BEHAVIOR BOOT CAMP TOPICS
Behavior From The Beginning
Why do children behave in certain ways? Is their behavior related to their age, family relationships, or individual temperaments? Child developmental theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of childhood. These theories center on various aspects of development including social, emotional, and cognitive growth. A basic understanding in child developmental theories will give a better understanding and help explain and predict behaviors that occur while in the classroom and throughout the lifespan. In this section, we will focus on the 3 of the most influential child developmental theorist - Freud, Piaget, and Erikson.
Successful Classroom Management
”Teachers Beware”
Classroom setup can be a difficult task especially when our students are so different from each other. You don’t always know which students you will be getting. With a basic understanding of how to arrange and shape an environment for success, educators can potentially disrupt challenging behaviors before they ever happen. A well thought out plan including visual supports, themes, furniture, specialized curriculum, and classroom personnel placement is key to a successful day. Taking a function-based approach to classroom arrangement, we can make significant differences in student behavior and outcome.
Autism and Anxiety in School Aged Children
Autism And Anxiety in School Aged Children
The presentation will review updated information on Levels 1, 2 and 3 Autism Spectrum Disorders and co-morbid diagnoses, specifically, the various types of Anxiety which may have an impact on challenging behaviors.
Effective Antecedent Interventions
In behavior modification, we talk a lot about the events that precede and follow target behaviors. An antecedent is something that happens immediately before a behavior. Similarly, a setting event is something in the environment that sets up the potential for a behavior to occur. Taking antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) data provides information about what tends to evoke problem behaviors. This helps develop the function of the behavior. Based on a hypothesized function of a behavior, school staff can develop antecedent interventions. The goal of these interventions is to alter the environment so the targeted problematic behaviors are less likely to occur.
The Effect Trauma Has On Classroom Behavior
The ABA Approach
Applied Behavior Analysis focuses on identifying the function of behavior. Trauma Informed Care (TIC) is a philosophy that emphasizes the effects of a student’s history and provides principles for how students should be treated. Combining ABA with the TIC approach can help reduce problem behaviors in the classroom.
Techniques in FBA/BIP
When it comes to behavior, both positive behaviors that we are trying to increase, and problem behaviors that we are trying to decrease, there is always a reason behind why the behavior is occurring. This is referred to as the function of the behavior. Every behavior has a specific function that maintains the behavior. To effectively develop an intervention to treat the behavior, the function of the behavior must first be determined. We will explore a systematic approach to developing an FBA and match evidence based interventions to modify challenging behaviors.
Functional Communication Training
Functional communication training (FCT) is the process of teaching meaningful and functional communication in a natural way to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders. It is largely used to help practitioners teach children with ASD to replace difficult behaviors with suitable communication that’s socially acceptable. FCT is a highly practical method that teaches children to communicate properly when asking for the things they need in their daily lives.
Socially Skilled
One of the most significant problems for students with autism and related disabilities is difficulty in social interaction. Even mild difficulties with social communication and interactions can lead to major problems in the classroom. When students don’t have the necessary social skills, they may have problems making and keeping friends, asking for help, taking turns, holding conversations, and acting in appropriate ways. Social skills training teaches children how to interact in a complex social world. The aim of social skills training is to teach new skills, enhance existing skills, and facilitate maintenance of previously learned skills.
Visual Strategy Supports
No two of our students are alike. Some learn better through reading; others through listening or doing. For students with developmental disabilities, who have difficulty communicating with others and especially difficulty understanding what people in their environment are communicating to them, it is important to present information in ways that match the student’s learning style and optimize their ability to learn. Visual supports are concrete representations of information that is absorbed visually. These supports are one way that educators can help students understand what is being communicated to them. Through visual supports, students can learn to communicate with others and make sense of the world around them when in the school setting.
