Week 1 Capstone

Field Experience: Behavior Interventions and Social Skills Instruction

Field Experience: Behavior Interventions and Social Skills Instruction

Jalisa Jackson

Grand Canyon University

March 15, 2020

Classroom management is one of the most important skills to becoming an effective classroom teacher. Educators who possess the capability to manage their classroom are able to produce an environment where education is the focus (Burden & Cooper, 2004). Although educators may be well equipped and skilled with classroom management, at some point in time every educator will encounter a student or students whose behavior outweighs authority and the functioning of the class. Dealing with these difficult situations is not walk in the park, but there are strategies to aid. The first phase is to identify the reasoning for the behavior. A Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), is a organized set of strategies that are used to determine the underlying function or purpose of a behavior so that an effective intervention plan can be developed (NPDC, 2014).

Functional behavior assessments are significant to educators, parents and students. Every child desire to behave appropriately, its human nature to fit into “Societal norms”. Every child behaves in inappropriate ways and a functional behavior assessment can help to determine why so that a plan can be developed to correct the behavior, whether they have a disability or not. Negative behavior is either and imbalance of the brain in the child or, the desire for input or output of something either sensory related or tangible. A child with an imbalance of the brain will benefit from a functional behavior assessment because there is a need to assist in the realignment of the student’s brain.

Functional behavior assessments are very valuable to educators because they will aid in the finding reasons for inappropriate behaviors of a student. Not only will the assessment unveil the reasoning behind student's behavior but it can also reveal how to modify the inappropriate behavior. Students with ASD who may have limited communication will have inappropriate behaviors in order to communicate with their parents or the classroom. These behaviors could may be something as needing to use the toilet or needing a snack, by not being able to communicate effectively the student will do whatever it takes in order to get their needs met. Students without ASD may also behave in an appropriate way because they may have the skills to verbalize or write down their needs. The functional behavior assessment will steer the assessor and the teacher in the direction in knowing the “what” and “why”, what the behavior is and why it is occurring. Functional behavioral assessments have two major functions, recognizing and defining targeted behaviors as well as leading behavior observations. The assessment should start with recognizing and defining targeted behaviors and the greatest way to do that is to perform a formal interview of the student. The interview should consist of the student’s family members who are directly associated to the student's home life as well as any staff member who may have direct contact with the student. The interview should expose vital things that maybe associated to the behaviors that are occurring during, before and after the school day. By looking at the student as a whole the assessing team is as to see how frequently, what the behavior.

A Functional Behavior Assessment is useful behavioral assessment for not only the student, but the parents and teachers. As stated before the definition of Functional Behavior Assessment, assists in determining the purpose of the undesirable behavior that the student is displaying. By knowing this information, the parents and teachers can design individualized strategies to use with the student or teach the student to help decrease and perhaps eliminate the undesirable behavior all together. The FBA is one of the tools used to help finds the appropriate educational placement for the student and possible other services that can be an assistance for him/her to assist with the behavioral problems that are being displayed. Using a FBA can also assistance the student in identify appropriate behavior to use within a variety of different setting and activities as a substitute for the things that are the reason why him/her are displaying theses behaviors in the first place.

There are numerous ways that a teacher can control a student’s undesirable behavior. Some of these strategies are: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, redirecting, or behavioral replacement.

The environment section of the assessment is an important phase in the process of FBA as it relates to the influencers that affect the student’s behavior. The process of information collection is conducted through a systematic procedure. The first phase is the identification of antecedents including events in the environment that must occur before the occurrence of the behavior (Ryan et al, 2003). These series of different events would be recognized as those that affect the response of the student as revealed in their behavior. The second phase is the identification of consequences resulting from the behavior. These are identified as the events occurring immediately after the implementation of the behavior. Lastly, the last phase would be the identification of what the setting is of the events and that come from the same category as the first phase. In this phase, events that happen earlier in time are identified for their prospect in determining the probability of a certain behavior to occur.

