What are students’ behavior

REALLY trying to tell us?

Welcome

• You have an optical illusion in your folder

• Take a few moments to look at it

• Decide what you see.

3

Understanding Student Behavior

• Understanding students' behavior, and misbehavior, is often a challenge even for the most experienced teachers. – Why does Alan seek to disrupt the class by talking

while the instructor is lecturing?

– Why does Betty become helpless in the face of a two-page written assignment?

– Why does Carl answer his teacher with such smoldering disrespect?

– Why does Danielle spend all of her time Instant Messaging in class?

Understanding Student Behavior

• The answers to these questions will give

us important information about how we

can best influence students to give up

such misbehavior and

• Instead look for cooperative, responsible

ways to achieve their goals

Behavior Defined

• Anything we SAY or DO

• It is HOW WE REACT to our environment

• Behaviors are often LEARNED and

continue because they serve a PURPOSE

or FUNCTION

• We engage in behaviors because we have

learned that a DESIRED OUTCOME occurs

What is Behavior?

• Behavior is:

- purposeful

- interactive

- learned

- predictable

* a form of communication

* functional

Behavior Principles

• Behaviors occur because they are signaled by an

event in the environment (antecedent) and

reinforced by consequences

• Behaviors that lead to satisfying outcomes are

likely to be repeated; behaviors that lead to

undesired outcomes are less likely to be repeated

Children and Behavior

• Some children use problem behavior to

communicate their wants and needs

• Problem behavior often interferes with

learning

• PBIS helps us understand the

PURPOSE/FUNCTION of the problem

behavior and teaches children the

necessary or appropriate skills to replace

the problem behaviors

What does this student feel, need, or

want?

BEHAVIOR

_______________________________

FEELINGS AND

NEEDS

Looking Beneath the Iceberg:

Reframing Activity

• With your elbow partner to your right,

rewrite one of the four statements to be

more age appropriate for your student

population.

• Discuss the possible meaning underneath

the behavior the student is demonstrating

Functions of Behavior

• The purpose or reason the behavior occurred

• Why is it important for us to know the

function/purpose of the problem behavior?

– To understand why the behavior is occurring

– To find an appropriate replacement behavior

– To develop the best behavior support plan

– To target the appropriate antecedents and

consequences

Functions of Behavior

Problem

Behavior

Obtain/Get

Something

Escape/

Avoid

Something

SocialTangible/

Activity

Adult

Stimulation/

Sensory

Peer

Functions of Behavior

• Behavior has two major functions:

– To get something

• To get a preferred task, activity, item, object

• To get the attention of an adult or peer

• To get gratification of a sensory need

– To get away from something (avoid)

• To get away from a specific task,activity,item, object

• To get away from an adult or child

• To alleviate sensory discomfort

Why Waste a Temper Tantrum

if Nobody is Around to See it?

http://toddlerandtantrums.com/51/why-waste-a-

temper-tantrum-if-nobody-is-around-to-see-it/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpSfThUv_pc

http://howtostopbadbehavior.com/why-waste-a-

temper-tantrum-if-nobody-is-around-to-see-it/

Behavior Chain (or Pathway)

Setting

Event/sAntecedent Behavior Consequence

(Dynamite) (Match) (Kaboom) (Pay Off)

Hypothesis: When (setting event) occurs, and (the antecedent happens)

the (problem behavior) because/ in order to (function).

S. Hassal 2007

ABCs of Behavior

• Antecedent: What happens just before a problem

behavior occurs.

- Setting events: Happen further away in time but still

contribute to the problem behavior: Lack of sleep,

hunger, medication.

• Behavior: What the student does that is observable &

measurable. Explained in concrete terms

• Consequences: What typically happens after the

behavior occurs. What those around student do.

Serves to maintain or increase frequency of behavior

How to Describe Antecedents?

• Antecedents are events that happen before the behavior

• There are two types of antecedents:

– Slow triggers

– Fast triggers

Slow Triggers: Setting Events

• May happen in or out of the classroom

• Conditions that increase the likelihood that behavior will occur

– Oversleeping

– Medication or lack of medication

– No breakfast

– Conflict with…

Examples of Slow Triggers

• On the week of standardized testing, it will

be more likely that fights will occur in the

cafeteria.

• If Casey gets less than four hours of sleep

the night before, it is very likely she will

throw herself on the ground and cry as

soon as she gets off the bus.

