Bringing about Success Despite a Behavioral Disorder Presented by: Missy Dharma

Personal Background  I’ve worked with a specific student for 3 years  Violent & emotional behaviors  Emotional Disability  Possibly on the Autism spectrum.  Helping him: socially, academically and physically  He has meltdowns or what we call “episodes” that get violent and sometimes lead to him needing to be restrained.

Literature Background  ED Label  Autism  Strategies I’ve tried

ED Label  Criteria  Treatment options  A child with an emotional disability often times has the same red flags as a child with autism.

Autism  Social skills to manage behavior  TEACCH method (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped children)  Behavior management for Autism has many avenues to try, every child is different. We need to be open to trying new and different strategies in order to break the barrier. INTERVENTIONS FOR AUTISM. (2006). In Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Retrieved fromhttp://

Strategies I’ve tired  There are many strategies that have worked and many more that have not.  A few that have worked:  Letting him cool off alone and keeping distance  Talking to another teacher about his interests and letting him digress and come to us  Giving him options/Letting him “set” the rules  A sample of some that have not worked  Trying to talk him down or reasoning with him  Asking why he is upset  Trying to distract him  Look into new strategies that others have successfully implemented  Involve dad so the therapy and interventions are not just at school

Teacher Research Question  How can I help my student get through his behavioral episodes faster and with success?

Research Design & Rationale  Action Research  Qualitative  My epistemic stance  knowing by experience  trial and error  social interactions.  I feel that qualitative research will best reflect the self-study I will do and give the best insight to who my student is, why he acts the way he does but more specifically why I respond in the ways that I choose to respond to the information I have gathered.

Data Sources  Journaling  Observations  Interviews  Questionnaires  Open-ended questions  Member checking  Audio recording conversations and/or interviews  Video recording lessons & interactions

Approach to Data Analysis  Cooking & simmering my notes  Creating transcripts of my taped & video recorded conversations/interviews & cooking them  I will alter my teaching, approaches to his daily plans, behavior plans and interventions based on my notes, observations and interviews.

Areas of hopeful change  Social  Work through social interactions, not getting his way, without episodes.  Emotional  Calmly express feelings after trigger to prevent an episode.  Physical  Learn coping strategies in order to prevent harm to himself during an episode.

Conclusion  Main goal: To take an intense look at my teaching so I can change to better serve my student.

Bibliography  EMOTIONAL DISORDERS. (2006). In Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Retrieved from  Hubbard, R. S., Power, B. M., (2003). The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher-Researchers (Revised Edition). Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.  INTERVENTIONS FOR AUTISM. (2006). In Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Retrieved fromhttp://  LaFrance, W., Miller, I., Ryan, C., Blum, A., Solomon, D., Kelley, J., Keitner, G. (2009) Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Epilepsy & Behavior, 14. Retrieved from  Maclean, M., Mohr, M. (1999) Data Collection. How can you find out what you want to know and Data Analysis: What are you finding out? What does it mean? In Teacher Researchers at Work, (pg 36-76) Berkely, CA: National Writing Project.