1. Strategies for Working With Defiant & Emotionally Unpredictable Kids Jim Wright, Syracuse (NY) City Schools

2. Workshop Goals… In this workshop, we will learn about:
Identification of ‘root causes’ of problem behaviors
Ideas to deescalate confrontations with ‘emotionally unpredictable’ students
A school-wide approach to evaluating the seriousness of student threats
Using communication tools to better manage defiant kids
Recommended behavioral intervention websites

3. Positive Behavioral Interventions Can Help to…
Uncover ‘root’ of student problem
Reduce disruption of teaching time
Reduce frequency and intensity of power struggles
Improve communication between teacher & student

4. Positive Behavioral Interventions Do Not…
Coddle students
Take the place of already-existing disciplinary guidelines or behavioral expectations
Tie a teacher’s hands in responding to misbehavior in the classroom

5. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Behavior is not randomly emitted but follows meaningful patterns…
Observed behavior is idiosyncratic, a product of the unique interaction between the person performing the behavior and that person’s environment…

6. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
Similar behaviors may stem from different ‘root causes’. Find the cause of the behavior (its function) and you stand a much better chance of designing an intervention that really works…

7. Teacher Referral Example…
“Showed disrespect towards me when she yelled inappropriately regarding an instruction sheet. I then asked her to leave the room. She also showed disrespect when I called her twice earlier in the class to see her report card grade.”

8. Teacher Referral Example…
“I gave out a test. After a few minutes, he crunched it and threw it on the floor. If he were not prepared, he could have talked to me and I would have allowed him to take it on a different date, as I usually do.”

9. ‘Big Ideas’ About Student Behavior…
It is much better to head off problem behaviors than to have to deal with the classroom ‘fallout’ after those behaviors have occurred…

10. ABC Timeline A B C

11. Teacher Referral Example…
“C. and T. were horsing around in the classroom. In the process, they knocked down an overhead projector and crushed it.”

12. Gordon’s Triangle: Three-Tiered Approach
Intensive
Intervention
Early
Intervention
School-Wide
Foundation