1. Strategies for Working With Defiant & Emotionally Unpredictable Students Jim Wright

2. Workshop Goals… In this workshop, we will learn about:
Identification of ‘root causes’ of problem behaviors
Ideas to deescalate confrontations with ‘emotionally unpredictable’ students
Using communication tools to better manage defiant kids
Recommended behavioral intervention websites

3. Positive Behavioral Interventions Can Help to…
Uncover ‘root’ of student problem
Reduce disruption of teaching time
Reduce frequency and intensity of power struggles
Improve communication between teacher & student

4. Positive Behavioral Interventions Do Not…
Coddle students
Take the place of already-existing disciplinary guidelines or behavioral expectations
Tie a teacher’s hands in responding to misbehavior in the classroom

5. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Behavior is not randomly emitted but follows meaningful patterns…

6. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Observed behavior is idiosyncratic, a product of the unique interaction between the person performing the behavior and that person’s environment…

7. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Similar behaviors may stem from different ‘root causes’. Find the cause of the behavior (its function) and you stand a much better chance of designing an intervention that really works…

8. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Common ‘root causes’ or ‘drivers’ for behaviors include:
Social attention (adult or peer)
Escape or avoidance
Access to tangibles or rewards or privileges (‘pay-offs’)
[Inattention or impulsivity]

9. Teacher Referral Example…
“Showed disrespect towards me when she yelled inappropriately regarding an instruction sheet. I then asked her to leave the room. She also showed disrespect when I called her twice earlier in the class to see her report card grade.”

10. Teacher Referral Example…
“I gave out a test. After a few minutes, he crunched it and threw it on the floor. If he were not prepared, he could have talked to me and I would have allowed him to take it on a different date, as I usually do.”

11. Teacher Referral Example…
“1st ) During the beginning of English class, Z. continued to drink her soda. I gave her a warning and she answered me back. 2nd) She began to talk to other students behind her during quiet reading. When I told her to stop talking, she began to get mouthy and nasty to me. She will do anything to get sent out of the room or to distract from my teaching.”

12. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
It is much better to head off problem behaviors than to have to deal with the classroom ‘fallout’ after those behaviors have occurred…

13. ABC Timeline C B A

14. ABC Timeline

15. Teacher Referral Example…
“C. and T. were horsing around in the classroom. In the process, they knocked down an overhead projector and crushed it.”

16. Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports: Three-Tiered Approach
Source:

17. Common behavioral ‘trouble points’:!
Common behavioral ‘trouble points’:
Loss of classroom control
Non-compliance or outright defiance
Impulsive behaviors (student fails to ‘think’ before acting)
Highly agitated or angry students

18. ‘Challenging Students’ Activity: At your table…
Pair off
Discuss a behaviorally ‘difficult’ student that each of you has worked with or observed this year
Do you note similarities in the kinds of challenging behaviors that you and your partner are seeing?
Keep your ‘challenging’ student in mind throughout today’s workshop