Fast Triggers

• Examples: - Changes to regularly scheduled events due

to bomb threats, fire drills etc…

- Teasing/sarcasm/threats

- Challenged by others

• May be consistent - Special Assembly Days

- Difficult activity/task

• May be unique to one situation - Field trips to the zoo

Examples of Fast Triggers

• If 7th graders are asked to participate in an

assembly with the 8th graders, it is more likely that

major disruptions will occur.

• If Jeff sits next to Stuart during small group

activities, it is very likely Jeff will shout profanities

and leave the classroom.

What is the Consequence

of the Behavior?

• What is the pay-off?

• What does the student get?

• What does the student avoid?

Behavior Principles

• Behavior is affected by its consequences

• EX: Emily raises her hand. Emily’s teacher

calls on her to share for show and tell.

• Behavior is strengthened or maintained by

reinforcement

• EX: Adam correctly completes his

assignments. He is allowed extra time on the

computer.

Behavior Principles

• Behavior is weakened by withholding

consequences (usually social) that have

maintained it

– EX: Rylee constantly fidgets and taps her

pencil to get the teacher’s attention. Instead

of scolding her, the teacher gives positive

attention to another student sitting quietly.

Behavior Principles

• Consequences must consistently and

immediately follow the behaviors they

are meant to control – EX: Jacob holds up his break card while sitting

at his desk. Within 5 seconds, Jacob’s teacher

gives him permission to take a break.

Behavior Principles

• Also, behavior can be strengthened,

weakened, or maintained by modeling

– EX: Jenny’s mom says “thank you” every time

she pays for lunch at McDonald’s. Jenny says

“thank you” every time she pays for lunch at

school.

Desirable/satisfying

Undesirable/unsatisfying

None

Strengthened/Reinforced:

Likely to continue/be repeated

Weakened: Likely won’t

reoccur in same situation

No reoccurrence (usually),

called extinction

CONSEQUENCE EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR

What Is the Consequence of

the Behavior?

When Jessica misses her 12:30 medication

and teachers present multiple task demands,

she makes negative self-statements and

writes profane language on her assignments.

Teaching staff typically send her to the office

with a discipline referral for being

disrespectful.

Setting event Antecedent Behavior Consequence

Misses 12:30 medication

Teachers make

multiple task demands

Jessica makes negative self- statements &

writes profane language

Teacher sends Jessica to

office for being disrespectful

What function? Avoid difficult tasks

Setting event Antecedent Response Consequence

Maria is new to the 6th grade and English is her

second language. When another student

approaches & says something to her in English,

Maria turns away. The other student walks away.

This happens several times during the day.

New student Student approaches &

speaks in English

Maria turns away

Other student walks

away

What function? Escape peer attention

ABC Activity

• Please locate the purple sheet in your

folders

• Choose a case history that is closest to

your student population.

• Fill in the elements of the behavior chain

Triggers, Behaviors, Consequences

Learning & ABC

What did the student learn?

A B C

Student is asked

to do a math

problem in front

of the class by

Mr. Brown

Student tries to

do the problem at

the board, but

struggles

Peers laugh at student

and one says aloud,

“that one is so easy”

Bad OutCome

for Student

Learning & ABC

A B C

Student is asked

to do a math

problem in front

of the class

Student tries to

do the problem at

the board, but

struggles

Peers laugh at student

and one says aloud,

“that one is so easy”

Punishing

Consequence

NEXT DAY

Student is asked

to do a math

problem in front

of the class

What

happens

today???

Student:

-Hits peer

-Calls teacher

name or

-Disrupts

Teacher calls on

someone else &

sends student to

office

Conceptual Underpinnings

Read your assigned section:

Current Thinking. Past Practice, The

Difference

Be prepared to share out your thoughts/interpretation to the large group

“To the doctor, the child is a

typhoid patient; to the

playground supervisor, a first

baseman; to the teacher, a

learner of arithmetic. At

times, he may be different

things to each of these

specialists, but too rarely is he

a whole child to any of them.”

From the 1930 report of

The White House Conference on

Children and Youth

Behavior does NOT occur in a vacuum…it

is affected directly by environmental

events

Setting

Environment

Curriculum

Instruction

Culture

Behavior Problems are a Signal of

• Poor quality of life

• Little control in life

• Few choices

• Poor social Skills

• Poor communication

skills

• STRESS

• Boredom

• Peer pressure

• Mistrust

• Desire for attention

• Low self-esteem

• Skill deficits

• A feeling of not

belonging

It is easier to prevent behaviors than it is to address them once they have occurred.