Growth Mindset in Inclusion
More than ever, students with disabilities are required to spend time in the regular education classroom. Special and regular education teachers find that special needs students are unsuccessful in the regular education classroom. What has happened or better yet, what needs to happen? This presentation will provide tips about what to expect and strategies to help create inclusive classrooms.
The Power of the Reinforcer
One of a teachers most valued behavior management tools is reinforcement. Reinforcement can be used to teach new skills, teach replacement behaviors for an interfering behavior, increase appropriate behaviors, or increase on-task behaviors. Reinforcement may seem like a simple strategy that all teachers use but its often not used as effectively as it could be. The goal of this breakout is to describe how reinforcement can be used more systematically in the classroom.
Data or BUST: Does Data Collection Really Matter?
Just admit it, talking about data is boring (for most) and tracking data can be time consuming in an already limited minute-by-minute school day. Almost every component in the classroom is driven by data. But, when it comes to behavior management, does data collection really matter? No bust here, yes it does! Data collection is key in letting educators and other support staff know that effective behavior interventions and strategies are in place, when modifications are needed, and how progress is monitored over time. This presentation will focus on different types of data collection systems, when and how to collect data, data analysis, and why it should matter to YOU.
Classroom Management: Sink or Swim
Classroom Management = Behavior Management. Have you ever walked into a classroom that was in complete chaos where the teacher had zero control over the students and often resorted to yelling in an attempt to establish some type of order? Both special and regular education teachers are finding that behavior management is one of the most challenging aspects they face in the classroom each day. Many teachers feel as though they are drowning in the attempt to get behaviors under control in order to get down to the true business of teaching. This session will focus on the importance of laying the foundation for effective classroom management at the beginning of the school year in order to provide both the teacher and students a positive environment where optimal learning can occur. It will cover major concepts and components of effective classroom management and equip you with the knowledge and tools to build the type of classroom community that you and your students deserve.
Sensory Seeking Behaviors
Sensory processing is how the brain takes in sensation from the world. When a student’s sensory processing is not working efficiently, this causes the brain to become disorganized. Sensory-seeking behavior is a term used to describe a large class of responses that occur to meet a sensory need. Individuals engage in sensory-seeking behaviors as a way to obtain feedback from the environment. Behavioral interventions are designed to address and overcome sensory challenges across a wide variety of learners.
Raise the Bar Lower the Barrier
Are you a special education teacher who is entrusted with the task of arranging and supporting inclusion for your students? Are you a regular education teacher who is enlisted to successfully manage an inclusive classroom? Are you a support staff member working with students as they navigate negative judgement and adversity? If you are an educator, dreaming of a world in which students (and adults!) are accepted, valued, and intrinsically motivated to be kind to one another, this session is for you. Let’s raise the bar for classroom culture and learn what it means to lower the barrier to change.
# Potty Please
As educators the driving force of each classroom is primarily based on the importance of academics. In an academically driven classroom, how can we implement self-help skills and make them a number one priority? Equipping students with independence and self-help skills as early as possible will far outweigh the effort of maintaining support and will forever improve your student’s quality of life. Let’s dig a little deeper and explore increasing independence in toileting, dressing and feeding skills, and join this wonderful learning journey with our students. Self-help skills are necessary and will always benefit and have a life-long positive effect on our students.
Attitudes are Contagious, Is Yours Worth Catching?
As educators, we understand that classroom management, along with the implementation of effective behavior strategies, is the key to being successful, effective, and engaging but, managing unwanted behaviors can prove to be extremely challenging. The goal is to set a classroom environment that promotes positive behavior while also being conducive to learning but, do we ever consider the role WE, as educators play in the environment of students with challenging behaviors. If changing behaviors occurs through changing the environment, then we have to consider making changes within ourselves. This presentation will focus on promoting a positive learning environment which, in turn, promotes positive behaviors, by learning to be proactive instead of reactive. We will also be discussing behavior strategies that focus on preventing unwanted behaviors and de-escalation techniques for when these behaviors occur.
