Heading off Destructive Behavior Why early intervention matters

In a poll of AFT teachers, 36% say they lost 2 or more hours of teaching time weekly due to student behavior. Urban schools are even worse. That adds up to a minimum of 432 hours of instruction annually. Intervention strategies that begin before age 8 can head off most of this behavior.

What causes antisocial behavior? Brainstorm: What do you think some of the factors are?

Stressors disrupt normal parenting practices. Disrupted parenting practices cause interactions that are negative, aggressive and coercive.

Do any of these family stressors sound familiar? Poverty Divorce Drug problems Alcohol problems Physical abuse Uncontrollable health problems

Eliminating “coercive” behaviors is the key In a stressed environment, children learn to get what they want through coercive behaviors. Parents in the same environment model coercion by threatening, yelling, intimidating or hitting to force children to behave.

“Parental use of coercive strategies to suppress hostile and aggressive behavior actually increased the likelihood of such behavior in the future by 50%.” (Patterson, 1982)

Recognizing coercive tactics in children Disobeying Whining Yelling Throwing tantrums Threatening parents Hitting ………..all to avoid doing what the parents want.

Over time, coercive behavior becomes habitual and the child develops an “antisocial” personality that he/she takes to school.

Antisocial behavior in preschool Usually takes the form of frequent whining and noncompliance. Later on, this morphs into less frequent but higher intensity antisocial acts such as hitting, bullying, fighting and stealing. By adolescence, it may escalate into robbery, assault, lying, stealing, fraud and burglary.

Keep this in mind. Regardless of the manifestation of the behavior, is at the heart of antisocial behavior.

The situation is not hopeless and you can be a part of the solution. Why? Children who have not learned appropriate, non-coercive ways to interact socially by age 8 will likely continue displaying such behaviors.

So, what can we do? Share your ideas!

It starts with you. Pay attention to children’s behavior and learn to recognize antisocial behavior patterns “in the making.” Refer parents living with chronic stress to other organizations that might help. Be kind but honest with parents in pointing out manipulative behaviors. Refer back to Love and Logic parenting.

What advice can we give parents? Parents need to establish authority without using coercive behaviors to do so. So how does that happen?

Clear communication of behavioral expectations. Setting firm and consistent limits. Monitoring and supervising children’s behavior carefully. Providing positive attention and rewards or privileges for confirming to expectations. Ignoring negative behaviors

Redirecting when possible. Mildly reprimanding Removing privileges when children do not conform. Being consistent and firm about expectations.

Time to consider your task. How can we effectively teach this information to our parents?