Throughout
the years, I have had the privilege to work with many educators and school
personnel as they strive to address difficult student behaviors, including
emotional disturbance. Students with
emotional disturbance present unique challenges to the classroom. Often, these children require a myriad of techniques
and an array of staff to support them including therapeutic support staff (TSS),
personal care aides, school social workers, school guidance counselors, and
behavior specialists. Those that are
trained in looking at behavior objectively sometimes clash with those that
study the internal well-being of students.
However, each serves an important role in changing behavior. The two facets – behavior specialist and
mental health therapist – should strive to marry their practices so that their
students can derive the most benefit from their collective knowledge.
Behavior
specialists are trained to look at what is reinforcing behavior. Students can successfully find unique ways to
escape work or seek attention rather than do what they have been asked to
do. Sometimes, visits to helpful staff
members are a form of escape. A kind
individual that will drop what he/she is doing to listen and provide counsel to
an anxious or angry child is often the same staff member who is identified to
work with kids who struggle emotionally.
Indeed, many times in the classroom when students are having difficulty
following through with directives or tasks, their teachers encourage them to
leave and report to these individuals for support. This may become a habit as students learn to associate the support staff room as being more reinforcing than their regular
classrooms.
We know that kids are kids, whether they
have emotional disturbance or not. As
such, just like their peers, they can certainly take advantage of the adults in
their lives to avoid unpleasant tasks.
As an example, having an outburst and leaving the classroom at the start
of math on most days reflects a pattern of behavior. Is the student struggling with the effects of
trauma at that time, or is it math? If I
take a child for a break because he frequently rips his math paper, I teach the
child that he can avoid doing math by having difficult behavior. Since this behavior worked for him, he will
most certainly try it again.
School social workers and guidance
counselors often feel as if behavior specialists aren’t addressing core issues,
including trauma, depression, and anxiety.
Sometimes kids just need a break in order to meet the demands of a
school day. Many students are living without
parents due to incarceration or addiction.
Some children are homeless and can’t even count on a stable place to live
when the bus drops them off in the afternoon or even food for supper. These very real scenarios take a backseat to academics for many children. Their mental health issues are real, and justifiably,
they can’t be expected to shelve them completely for a six-hour
school day.
Collaboration with both professions
would encompass the idea that it is always easier to address behavior as an
antecedent rather than as a consequence.
Can the student have a scheduled break with his counselor before
beginning a challenging subject? Is the
student in need of additional supports, accommodations, or adaptations so that
particular assignments are not as frustrating for him? Would earning a reinforcer help him/her to
avoid escalation and be more productive? We may not be able to solve his family issues, but surely we could teach him coping strategies.
Clearly, the
number of students with emotional disturbance is on the rise over the last
several years. This is a telling example
for our society that we may be failing today’s youth. Educators have found themselves seeking out
ways to foster better mental health for their students and to incorporate
mental health strategies in their classrooms.
They need to avail themselves of those who have that expertise. When the mental health therapists and
behavior specialists can work together as a team to create doable behavior
plans that teach students coping skills as well as appropriate classroom behavior, children with emotional disturbance can only benefit. When children with special needs are working successfully alongside their peers, all children benefit.
Rebecca Moyes, M.Ed., 2018
Special Education Consultant with Grade Point
Resources
www.gradepointresources.com
