Understanding and Supporting Challenging Students Sara Dilday and Lisa Tull SMSD Behavior Specialists

Ultimate Goal? What do you feel is the ultimate goal for students at Crosstrails? What do you feel is your role in helping them to achieve that goal? How have you been prepared to help the students reach this goal?

Characteristics of Explosive Children Striking inflexibility Low frustration tolerance “ ….these children do not choose to be explosive and noncompliant- any more than a child would chose to have a reading disability—but are delayed in the process of developing the skills that are critical to being flexible and tolerating frustration or have significant difficulty applying these skills when they most need to.” –Ross Greene.

Skill Deficits Executive skills Shifting cognitive sets: the ability to shift from one mind-set to another Organization and planning: the ability to organize and plan how to deal with a problem or frustration Separation of affect: the ability to separate your emotional response to a problem from the thinking you need to solve a problem

Skill Deficits (cont.) Language Processing Skills Categorizing and expressing emotions Identifying and articulating one’s needs Solving problems

Skill Deficits (cont.) Emotion Regulation Skills Depression, bi-polar, anxiety Or are these kiddos capacities for frustration tolerance and flexibility compromised more often and therefore they haven’t acquired the skills for handling these situations?

Skills Deficit (cont.) Cognitive Flexibility Skills Black and white thinkers in a “gray” world

Skills Deficit (cont.) Social Skills the group of complex skills that one must have to appropriately navigate social interactions.

They Would If They Could! Society tends to believe that all children are created equal in terms of these skills. That leads to the belief that “Explosive Children” want to be non-compliant and handle frustration in a maladaptive way. In most cases this isn’t true. In most cases “…..Children do well if they can.”

What now? Our goal for students is to provide them with the skills needed to be successful in their home schools. Our role as professional educators is to: Model appropriate behavioral expectations Build meaningful relationships Provide a safe and supportive learning community

The Power of Behavior Modeling When you are in the presence of your students, you are a model for behavior. What do your words and actions communicate? What are the students learning about acceptable behavior during academic instruction, transitions, casual social interactions, etc.

Why Modeling? Albert Bandura: Social Learning Theory “The research of Albert Bandura supports his hypothesis that behavior is strengthened, weakened, or maintained by the modeling of behavior by others.”

How to serve as an effective model? Awareness: Adults can unintentionally serve as models of inappropriate behaviors by doing such things as using sarcasm or trivializing situations. View yourself as a model when you are around students whether that is your intent or not.

When Am I A Model? ALWAYS! A student is verbally releasing at you. He/she is engaging in inappropriate language and disrupting the environment. The class assignment is for the student to be reading silently. You are talking to a colleague in the hallway and a student is walking by. You and a colleague are in the classroom with students who are working independently.

Building Relationships Children don’t care what you know until they know that you care.

Some children are biologically predisposed to having more difficulty attaching and maintaining relationships, while others are naturally more capable of loving.. Hughes, 2001

Importance of Attachment Attachment allows us to learn empathy, caring, sharing, inhibition of aggression, remorse -- the capacity to love and a host of other characteristics of a healthy, happy and productive person all of which are formed in infancy and early childhood. Bruce Perry, 2008

It’s all about the relationship Humans need relationships to survive, learn, work and love. (Bruce Perry, Research shows that close relationships between teachers and children are an important part of creating high-quality care environments and positive child outcomes. The student/teacher relationship is the #2 relationship in a child’s life after their parents. ( )

Building A Community “ The sense of community is a feeling members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and the group, and a shared faith that member’s needs will be met through their commitment to be together.” McMillan and Chavez

Elements Contributing To Community For Students. 1. An orderly, predictable environment. 2. Emotional safety. 3. Pro-social skills and interactions.

Four Attributes of Community Fairfield Membership Occurs when people feel emotionally secure, personally invested & a sense of belonging. Influence Students must feel they have influence over what the group does. Students are rewarded for participating Fundamental for maintaining community. Shared emotional connection Critical feature necessary for people to experience true community.

Bibliography psheets/preschoolbehaviortipsheets/modeli ng.pdf