Environmental Influences

• Physical setting: Class density, seating

position, noise level

• Social setting: Others nearby, talking

• Scheduling: Order, timing, movement

• Degree of Independence: Non preferred

task without assistance, confidence

• Degree of Participation: Group, comfort

level to speak in front of others

• Social Interaction: Waiting turn, skills

• Degree of Choice: In completion of task

Environmental Variables

Variables present in the environment

which can cause or contribute to the

students’ inappropriate behaviors.

•School/Classroom environmental factors

•Supervising teacher/Instructional factors

•Curriculum factors

•Social factors

•Home/community factors

Jigsaw Activity

• Create groups of # by counting off

• Each group will discuss a section of slides

depicting one set of Environmental Variables

1. School/Classroom environmental factors

2. Supervising teacher/Instructional factors

3. Curriculum factors

4. Social factors

5. Home/community factors

6. Second Language/Culture

•Decide upon a speaker: each group will share out

and teach the other groups about their set of

variables

School/Classroom Factors

• Areas in building that are inadequately

supervised

• Rules/expectations in class/building far exceed skills of students to be successful

• Students not taught rules/expectations

• Insufficient school materials (books, labs, other resources)

• Classroom seating arrangements (too close/near to peers, too far from supervising teacher, near window or distractions)

School/Classroom Factors

• Professional development/teacher

training not meeting staff needs.

• Inconsistent discipline

programs/philosophical differences

• Bus ride (length, problems on bus carry

over to school, etc.)

• Temperature of building/classrooms

• Staff to student ratio

Supervising Teacher/

Instructional Variables

• Supervising teacher expectations too high/too low for student

• Feedback to student not frequent enough

• Negative feedback outnumbers positive feedback

• Rates of reinforcement too low for student’s needs

Supervising Teacher/

Instructional Variables

• Supervising teacher’s energy, fatigue, or

tolerance resulting in higher negative or

less frequent feedback and interaction

• Insufficient rehearsal time, direct

instruction time, and guided practice time.

Supervising Teacher/

Instructional Variables

• Level of supervision (frequency/rate) too

low for student’s needs

• Supervising teacher’s teaching style

does not take into account student’s

various/preferred learning styles.

• Not enough student engagement

(passive participation)

Curriculum Factors

• Curriculum too easy or difficult

• Curriculum not relevant to the student’s

needs

• Curriculum presented too fast or slow

for student’s learning rate.

• Insufficient opportunity to practice

(Knoff 2001)

Curriculum Factors

• Length of curriculum presentation too

long for attention span of student

• Philosophy of curriculum presentation

too narrow or broad (e.g. phonics only)

• Not enough opportunities for student to

feel successful

Social Factors

• The supervising teacher and his/her ability to

effectively manage a classroom and create a

positive learning environment can contribute to

the presence or absence of inappropriate

behavior

• Schoolwide practices are inconsistent

Social Factors cont’d

• The student’s peer group can contribute in a positive or negative manner.

• Do the peers support/reinforce appropriate behavior?

• Do the peers exert influence over inappropriate behavior by teasing, taunting, or instigating?

Home/Community Factors

• Discrepancy in values/expectations between home and school.

• Parents’ academic skills inadequate to help student

• Parents unable or unwilling to reinforce school-related academic/behavior strategies in the home

• Absence of appropriate levels of parent supervision

Home/Community Factors cont’d

• Parent/community difficulties such as

substance abuse

• Parent unwilling or unable to meet

health/nutrition/basic needs of child

resulting in school absences, tardiness,

and the ability of student to concentrate

on school tasks

Second Language Factors

Second language learners (CDL, ELL, LEP) may demonstrate challenging behaviors such as

• Not talking

• Difficulty following directions

• Difficulty expressing ideas and feelings

• Difficulty responding to questions consistently

• Pretending to understand English

• Physical aggression

• Socializing only with those children who speak the same home language

Potential for Cultural Conflicts

Where the expectation is that a student

should be compliant and responsive to

authority - conforming to a standard of

behavior that is indicative of the teacher’s

upbringing - then the potential for

insensitive, inappropriate, counterproductive

or offensive intervention increases.

(Dent, 1976; McIntyre, 1997))

Cultural Competence

As with most issues surrounding behavior

management, the adult must be willing to

teach dominant culture rules, as necessary, in

context, and use the diversity of student

attributes to build strength based, culturally

responsive, positive interventions.

Factoids

Potential for Cultural Conflicts

The variance between the cultures of teachers and students may lead to misinterpretation, disciplinary action, and referrals for special education when, with knowledge, and action, other interventions may be more appropriate. McIntyre Factoids

Turn and Talk

With your Jigsaw group:

Think of a problematic student. Now that you have heard about

each set of variables, how might his/her behavior be influenced

by one of the four environmental variables? School/Classroom environmental factors

Supervising teacher/Instructional factors

Curriculum factors

Social factors

Home/Community

Second Language/Culture

“Children nowadays are tyrants.

