Responding to Challenging Behaviors

Defiance

Each component has been established as an effective practice to prevent challenging behaviors that result in greater time devoted to instruction (TDI) and greater academic engagement time (AET), thus improved academic performance.

Link to Resoruces

De-escalation

De-escalation techniques go against our natural fight-or-flight reflexes. Remaining calm and professionally detached is not natural and is a skill that will need to be practiced. We need to retrain ourselves to respond in a different way when a challenging situation occurs.

Link to Resoruces

Trauma & Resilience

Resilience to trauma can be defined in several ways: positive child outcomes despite exposure to trauma, prevention of trauma recurrence despite high risk for further exposure, or avoidance of traumatic experiences altogether in the face of significant risk.

Link to Resoruces

Replacement Behaviors

To stop a behavior, we must teach a new behavior. Every behavior fulfills a need. We have to teach students an appropriate way to meet that need, or the negative behavior will continue. Replacements behaviors are incredibly important and must be taught.

Link to Resources

Community

Establishing a positive classroom community is vital. We know from research and experience when a person feels connected and valued by a community that person is more likely to be engaged, cooperative and willing to work toward the goals of the community.

Link to Resources

Conflict

Conflict and disagreements are always going to happen. It is something that can not be avoided and does not always have to be negative. Conflict can cause growth and the understanding of new perspectives. However, when our students do not have skills to properly handle conflict it often becomes confrontation and disruptive outbursts. When we approach conflict as a natural part of our community and establish proactive ways to handle it we have the potential to lessen disruptive arguments and help students learn valuable life skills that deal with de-escalation and conflict management.

Link to Resources

Consequences

Consequences can often be a source of contention within the school community. Some feelings consequences are too lenient and some feeling consequences are too strict. There also may be complaints about consistency and much frustration when consequences seem to be ineffective. Creating a menu of consequences that includes a variety of corrective, logical and natural consequences can greatly increase the likelihood of behavior change and effectiveness.

Link to Resources

Links to More Resources

MindSet

Right Response

STARR