Section IV. Roots of Challenging Behavior On a daily basis, teachers must contend with a range of challenging behaviors in the classroom. Children can have difficulty regulating their emotions or difficulty with academics. They may also have difficulty with social interactions, such as participating in a group or negotiating sharing. As a result of any of these complications, students may disrupt the classroom by making threatening gestures, insulting other students and even becoming physically disruptive. These challenging behaviors may be a consequence of one or more stressors, such as a hidden or diagnosed academic disability, lack of social skills, traumatic experiences, or the death or significant loss of a parental figure. A child may have a mental illness such as ADHD, Autism, Depression, Anxiety, Oppositional/Defiant Disorder or other conditions. Unidentified abuse and neglect may also be the root of the challenging behavior. Lastly, unsafe environments, domestic violence and verbal, physical or sexual abuse contribute to childhood stress. The document Helping Traumatized Children Learn, published in 2005, presents evidence showing that school and family environments that do not recognize or know how to attend to challenging behaviors contribute to the perpetuation or exacerbation of the child’s symptoms. For this reason, a collection of resources has been developed to help implement school support for children traumatized by family violence. It is necessary to support all children by the use of literacy interventions, classroom accommodations and specialized instruction, as children respond well to these teaching approaches. Nevertheless, there are few resources available that are designed specifically to guide teachers in being able to optimally help these children. An important part of this guidebook is to ensure that teachers and parents know about the consequences of using R/S as a classroom management strategy. It is believed that improved knowledge of R/S will lead to reduced use, since research has established that R/S leads to physical and psychological trauma, and possibly severe physical injury or death. The use of restraint and seclusion also affects children, staff and bystanders because it can trigger emotions such as humiliation, fear, loss of control, and anger. The use of restraint and seclusion thus has a profound impact on the quality of relationships. Research has shown that adverse effects of R/S include increased rates of aggression and violence, problematic behavior, lose-lose outcomes for everyone, and abuses. Our aim is to introduce an alternative approach to classroom management that values children by supporting teachers, parents, staff and administrators. The mental health system and the
Section VI. R/S Prevention, Conflict Resolution, Crisis Prevention and De-Escalation Alternatives to R/S are very important because they will support the physical and psychological safety and wellbeing of the child and others, reduce painful witnessing by surrounding children, increase the morale of staff because of a better and safer job environment, strengthen relationships between teachers, parents and administrators and increase the capacity for effective behavior in children. This section will focus on presenting alternatives for teachers that will encourage the use of classroom management strategies conducive to fostering a social-emotional positive environment, as an activity that supports reducing R/S. Evidence-Based Practices in Classroom Management Maximize structure and predictability Post, teach, review, and provide feedback on expectations Actively engage students in observable ways Use a continuum of strategies to acknowledge appropriate behavior, and Use a continuum of strategies to respond to inappropriate behavior In order to help children affected by trauma and other conditions to learn, it is necessary to identify and address the relevant barriers in a way that will promote improved performance. For example, instead of viewing trauma as a problem, teachers can have a strengths-based approach. It is also important to avoid blaming the student or the parent, and to acknowledge that staff is affected by these issues and can feel helpless and overwhelmed. Teachers need to be able to balance the student’s needs with the needs of the rest of the class, and it is important for teachers to acknowledge when they do not have the skills to handle a situation., The teacher should provide a structured classroom with clear rules that apply to each classroom environment, including class time, transition time, recess and lunch, as well as any academic or social events. Teachers should be mindful that the disability of a child’s trauma experience goes with the child elsewhere. A teacher’s role in responding to a child’s trauma will be different from that of a clinician; however, teachers can contribute to helping the traumatized child by creating a stable and supportive classroom. Mentoring Experienced teachers know “tricks of the trade” and can facilitate the new teacher’s journey. As well as providing valuable support to new teachers, the healthy relationship between teachers that this kind of mentoring relationship can create has a positive effect on classroom dynamics.
SECTION VII. Resources Assistive Technology Assistive technology is equipment or services that help children participate in and complete school assignments and activities. Explore The Massachusetts Initiative to Maximize Assistive Technology (www.massmatch.org) and The Federation for Children with Special Needs (www.fcsn.org/index.php). Both websites inform on latest technology. Helping Traumatized Children Learn This is a report and policy agenda for supportive school environments for children traumatized by family violence. It explains trauma as the consequence of family and other forms of violence and connects it with the effects of trauma on learning. It helps to make the connection with educational difficulties and supports teachers to understand how and why the students may have difficulties focusing, learning, connecting with others and using proper behavior. The report provides a school-wide flexible framework that supports a public policy agenda for the development of trauma-sensitive school environments where traumatized children and their classmates can focus, behave, and learn. Available from “Restraint and Seclusion Use in School Settings: Recommendations from Allied Treatment Disciplines” by Janice LeBel, Michael Nunno, Wanda Mohr, and Ronald O’Halloran This academic article describes what are restraint and seclusion (R/S) procedures, its risks, its history and preventive approaches from other arenas like the mental health and child welfare organizations that will help schools to learn how to understand, reduce and prevent R/S, the authors present a R/S prevention framework that uses core strategies to prevent and reduce use of R/S. Available from the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Volume 82, Issue 1, pages 75–86, January 2012. Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Informational Tool This tool was developed by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for children in hospital settings; it was not developed for school settings. However, it provides ways and samples that can help teachers to learn how to identify triggers, understand warning signs and find supports to help their students. It is necessary to see this tool as a sample only, and it is suggested that schools contact the developers to consult on possible adaptations for the school setting. Available from