Functional Behavioral Assessment is one of the main practices in the education process for reducing different types of behavior problems which occur in children or adult age. The FBA is used for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other, social/emotional disabilities. The amount of research and data collection is very the purpose of this case study is to collect, analyze and intervene the behavioral assessment and assessment data according to the specific need for the student. All evidence and data were collected and analyzed on the student’s suspected behavioral issues of verbal and physical resistance.

Observation:

To begin with, we are observing a young girl, Amaya. She is 4 years old, a scholar who is currently enrolled in a Early childhood program for children with disabilities ( PPCD) or Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) in the self-contained public school setting who is struggling with tantrum behaviors. These behaviors are being displayed by her yell or scream and sometimes even throw different objects in the classroom. During the beginning of the observation, Amaya was furious and began to hit a classmate who was sitting at the same table as she. One of the teacher assistants informed that such problems occur during a whole group lesson which consist of approximately 8-10 students give or take. As a statistic, educators and all staff typically try to implement Functional Behavioral Assessment to help their students with their behavioral disruption. These individuals communicate with students; observe their behavior problems collaboratively, in order to effectively resolve their difficulties.

So, Amaya’s tantrums usually occur in the mornings, she has first Reading lesson every day. The lesson has a definite structure, first they go over the letter and sound recognition for the letter of the week, then they read some new materials from student`s book from the weekly theme. Her classmates define her as a welcoming person, but sometimes she is looking strange. Mrs. Wilson, her Special Education teacher, always tries to create a friendly, lovely and pleasant atmosphere in the classroom; even the lighting and smell of in the classroom is inviting. According to Coopers and Heron (2007), students who usually have aggression signs towards teachers, peers, parents, having academic complications, poor relationship with others are definitely struggle with Emotional Behavioral Disorders.

Mrs. Wilson clearly understood that fact and did her best to make all the in her lesson to prevent Amaya`s aggression but the fact is she could not handle this problem without assistance.

As Student escalates she may use other behaviors that include crying, arguing, throwing or pushing items, or shutting down. These behaviors that typically to happen when Student is more heightened have occurred less frequently, although recently they have started increasing in regularity and intensity. They may occur 2-3 times per day. These behaviors often occur as a result of the escalation cycle and tend to be more intense than the refusal behaviors. The duration of these behaviors is comparatively short lasting for a short period of time that is typically a few minutes or one occurrence of the behavior. When Student has the opportunity to be in a more private location she is able to and reset herself in a low demanding, and non-sensory related environments. Currently Amaya is struggling to have self- control even when given the across all environments.

Goal 1: Behavior/ Social- emotional

By the end of the 36 instructional weeks, Amaya will remain calm (e.g., refrain from crying, yelling, and/or throwing a tantrum) when a perceived problem arises (e.g., broken pencil, change in routine, argument with peer) and problem solve independently across all environments on (3) out of (5) opportunities.

Objective 1.1

By the end of the 18 instructional weeks, Amaya will remain calm (e.g., refrain from crying, yelling, and/or throwing a tantrum) when a perceived problem arises (e.g., broken pencil, change in routine, argument with peer) and problem solve independently across all environments on (1) out of (5) opportunities.

Objective 1.2

By the end of the 27 instructional weeks, Amaya will remain calm (e.g., refrain from crying, yelling, and/or throwing a tantrum) when a perceived problem arises (e.g., broken pencil, change in routine, argument with peer) and problem solve independently across all environments on (2) out of (5) opportunities.

Refences:

Barton, E. E., & Harn, B. (2012). Educating young children with autism spectrum disorders. Corwin, NASP.

Cosgrave,G.( 2014).Negative reinforcement.Retrieved from Http//www.edcateautism.com/behavioral-principles/negative-reforcement.html

Ryan, A. L., Halsey, H. N., & Matthews, W. J. (2003). Using functional assessment to promote desirable student behavior in schools. Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(5), 8.