In order to be successful, students need: Self Regulation Skills Communicating and Learning Skills Making Friends & Getting Along With Peers Skills

Confident Friendly Have Good Peer Relationships Tackle Challenges Have Good Language Development Communicate Well Listen to Instructions Are Attentive Successful Students are:

Why then do they do what they do?

What do students do when they can’t concentrate on a challenging task and are faced with something too hard for them What do students do when they can’t concentrate on a challenging task and are faced with something too hard for them?

What do students do when they can’t get along with others and they can’t resolve conflict constructively?

Any repeated pattern of behavior that interferes with learning or positive interactions with peers and adults. Challenging behavior is defined on the basis of its effects. What is Challenging Behavior ?

May be used to communicate a message

May be used instead of words by a someone who has limited social skills or has learned that challenging behavior will meet his needs

Students engage in challenging behavior because “it works” for them

Many if not most students engage in highly challenging behaviors in the course of their development

Many students who engage in chronic, highly challenging behaviors proceed through a predictable course of ever- escalating challenging behaviors

An estimated 9 to 13% of American children between ages nine to 17 have serious diagnosable emotional or behavioral health disorders (Friedman, 2002)

Students with Severe Emotional Disorders miss more days of school than do students in all other disability categories (U.S. Department of Education, 1994)

 More than half of students with SED drop out of grades 9- 12, the highest rate for all disability categories. (U.S. Department of Education, 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, 2002

Of those students with SED who drop out of school, 73% are arrested within five years of Of those students with SED who drop out of school, 73% are arrested within five years of leaving school. leaving school. (U.S. Department of Education, 1994)

The correlation between preschool-age aggression and aggression at age 10 is higher than that for IQ. (Kazdin, 1995)

Early appearing aggressive behaviors are the best predictor of juvenile gang membership and violence. (Reid, 1993)

Of the young children who show early signs of problem behavior, it has been estimated that fewer than 10% receive services for these difficulties. (Kazdin & Kendall, 1998)

We can help kids: Environmental Design Effective Positive Behavioral Interventions Curricular Modification and Accommodation Strategies Consultation and Technical Assistance

Challenging behavior can often be eliminated or substantially reduced by a change in adult behavior.

Individuals, parents, professionals, and others who come into contact with young children often have strong emotions, expectations, and beliefs about certain behaviors.

Parents and professionals need each other when it comes to a student with challenging behavior. We need to be partners.

- Rene Decartes

Any Behavior That Persists Is “Working” for the Individual Involved

The Single Event Is of Little Consequence- It’s The Pattern That Counts

We Tend To Conclude That The Individual Either Can’t or Won’t Do Otherwise

We all have a strong need to be in control,

It is how we meet that need that sets us apart.

It is possible to win a battle and lose the war…

There are many children who begin their lives in poverty and without a secure attachment

Everyone needs love, especially when we feel they don’t deserve it

Children are only as good as the environments we create for them

All kids need : Predictability, Consistency and Positive Interactions

When a student struggles academically, we look for instructional solutions

We have to look for solutions when a student struggles behaviorally

If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all Pearl S. Buck

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal bias Amos Bronson Alcott

How you look at a person determines what you will see

We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them Albert Einstein

All children need at least one person to believe in them

Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be created by understanding Albert Einstein

“We need to start fighting crime in the high chair, not the electric chair.” George Sweat, Former Chief of Police Winston-Salem, North Carolina

The greatest challenge to a thinker is stating a problem in a way that will allow a solution Betrand Russell

Our Children are the Living Message We Send to a Time We Will Not See Neil Postman

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

The major ingredients are within your immediate possession. The change can occur within a reasonable period of time.

So let’s begin…