week 4

ESE656: POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTS IN THE CLASSROOM

Instructor Guidance

Week 4

Welcome to Week Four of ESE 656:Positive Behavior Supports in the Classroom!

Please be sure to review the Week Four homepage for this course to see:

· The specific learning outcomes for the week

· The schedule overview

· The required and recommended resources

· The introduction to the week

· A listing of the assessments

Next, be sure to read this entire Instructor Guidance page.

Overview

In Week Three, you reviewed and practiced using data collection articles. In Week Four you will continue learning about data collection instruments, but you will be deciding on which type of data collection instrument to use. This is an action packed week, so lets get started.

Intellectual Elaboration

Environment In a classic study conducted in 1969, researchers Kritchevsky and Prescott (1969) focused on the role of the environment (the room arrangement, the daily schedule, the behavior of others, and the amount of space in the children’s environment) on children’s behaviors. They learned that by changing the environment, parents and teachers/providers could change children’s behavior. For example, an open space in the center of a room proved to be an almost irresistible invitation to run. A space with unpredictable routines and unclear procedures invited wandering, disengagement and rough-housing. To read more about the role of the environment on children’s behaviors click on the two articles below. The second one, especially, has some great tips for how to design space and time such that challenging behaviors are minimized.

· Classroom Design and How it Influences Behavior (Links to an external site.)

· An Environment that Positively Impacts Young Children (Links to an external site.)

As researchers have come to better understand the role of the environment they have come to better understand some of the nuances involved! For example, did you know that the scale of the physical space is also important? De Long (1994) and his colleagues focused on better understanding how children’ sense of time and their sense of space are related. They discovered that when children were given smaller-scale spaces and child-sized furniture, they engaged in more complex play scenarios faster and longer. In other words, the scale of the space influenced children’s behavior and their use of time. This is an important finding for helping children to learn to better self-regulate as it suggests that our classroom design can help children to experience that sense of engaged self-regulation that psychologist Czikszentmihalyi calls “flow.” To view a fun Ted Talks YouTube video on the concept of flow, view the following video

· Flow, the Secret to Happiness (Links to an external site.)

Researchers have also discovered that the philosophical underpinnings and beliefs/values of the adults provide an often unconscious framework dictating how use of time and space are conceptualized. In their classic text on classroom administration Seaver and Cartright (1986) linked the use of time and space with maturationist (e.g.Montessori), behaviorist (e.g., Watson), and constructivist (e.g. Piaget) philosophies and beliefs. For example, maturationists tended to value the use of space as a vehicle through which children could feel a “…sense of freedom and mobility” and provided children with many choices and options within a large block of time. Behaviorists, on the other hand, tended to value that same time and space as a way to focus children’s work as they remained in control of what children could access and when they could access it. How do you think time and space should be used in an early learning setting? How do you think it should be used in a primary school (first through third grade setting? How about at home? Finally, our sense of the appropriate way to behave and the appropriate use of time and space typically varies according to our social context. Young children do not always know how to regulate their behavior based on the social context and this is especially evident when the goals and values of the home are very different from those of the school. What do you think might happen if a child who is raised in a home where many choices and options are available goes to a school setting where they are expected to focus on a single task at hand and choices are not available? Theory Parenting 101:  Want to learn how to negotiate? Engage a two year old.  Want to test what you have learned from your two year old? Engage a teenager. If you have or have ever come in contact with a teanager you will know that teenagers are a different ball game. Teenagers are much more sophisticated in their way of thinking and can blow gaping holes in a parent’s rehearsed defense. On average children at about the age of thirteen, begin to move from Piaget’s concrete operational stage where they used more inductive logic and trial and error to problem solve, into the formal operational stage where the child is even more capable of more complicated abstract thought and reasoning ability. At the formal operational stage also, the adolescent is able to apply general principles to bring about a specific outcome, whereas in the concrete operational stage, the child was more adept at applying a personal or specific principles to bring about general outcomes. At the height of physical and neurological development, is socio emotional development.  At this stage the adolescent child has to answer two major questions. Who am I and where do I belong in the world? These two questions form the basis of what would constitute the greater portion of the ‘mood swings’ that a teenager goes through. These two questions are also crucial in forming the adolescents self-identity (Elkind, 1978). Erikson said that teenagers typically have to try out a variety of selves before they settle on the single self.  So, it can be garnered by this supposition posed by Erikson that the erratic behavior and sometimes-seeming illogical reasoning of teenagers is due to multiple personalities in the teenagers search for the single self.  Would you agree? Indeed, egocentrism is a very prominent feature in any adolescent’s life. However, when parents engage their teenagers constructively and move and guide them towards responsibility as adults this trait becomes less prominent.  Research conducted by Joseph Allen at the University of Virginia, states that all parents and their teenagers argue. However, the difference is in the quality of the argument. In Allen’s findings the parents who stated their reasons in calm, confident and persuasive terms achieved more and gained more ground with their teenager that the parents who were sharp toned, defensive and threatening. Furthermore, the adolescents who were constructively engaged in an argument with their parents were more likely to act the same way with their peers. The adolescents in the more negative group were most likely to acquiesce when confronted by peers. ‘When evidence is inconsistent of adolescent’s beliefs, they may dismiss the evidence as being irrelevant or try to re-interpret the evidence to make it consistent with their beliefs (Kail & Cavanaugh 2010, p.204).   Functions of Behavior All behavior has a function. Functions of behavior fall into one of two categories or six sub-categories centering around gaining or escaping/avoiding consequent events (Alberto & Troutman, 2013).

