Practicum and Application
Identifying the Challenging Behaviour
- The initial stage will be the establishment of the fact that indeed the student exhibits challenging behaviour. This will require an observation of a period of at least one week and will extend to activities that the student undertakes not only in the classroom but also outside the classroom.
- The background from which the student comes from will also be investigated in an attempt to draw up the most effective plan for dealing with the challenging behaviour exhibited. The family background, its composition and economic status will be evaluated so that it is established that the source of such aggression is not from the background of the student and if so, an appropriate method of dealing with the issue established.
Creation of Stakeholders Group
- This will involve building up a support team of the key individuals and stakeholders in the student’s life and whose input will be essential to the development of the student’s change from challenging behaviour.
- In this stage, the key questions that will be answered are, who are the key stakeholders in the student’s life, why their input into the collaborative effort is important, what will be needed to make the effort effective and how the process is going to promote the process of changing the behaviour of the student.
Planning
- In this stage, there will be planning on how the whole process will be undertaken and the expected contributions of each stakeholder. As the teacher, I will plan on how best to conduct the process both in the classroom and outside the classroom and how I will make a positive influence on the student towards the changing of the behaviour.
- The planning be composed of two main stages; making the actual action plans which will bring together the key stakeholders to identify a process of working towards the achievement of a goal, which in this case is the changing of the behaviour of the child and making a future action plan to be adopted upon successful implementation of the initial behaviour change plan which will seek to develop ideas on how the changed student can adapt to this new form of behaviour.
Behaviour Change Process
- This will involve calling a meeting with the student with challenging behaviour problems and having a discussion on his behaviour. The main objective of this meeting will be to ensure that the student is well aware of the problem that she/he is experiencing and make it clear that there is need to take a definite action to seek a correction of that. In this stage, as the teacher, I will seek to advise the student to change his behaviour at this point. An observation of about one week will enable me as the teacher to form an opinion on whether indeed the student has changed. If not, I will proceed to the next stage.
- The second stage will involve a meeting of the stakeholders with the student absent. In this meeting the problem facing the student will be discussed an action plan formulated to assist the student. It will require that a facilitator is introduced to the stakeholders meeting. The facilitator cannot be the teacher since a teacher may not be a neutral party in future proceedings of such meetings when the student is present. A neutral facilitator will thus have to be chosen. At this moment, the family of the student will be involved and their contributions will be expected on how to deal with the issue. All the meetings from this point will be recorded.
- In the meetings that will follow, it will be important to include the student and establish several facts;
- Those in the meetings and their feelings about being part of the meetings, the background and history of each of the attendees.
- The focus of the meeting which is the student with the challenging behaviour.
- A typical day of the student-the activities that the student undertakes on a normal day and the reactions to the activities and the preferences of the student.
- It will also analyse the antecedents of the challenging behaviour, the actual behaviour which is characterised as challenging and the consequences of the challenging behaviour and the setting events which may continue to affect the student’ behaviour even after an effective plan has been working for some time.
Behaviour Plan Development
- The plan will be informed by the hypothesis conducted to give a description of the behaviour, its antecedents, consequences and the purpose of the problem behaviour.
- It will develop objective prevention strategies which will be used to reduce the likelihood that the student will repeat behavioural problems.
- It is at this stage that the teacher will be deeply involved. As the teacher, I will ensure that I set up the proper environmental arrangements in the classroom to ensure that the student’s challenging behaviour is prevented. The best way for this will be through the involvement of the student in group work. The choice of group members for such a group will have to be well though to include other students who are most likely to have a positive influence on the behaviour of the student.
- Personal support to the student will also be critical to the behaviour change for the student, and an example of this may occur when the teacher is required to reteach a student or when giving repetitions of activities to the student.
- Changes in activities will be necessary for the student with challenging behaviour to avoid those activities that contribute to the development of the problem.
- Providing a change in expectations of the student so that the expectations which occasioned the challenging behaviour or which perhaps occasion the challenging behaviour. With the management of expectations, the student is expected to also show a change in the behaviour.
- Transition management will occur at this stage.
- Since the transitions that occur in classrooms give an opportunity for disruptive behaviour, as the teacher, I will have a clear routine for accomplishing everyday tasks.
- The tasks will have to be streamlined and standardized so that there is less disruption which can cause confusion among the students.
- I will also seek to have and enforce rules within the classroom which will give the students clear behavioural expectations thus helping minimize the likelihood of inappropriate behaviours during transitions. Any change to this will be communicated to the students in advance so that appropriate behaviour expected is well known in advance.
- The development of replacement skills will be important since it provides the student with the challenging behaviour skills which replace the problematic behaviour.
- Consequence strategies will be developed so that the student is aware of the response he/she will get for not maintaining the expected behaviour. This acts as deterrence to the relapse to the challenging behaviour.
- The development of long term strategies is also important since it provides all parties involved with long term goals that will assist the student in meeting his/her long term vision.
References
Bagenstos, S. (2009). Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Barnartt. S, & Sharon N. (2001). Disability Protests: Contentious Politics 1970-1999. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.
Drew J., Egan M. & Hardman L. (2011). Human Exceptionality: School, Community and Family. 10th Ed. Bemomt, CA: Cengage Learning.
