When, despite their best efforts, teachers feel defeated by a disruptive student, it seems they're fighting a losing battle. These students often have trouble regulating their emotions, become inflexible and have outbursts, and leave teachers feeling exhausted and incompetent. In this workshop, we will discuss an approach that helps teachers come up with practical interventions that can make a difference in students' day-to-day lives. It's built on the premise that teachers can only control a few variables—such as the classroom environment and their own behavior—in the lives of students with challenging behavior. Because of this, they must put preventative accommodations in place and recognize that how they respond to students' behavior has a huge impact.
“Breaking the Behavior Code” means understanding that students’ behavior is about communication, the way students act is reflective of their efforts to solve problems, and that all student behavior stems from one (or more) of the following four needs: gaining attention, escaping something undesirable, gaining something desirable, and obtaining sensory satisfaction.
We will discuss pro-active measures, what triggers a student, and minimizing those triggers and supporting students during situations they find triggering. We will also discuss the parental component to dealing with disruptive and challenging behaviors at home and how parents can best work with teachers to help students learn replacement behaviors and coping strategies, as well as ways that both parents and teachers can build rapport and trust with these students.