SPED 586 Social Acceptance and Behavior Chapter 4

Overview Environment Assessing behavior Positive behavioral support FBA Characteristics of Students w/ social disabilities Teaching social skills

**Your Turn** What type of classroom environment do you wish to create? List three aspects of that environment. How might you create that environment? How would you maintain that environment?

Environment Creating an environment – Instructional – Students who consistently struggle need intense instructional support. Favor small group and 1:1 for those who struggle most – Physical – The need for small group and individual support requires a classroom arrangement allowing for – Emotional - Students should feel welcome and their thoughts and efforts reinforced How are these three environmental aspects related?

Assessing Behavior What to measure – Duration of behavior – how long it lasts – Latency – time between prompt and behavior – Topography – how does the behavior look – Intensity – the force of behavior (both frequency and duration) – Locus – where does the behavior occur Some behavior is discrete (a clear beginning and end) and others are continuous. Set an observation approach to match.

School-wide PBS (Kerr and Nelson, 2010) A tiered system for behavior Steps: 1.Establish a school-wide team from staff to admin 2.Identify coaches 3.PD for team members 4.Identify key outcomes and an action plan 5.Set up a system to monitor evidence-based practices 6.Set up systems for faculty to review data 7.Initiate SWPBS 8.Collect data and make decisions FBA – sample forms view%20Forms.pdf

Review FBAs from Case Studies What was the behavior? How did the teacher identify and define that behavior? What was the intervention that the teacher chose to use? Why did they choose that intervention? What was the effectiveness? 7

Students with Emotional Disabilities “Students with emotional and social disabilities present some of the most difficult challenges to an instructor. Like some disabilities, these impairments may be hidden or latent, with little or no effect on learning. Unlike students with other kinds of disabilities, emotional disabilities may manifest themselves in behavior ranging from indifference to disruptiveness. Such conduct may make it difficult to remember that students with emotional and social impairments have little control over their disabilities” MTSU

Characteristics of Students with Social Disabilities By definition, the learning challenged individual already feels marginalized from mainstream society, and entry into the world community places a tremendous burden on their shoulders. An LD student may have developed strategies for learning but be lacking in the social graces. Many students have commented that they spent too much time on their special academic needs and not enough time just socializing with friends. Sadly, and for many, without the necessary social skills, an LD student faces a bleak outlook for the future in the real world (Fregnut, 2009).

Teaching Social Skills “Watching people's faces as you speak. Counting the number of times you speak and limiting it. Learning the signals people make when they want to interrupt you. Appearing to listen. Looking puzzled if they don't understand so the talker spontaneously repeats himself. Maintaining eye contact as they speak and developing body language so that they can keep the floor and not allow interruptions -- such as a person who tries to finish his or her sentences” (Dale Brown in Fregnut)

Summation How do we teach social skills in academic situations? How do academic issues affect social skills? How do social skills issues affect academics?