Behaviour modification ideas and
discipline plans for ADHD and ADD children and students.
Behavior and
Discipline Plans by Judy Connell
As a parent and parent advocate I can
only offer some ideas that have worked for children for whom I have advocated.
You can explore the law very thoroughly
at http://www.wrightslaw.com
and other sites listed at my links pages. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1580/index.html
If a child is violent the options
are fewer. If a child is not a danger to himself or others, (and
the law is very explicit on what constitutes such a "danger"), then he/she
needs to be with appropriate peer role models as much as possible.
What has proven effective having
a POSITIVE behavior plan and possible alternative discipline plan in place.
I would look first and foremost to
identifying the child's strengths and interests. It is amazing what
can happen when the focus shifts from expecting poor behavior to building
on a youngster's strengths. This does not have to be in the area
of academics, although that is wonderful if there is an academic
strength. Sometimes a mentor in the community for such an interest, say
in pottery, music, or art, can be a very positive force in such a
child's life. Even one hour or two a week can make a dramatic difference
in the life of the child. I believe this should be a one-on-one activity
to help the child build self-esteem and to know one person wants
to help him build on his unique strengths.
It is extremely helpful if the parent
has access to a child psychologist's expertise to help write those behavior
and discipline plans. Unfortunately, school staff sometimes don't appear
to feel free to offer services that will be meaningful. Perhaps they do
not want to rock the boat. Again, the focus can end up not on education,
but on other influences. This is very sad, as the child cannot grow
in competence if those new behaviors are not cultivated.
On the other hand, I
have seen a really great behavior plan, written by the team and endorsed
by the team,help a child improve in leaps and bounds. A good plan identifies
rewards that are truly meaningful to that particular child, puts in contingency
plans(ie what to do if a sub does not know about plan) and is totally directed
toward teaching the child to new behavior, not to something that is rewarding
and convenient for the
district, (i.e. throw him in an
empty room and call it time out). If punitive measures have been used before
you can point out that obviously that method did not work, now lets use
something that will actually teach to new behaviors.
A good behavior
plan always addresses 3 things, called the ABC's of behavior. The antecendent(what
was going on just before the behavior) the behavior itself, and the consequence
(what happens as a result of the behavior).
What schools invariably miss is addressing
the antecedent. No one looked at what was going on that lead to the behavior.Invariably
something happened during a time of transition(change), teacher was attending
to something other than the class, or the child. has become the class scapegoat
and the teacher enables the class to continue this behavior. Perhaps the
child is tactily sensitive, and becomes overheated in P.E., or
overwhelmed and overstimulated by
large crowds.
I.D.E.A. makes it clear that if there
are behavior issues there needs to be a professional behavior assessment,
and ALL interventions must be documented on paper, which ones worked and
which ones were not successful. This is the approach that will pinpoint
a lot of problems and can start a child on the road to compentency in the
area of behaviors. Here is a favorite area for throwing around the word
"responsibility". A child who lacks competency in the area of social behavior
is told to "act responsibly." The district must also shoulder "responsibility"
to properly identify the child's needs and draw up a logical well
thought-out positiveapproach to changing the behavior.
The law also stresses the use
of positive interventions, not punitive interventions or punishment. Punishment
does not teach a child to new behaviors. It manages to stop the behavior
but only temporarily. The key is to replace the unacceptable behavior with
positive behavior.
Each
month the top books on the law and special education in the USA,
are listed here. There are also 3 behaviour modification books.They are
the books that others are reading and finding helpful, and we therefore
recommend them to you.This month's top 10 are below and they can be reviewed,
ordered and purchased safely and securely in association with our
trusted partners amazon.com, just by clicking on the book title.If
you wish to see the whole collection click
here
