Activity 2.4 Positive behaviour management strategies
In the past, some teachers depended on punishment to reduce problem behaviours, however, punishment brought about only temporary reductions in negative behaviours, did not teach any new skills, and led to more negative side effects such as the child withdrawing from and avoiding the classroom and the school.
Today however, teachers practice a more positive and functional approach to reducing challenging behaviours called positive behaviour support. Positive behaviour support provides a structure for considering the development of instructional environments that increases teachers ability to deliver effective instructions to all children, thereby increasing success rates and reducing negative behaviours. It consists of finding out why a certain behaviour is happening and develops interventions to improve or eliminate those behaviours. For example, through this kind of assessment the teacher may discover that a child's disruptive hand flapping might be more often when challenging tasks are given and the hand flapping becomes a way to get away from the tasks. With this information the teacher can plan strategies to reduce the disruptive behaviour. In this example the teacher might teach the child a more appropriate way to behave for instance teaching him/her to ask for a break rather than flapping his/her hands to get away from the task for a while.
Some other strategies that teachers can use include the following -
- A variety of visual support which can be used to help children with special needs understand routines, how to transition from one activity to the next, and gain new skills. An Activity Schedule can be a specific visual support strategy that can be used with simple written or pictorial instructions which can be placed on the wall of the classroom/group area.
- Teaching social skills through Social Stories. For example, a Social Story about lining up might describe the instruction given by the teacher, what the children do and why. Other common situations that can be helped through these kind of stories include sharing, turn taking, and coping with teasing.
- Modify the classroom environment to minimize challenging behaviours.
- Teach and reward alternate behaviours.
- Work with everyone concerned to be sure that there is consistency across all setting, such as home and school.
Activity 2.4 Planning for individual needs
Currently I have a student Justin who has demonstrated a learning disability which was determined to be auditory processing. This determination was made in conjunction with Medical Professionals, school Psychologists and a Child Study Team. To address this issue, this is the plan that both the school Child's Study Team and myself, the Teacher involved have come up with. I have identified the subject areas the student is having trouble with such as Mathematics and Comprehension in English Language. I have physically placed the student to the front of the class. I have employed a Teacher's Aide (for example, an On-The-Job-Trainee employee) to give the student individual attention or even be placed in a smaller group. Due to the fact that, the student may not be able to sit for very long periods without being distracted, I want to make the Lesson with four,15 minute sessions instead of one hour long so I would include a 1 - 2 minute break in between in order for the student to take a breather. In addition to that, continuous positive reinforcement needs to occur while the Lesson is in progress so that the student does not become frustrated.
The advantage of having a plan like this in place is to ensure that the student succeeds and receives a quality education.
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