Functions of Behavior
To Gain	Attention
	Tangible: Objects, Activities, or Events
	Sensory Stimulation: Visual, Olfactory, Gustatory, Kinesthetic, Proprioceptive
To Escape/Avoid	Attention
	Tangible: Tasks, Demands, Activities, or Events
	Sensory Stimulation: Pain, Discomfort

Assessing the functions of interfering behavior is a key step in teaching appropriate social skills and behavior interventions.  Functionally-equivalent replacement behaviors provide evidence-based intervention opportunities. Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is an evidence-based practice used in conjunction with classroom management and is a required component of an individualized education program (IEP) in which a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) is deemed appropriate. In order to determine appropriate strategies and determine a BIP, we must first conduct a FBA. FBA includes formal and informal tools for determining which of the six functions (or combination of functions) of behavior maintain the interfering behavior. FBA is a collaborative information-collecting process. Observational data collection documenting the A-B-C’s surrounding the behavior help to determine patterns of responding and point to the function. FBA results help drive behavior support strategies. Review some available assessment tools: FAST, MAS, A-B-C Analysis

Closing Remarks

While this week does not deal with the theoretical aspect of behavior it is important to have some background refresher on behavior theory in order to complete this weeks Discussion and Assignment where you will be discussion a hypothesis for the motivation observed and explain why  you believe this behavior occurs.  

Assessment Guidance

This section includes additional specific assistance for excelling in the discussions for Week Four beyond what is given with the instructions for the assessments. If you have questions about what is expected on any assessment for Week Four, contact your instructor using the Ask Your Instructor discussion before the due date. Discussion 1: Classroom Incident For this discussion you will be you will be reviewing your observation recordings from Week Three Discussion Two and providing a hypothesis on why the observed behavior occurred.  First, you will attach the three observation forms completed from Week Three Discussion Two. Next you will summarize the antecedent, behavior and consequence conditions from all three observations and describe the function of the behavior and rational for the choice. Discussion 2: Data Collection In this discussion, in this discussion you will be using what you are learning this week about data collection from Discussion One and providing a fictional recording of a student’s behavior on an observation recording form. It is important that your discussion is focused around the disability focus you chose during Week One Discussion One. Remember to read the final assignment for this course, before starting on this Discussion as all work in this course lead up to the final Assignment. Assignment: Visual Interpretation In this assignment you will be continuing to work on your observation skills. You will read through four case studies, choose one and then report out on your findings using functional assessment tools. Be sure to include your hypothesis for the motivation and explain why you believe this behavior occurs.  

References

Alberto, P.A. & Troutman, A.C. (2013). Applied behavior analysis for teachers (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

DeLong, A. J.; Tegano, D.W.; Moran, J. D. III; Brickey, J.; Morrow, D.; & Houser, T. L. (1994). Effects of spatial scale on cognitive play in preschool children. Early Education and Development, 5(3), 237-246.

Kail, R. V. & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2010).  Human development: A life-span view (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage/Wadsworth.

Kritchevsky, S. & Prescott, E. with Walling, L. (1969). Physical space: Planning environments for young children. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Neighmond, P. (2012). Why a teen who talks back may have a bright future (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/01/03/144495483/why-a-teen-who-talks-back-may-have-a-bright-future

Seaver, J. W. & Cartwright, C. A. (1986). Child care administration. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.