They contradict their parents, gobble

their food and tyrannise their teachers.”

- Socrates

Where we are different from kids, we

think we are similar

• Society tends to view adolescents as

young adults and the differences as

mostly chronological and physical

• Youth are often seen as being done

developing and done maturing and

growing

At the beginning of adolescence...

• The brain puts a focus on developing:

– Hormones

– Social Behavior

– Emotions

– Sexual behavior

• Teenagers are experiencing life through the part of the brain that handles the “fight or flight” response and react emotionally & physically

• It is critical to discuss these differences as matter-of-fact and the result of physiology, not “character” traits

Implications for our work with kids

• Youth are still developing the logic center of the brain, and it will be a while until it is developed

• The area of the brain that deciphers metaphors, sarcasm, etc. is still growing

• Even if we think kids should know things by now, they often do not

Implications for our work with kids

• Kids are not “overly emotional” so much as they are

hard-wired for emotional response

• Youth are not over-sexed, but their hormones are

pushing for center stage and the average age for the

onset of puberty continues to go down

• The best way to work with someone hardwired for

emotions is to enable logical, placid interaction and

model it ourselves

Intra-child Variables

Variables within the student which

influence his or her behavior

•Cognitive factors

•Physical factors

•Emotional factors

•Academic Factors

•Motivational Factors

Cognitive Factors

• Memory skills

• Length of attention span

• Language

• Self control

• Absence or presence of prerequisite

academic skills

Physical and Health Factors

• Hearing, motor, vision

• Speech (articulation, voice)

• Stimulation or fatigue

• Side effects of medication

• Stages of maturation/development

• Health conditions

• Sensory problems

Academic Factors

• Student’s level of academic functioning.

• Link between inappropriate behavior and

the difficulty of the task. Inappropriate

behavior increases with the difficulty of

the instructional task.

If the problem is due to a….

Skill Deficit

Can’t Do

Inability/lacks skills

to perform the

appropriate

behavior

-Teaching the deficit

academic or social

skill

Performance Deficit

Won’t Do

• Has ability, lacks

motivation;

• Won’t perform when

certain conditions are

present

-Consequences for

appropriate behavior

-Consequences for

problem behavior

Then instruction focuses on…

Emotional Factors

• Emotional conditions

• Past/present history of abuse or neglect

Motivational Factors

• Major factor in motivation is the ability to

predict success.

• You are more motivated to attempt a

task if you have reason to believe you

will be successful.

• School/class policies, practices and

procedures perceived in a negative

manner by student; student feels

disliked/disrespected by adults

Student Surveys

Read and Example

• Read over the slides describing intra-child

variables of behavior

• Turn to the elbow partner to your left and

describe a problematic student that you

feel may be exhibiting behaviors because

of one of these variables.

Get Clued into Your Students

What information is available to teachers?

Information to Gather About the

Student

• Social and academic skill and

performance levels

• Response styles

• Learning styles

• Preferences and interests

Student-Assisted Functional Assessment Interview

Student: ____________________________ Date: ___________ Interviewer: __________________________

Section 1

1. In general, is your work too hard for you? Always Sometimes Never

2. In general, is your work too easy for you? Always Sometimes Never

3. When you ask for help appropriately, do you get it? Always Sometimes Never

4. Do you think work periods for each subject are too long? Always Sometimes Never

5. Do you think work periods for each subject are too short? Always Sometimes Never

6. When you do seatwork, do you do better when someone Always Sometimes Never

works with you?

7. Do you think people notice when you do a good job? Always Sometimes Never

8. Do you think you get the points or rewards Always Sometimes Never

you deserve when you do good work?

9. Do you think you would do better in school Always Sometimes Never

if you received more rewards?

10. In general, do you find your work interesting? Always Sometimes Never

11. Are there things in the classroom that distract you? Always Sometimes Never

12. Is your work challenging enough for you? Always Sometimes Never

Gather Information About the Task and

Setting

• Curricular Factors

- Scope and sequence

objectives

- Presentation methods

- Content

• Instructional Factors

- Teaching Methods

- Response opportunities

for students

- Activities for acquisition,

mastery

- Teacher responses

• Ecological Factors

- Physical arrangement

- Predictability of environment

- Equipment and materials

available

Why did this happen today, but

not yesterday?

• Is this typical behavior for

this student?

• What need is the student expressing?

• Is this normal for a student this age?

