Building Social Relationships and Reducing Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behavior in the Classroom
Earlier this week, I attended two trainings offered through the Partnership for Effective Programs for Students with Autism (PEPSA). Over the years, I have attended hundreds of presentations with high hopes of leaving with new knowledge. Presenters, Scott Bellini, Ph.D., HSPP, and Jessica Minahan, M. Ed BCBA left me with a reframed mindset, and ready to return to the classroom to practice new strategies. Bellini spoke about "Building Social Relationships Through Evidence Based Social Skills Programming for Youth with ASD", and Minahan spoke about "Reducing Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behavior in the Classroom".
Chasing Behaviors vs. Identifying the Underlying Issues
I learned that I am "chasing behaviors", when I need to be addressing the underlying issues. Let me illustrate what I mean by "chasing behaviors". As I walk through the Kindergarten hall, little Rocky comes running out of a classroom, kicking, yelling, and ripping posters off the wall. The general education teacher looks at me and her eyes say "Help. I have no idea what to do." So I stop and attempt to distract this student with an alternative behavior that might calm him. I spot a broom and dustpan leaning against the wall, so I say, "Rocky, Help me sweep the hall." Luckily, Rocky finds this appealing, so he complies and is sweeping the floor instead of tearing apart the school building. Over the next several weeks, data is collected to determine the primary cause of this behavior and an appropriate intervention. Eventually, the team concludes that transitioning from center time to writing tasks precedes this behavior, and a decision is made to add social skills to Rocky's IEP. His goal reads, "Rocky will demonstrate behaviors that allow him to access the general education curriculum." (Don't judge. I didn't write it.) As the special education teacher, I will now meet with Rocky once a week for 30 minutes, probably using social stories to address his IEP goal (because that's the only tool I have...until now). This is "chasing behaviors". Rocky's team of caregivers hasn't identified the underlying issues. Rocky is running out of the classroom because he doesn't want to do the writing task. But why doesn't he want to do the task? When working one-on-one, he demonstrates that he does not have a skills deficit in writing. So what causes his anxiety to build to the point that he flips chairs, tears paper, breaks crayons, escalates when approached, and elopes? Rocky clearly has underdeveloped social and/or emotional skills. Does Rocky demonstrate a deficit in self-regulation skills? Does he demonstrate "thought stopping" thinking (all or nothing; catastrophic thinking), a deficit in perspective taking, executive functioning, flexible thinking, all of these? It is imperative to assess the underlying issues causing the undesired behavior.
Get to the Root, and Dig Deeper
Once the underlying issue is revealed, the IEP goal should be precise, so the caregiver team can teach the missing skills and provide opportunities for Rocky to perform the skills. For example, Rocky's goal could be, "Rocky will transition from center time to writing with compliance in 4 out of 5 opportunities." To achieve this goal, he could be taught how to stop an activity, how to make a cognitive shift, how to initiate a task. See how precise the goal is written, and also how the the act of transitioning has been broken down. Rocky doesn't want to stop playing centers when it's time to start writing. When students hear, "Class, you have 5 minutes of centers remaining," they cognitively process many things. For example, they decide to take one more turn, then clean up and make their way to their seats. While Rocky thinks, "I have to finish this entire game in 5 minutes! I hate writing. It's hard." So his anxiety jumps from 0 to 10 and he begins tearing up the room. He doesn't have the executive functioning and flexibility skills to stop playing centers and he doesn't have the self-regulation skills to manage his anxiety. These skills need to be taught in order for Rocky to be self-aware, to reduce his anxiety, and to promote successful social behaviors.
Teaching the Skills
How does Rocky learn how to stop an activity? The teacher can let him know he has 5 minutes remaining and then ask him how he plans to stop the activity. He will likely say, "I'm going to finish the whole game," which is impossible, so the teacher must give him a transition warning, like "You have time for one more turn." Then he will need a transition accommodation to keep his mind from wandering off to anxiety land. The teacher could give him a leadership role, like passing out the papers. Then ease him from the preferred task (center time) to a less preferred task (passing out the papers, then working on a crossword, a coloring sheet, or word search), to the non-preferred task (writing). To get him to cognitively shift from center time to writing, the teacher can give him a pencil and say, "Could you take this to Tilly for me please, then have a seat?" (Tilly should be the student seated next to Rocky.) This will give Rocky a task to do, which gets him to his seat and allows his mind to shift from center time to writing time in a less abrupt way.
Dr. Bellini taught the value of video self monitoring. During times of zero anxiety, Rocky should practice the skills of "stopping the activity", "making a cognitive shift", and "starting the activity". He should view a video of himself performing the skill perfectly with independence. This provides a visual representation of success. While watching the video, pause and discuss the cognitive processes. This will lead to improved self-awareness.
Create Self-Awareness
Create a self-monitoring sheet for Rocky. This will allow him to track his feelings and realize for himself what triggers his anxiety. This is the key to success. Self-awareness is empowering and leads to generalization. For example, Rocky could be given a breakdown of the writing process. He should give a thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate his feelings. Thinking of an idea--thumbs up or down? Writing letters--thumbs up or down? Spelling--thumbs up or down? Using punctuation--thumbs up or down? Writing more than one page--thumbs up or down? Use the results to show Rocky that he doesn't hate everything about writing. Maybe it's just thinking of an idea. This helps Rocky move past the "all or nothing" mindset. From there, he could use a visual that helps him think through the cognitive process to initiate an idea to write about. Create ways that allow students to be self-aware, to track behavior as it occurs.
