listening and observing, identifying problem areas and teaching behavioral strategies for self-control and compliant behavior.

12. The simple truth is we can blame whomever we want but if we do not take some responsibility and begin to do something about it, the situation will only get worse. • Working together, we can collectively meet the behavioral needs of every student and watch that so called Bad behavior turn in to a Good behavior. • I have seen it happen time and time again at the day schools.

13. How do we deal with student behaviors? • Develop relationships and establish trust. • Effective communication only comes after a relationship built on trust is established. • We have to be able to communicate with the child in order to understand the true need he/she might have. • Remember the most important component in communication is listening. • By listening you may develop an understanding and then by having that knowledge, you can speak intelligently. • The most important component in understanding anything is accurate data.

15. What is missing with this particular child? • Is the desire to fulfill that missing need so strong that it is blocking his/her ability to think or act? • Is the need real or is it a result of a hidden need not yet identified . • Root causes are the real problems and the ones we need to identify in order to help the child.

16. Can we meet those needs? • Often times we can meet the needs of the child. • If we can not meet the needs we have internal services and external organizations that can. • In most cases however, we are most effective when we enable the child to meet the need themselves and solve the problem internally. This self-empowerment strengthens the child and stabilizes his/her self-esteem. • This seems to be the more long lasting solution and a skill building exercise for the child.

18. Explosive Behavior – What then? • Explosive Behavior is like a pot boiling over or a raging fire. • The pot is full and the fire is out of control so do not add any more fuel to it. • When a student is in crisis they have no effective tools other than time to use to regain control. • We must give them time to process and we can not get into a control battle at that point or the lid is coming off. • David Mandt explains this as the Crisis Cycle and his teachings suggest different interventions during the different stages of the cycle.

20. Discipline – What is it? • Discipline is not punishment! • Punishment is a form of discipline but it has been identified as the least effective form of discipline. • It is the easiest and unfortunately the most common used form of discipline.

21. Discipline is teaching and learning. • We can not assume a child knows what to do. • We can only assume the child has learned a behavior and that learned behavior is what they are exhibiting. • In response, we must then teach them an acceptable behavior and model that behavior for them so that they might learn an appropriate action.

22. Discipline is molded by consequences, both negative and positive. • You get what you get because you have earned it. • This works for both positive and negative consequences. • This is a natural response and one that our society is built on. • The child must understand that they have control of their own destiny and that it is their responsibility to meet expectations if they are to realize desired results.

23. Self-Discipline and Self-Control is the responsibility of each individual. • This is something that only the child can deal with. • The locus of control is within and the decisions made come through an individual thought process, which can be influenced but not controlled.

24. Teaching self-discipline and self-control or BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT is a responsibility we as educators all have. • Behavior management is managing the environment and all of the external factors influencing the child’s behavior. • Behavior management is serving as a trusted behavior support resource that is always open to communication and assistance. • Behavior management is providing incentives and motivators which help to influence decision making. • Behavior management is providing consequences, both positive and negative which will, in-turn, allow the child to make a decisions.