• Does this behavior reflect a

family or cultural belief?

Calm

Trigger

Agitation

Peak

Recovery

Acting-out Behavior Cycle

Acceleration De-escalation

I

N

T

E

N

S

I

T

Y

TIME

Recognizing Signs of Agitation

Increases in Behavior Decreases in Behavior

• Darting eyes

• Non-conversational

language

• Busy hands

• Moves in and out of

groups

• Starting and stopping

• Moves around room

• Fidgety

• Stares into space

• Subdued language

• Contains hands

• Lacks interaction

• Lacks involvement

• Withdraws from groups

• Lacks responding

• Avoids eye contact

Four Questions Four Questions

1) What am I feeling now?

2) What does this student feel, need,

or want?

3) How is the environment affecting the

situation?

4) How do I best respond?

• Argued with a child? • Yelled or lost temper? • Made threats not carried out? • Asked a child to TRY to behave differently? • Spoken “over” noise? • Repeated directions several times? • Have used sarcasm, ridicule, or labels? • Made assumptions about a child’s behavior? • Made a “deal” or bribed child to behave?

Keeping Data on Ourselves

GUILTY or Not GUILTY?

THE CONFLICT CYCLE

Student’s Self Concept

Irrational Beliefs

2

Student’s

Feelings

1

Stressful

Incident

3

Student’s

Observable

Behavior

4

Adult/Peer

Reaction

TRIGGER

AGITATION ACCELERATION

PEAK

CALM Highest Priority Protective Plan

Early Intervention

Caring Confrontation

RECOVERY

Accountability Think Sheets Restitution

Outlast the Acting Out

If a child is pushing your buttons…

…You are probably

delivering the

goods.

Escalating Prompts

“As students become more agitated, their behavior becomes more engaging. Staff may begin to take this behavior personally and resort to “in your face” responses.

Unfortunately, staff may pay so much attention to the objectionable behavior that they are not sufficiently aware of the impact their responses have on the student and their connection to the escalating behavior.”

Colvin, 2004

Mistakes to Avoid

• Excessive warnings

• Excessive public/verbal discipline

• Emphasizing the negative

• Inconsistency

• Majoring in minors

• Low level distractions

• Arguments, power struggles

• Not teaching procedures

• Being too tolerant

• Disrespectful interventions

• Losing control/behaving unprofessionally

• Discarding the plan when it’s not going as expected

What Role Do We Play?

• Locate the yellow Hot Button Activity sheet in your folder.

• Fill in the circles across each row.

• Consider your third row responses:

Has your response to a student’s behavior been a factor in maintaining the student’s continued use of that behavior?

• Discuss this with 2 people sitting closest

to you.

Hot Button

Why Don’t Aversive Techniques or

Punishment Work?

• Not aligned with the function of the behavior: Does not address root of the problem

• Student is not being taught desired (replacement) behavior

• Confirms student’s negative self image

• Affects student/teacher relationship • May reinforce negative attention seeking

patterns

“...punishment teaches about the use

of power, not about how or why to

behave properly.” (Kohn, 1993)

The Bottom Line….

• YOU can become paired with “the

goodies” or with what is “bad”,

depending on what you do with your

students.

• Are you a signal that life at school will

be positive and successful? Or are you

a signal that says life will be difficult – or

even depressing?

Turn and Talk

•In your Jigsaw group, discuss Ginott’s 11 examples

of inappropriate discipline.

•Share experiences you have witnessed or displayed

that contributed to the escalation of student behavior

Ginott

Final Thoughts

• There is only one adult in the room to model

appropriate behavior.

• If you don’t save a student’s face, he will save it

himself.

• Focus on the child, not the behavior. The

student is not the act.

• We are looking for improvement over yesterday,

not perfection.

• Teachers need to give themselves permission to

be less than perfect, not less than professional.

Resources • www.interventioncentral.org: Resource for

academic and behavior interventions

• www.behavioradvisor.org: Behavior interventions, Dr. Tom McIntyre

• www.specialconnections.ku.edu: All areas of special ed

• www.behaviordoctor.org: Behavior interventions, Dr. Laura Riffel

• http://ici.umn.edu/elink/general/spec_areas.html: Site for paraeducators as well as teachers providing training in all areas of behavior.

• www.pent.ca.gov: Detailed resource for all areas of classroom management, Diana Browning Wright

CONTACT

Michelle Levy

Behavioral Specialist

RSE-TASC

Regional Special Education

Technical Assistance Support Center

Eastern Suffolk BOCES

(631) 218-4197

mlevy@esboces.org