I learned too much to get it all out of my head in one post. I'll share more strategies in future posts. What I want to keep in the forefront of my mind is to look for underlying issues. keep goals precise, and create self-awareness. More strategies to accomplish this to come.
Scott Bellini's webpage: http://bellinibsr.com/
Jessica Minahan's webpage: http://jessicaminahan.com/
Chasing Behaviors vs. Identifying the Underlying Issues
I learned that I am "chasing behaviors", when I need to be addressing the underlying issues. Let me illustrate what I mean by "chasing behaviors". As I walk through the Kindergarten hall, little Rocky comes running out of a classroom, kicking, yelling, and ripping posters off the wall. The general education teacher looks at me and her eyes say "Help. I have no idea what to do." So I stop and attempt to distract this student with an alternative behavior that might calm him. I spot a broom and dustpan leaning against the wall, so I say, "Rocky, Help me sweep the hall." Luckily, Rocky finds this appealing, so he complies and is sweeping the floor instead of tearing apart the school building. Over the next several weeks, data is collected to determine the primary cause of this behavior and an appropriate intervention. Eventually, the team concludes that transitioning from center time to writing tasks precedes this behavior, and a decision is made to add social skills to Rocky's IEP. His goal reads, "Rocky will demonstrate behaviors that allow him to access the general education curriculum." (Don't judge. I didn't write it.) As the special education teacher, I will now meet with Rocky once a week for 30 minutes, probably using social stories to address his IEP goal (because that's the only tool I have...until now). This is "chasing behaviors". Rocky's team of caregivers hasn't identified the underlying issues. Rocky is running out of the classroom because he doesn't want to do the writing task. But why doesn't he want to do the task? When working one-on-one, he demonstrates that he does not have a skills deficit in writing. So what causes his anxiety to build to the point that he flips chairs, tears paper, breaks crayons, escalates when approached, and elopes? Rocky clearly has underdeveloped social and/or emotional skills. Does Rocky demonstrate a deficit in self-regulation skills? Does he demonstrate "thought stopping" thinking (all or nothing; catastrophic thinking), a deficit in perspective taking, executive functioning, flexible thinking, all of these? It is imperative to assess the underlying issues causing the undesired behavior.
Get to the Root, and Dig Deeper
Once the underlying issue is revealed, the IEP goal should be precise, so the caregiver team can teach the missing skills and provide opportunities for Rocky to perform the skills. For example, Rocky's goal could be, "Rocky will transition from center time to writing with compliance in 4 out of 5 opportunities." To achieve this goal, he could be taught how to stop an activity, how to make a cognitive shift, how to initiate a task. See how precise the goal is written, and also how the the act of transitioning has been broken down. Rocky doesn't want to stop playing centers when it's time to start writing. When students hear, "Class, you have 5 minutes of centers remaining," they cognitively process many things. For example, they decide to take one more turn, then clean up and make their way to their seats. While Rocky thinks, "I have to finish this entire game in 5 minutes! I hate writing. It's hard." So his anxiety jumps from 0 to 10 and he begins tearing up the room. He doesn't have the executive functioning and flexibility skills to stop playing centers and he doesn't have the self-regulation skills to manage his anxiety. These skills need to be taught in order for Rocky to be self-aware, to reduce his anxiety, and to promote successful social behaviors.
Teaching the Skills
How does Rocky learn how to stop an activity? The teacher can let him know he has 5 minutes remaining and then ask him how he plans to stop the activity. He will likely say, "I'm going to finish the whole game," which is impossible, so the teacher must give him a transition warning, like "You have time for one more turn." Then he will need a transition accommodation to keep his mind from wandering off to anxiety land. The teacher could give him a leadership role, like passing out the papers. Then ease him from the preferred task (center time) to a less preferred task (passing out the papers, then working on a crossword, a coloring sheet, or word search), to the non-preferred task (writing). To get him to cognitively shift from center time to writing, the teacher can give him a pencil and say, "Could you take this to Tilly for me please, then have a seat?" (Tilly should be the student seated next to Rocky.) This will give Rocky a task to do, which gets him to his seat and allows his mind to shift from center time to writing time in a less abrupt way.
Dr. Bellini taught the value of video self monitoring. During times of zero anxiety, Rocky should practice the skills of "stopping the activity", "making a cognitive shift", and "starting the activity". He should view a video of himself performing the skill perfectly with independence. This provides a visual representation of success. While watching the video, pause and discuss the cognitive processes. This will lead to improved self-awareness.
Create Self-Awareness
Create a self-monitoring sheet for Rocky. This will allow him to track his feelings and realize for himself what triggers his anxiety. This is the key to success. Self-awareness is empowering and leads to generalization. For example, Rocky could be given a breakdown of the writing process. He should give a thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate his feelings. Thinking of an idea--thumbs up or down? Writing letters--thumbs up or down? Spelling--thumbs up or down? Using punctuation--thumbs up or down? Writing more than one page--thumbs up or down? Use the results to show Rocky that he doesn't hate everything about writing. Maybe it's just thinking of an idea. This helps Rocky move past the "all or nothing" mindset. From there, he could use a visual that helps him think through the cognitive process to initiate an idea to write about. Create ways that allow students to be self-aware, to track behavior as it occurs.
I learned too much to get it all out of my head in one post. I'll share more strategies in future posts. What I want to keep in the forefront of my mind is to look for underlying issues. keep goals precise, and create self-awareness. More strategies to accomplish this to come.
Scott Bellini's webpage: http://bellinibsr.com/
Jessica Minahan's webpage: http://jessicaminahan.com/
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