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Better relationships, better learning,�better behaviour.

ASN Locality (3-18)

October 2021

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Have a notepad ready to record your thinking and learning�������� �

better relationships, better learning, better behaviour

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Rationale

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  • Every child or young person has a right to the best care and education which can be provided in a partnership between schools, child care services, parents / carers, the Authority and the community.

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  • Staff have a right to work in an environment which is not subject to disruption or aggression.

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Aims

  • To reflect upon the strategies used to promote positive behaviour management

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  • To support the school staff to reflect on challenging situations and how to minimise them

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  • To become familiar with the principles of ‘better relationships, better learning, better behaviour’

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Underlying Principles

  • All behaviour is communication

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  • All staff should be aware of children with additional support needs which impact on their ability to manage their own behaviour

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  • All necessary information relating to a child is shared with relevant staff

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  • All staff are expected to try to keep themselves and others safe.

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  • All staff are expected to use de-escalation as a preliminary strategy

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Risks in our perceptions of the child: the ‘problem’ child

Mad

Bad

Sad

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  • View the student as the problem
  • Fix the student
  • Too much focus on individual practice
  • Emphasis on reducing behavior
  • Rely only on negative consequences
  • Focused on ‘quick fix’ designed by expert
  • Helplessness

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  • View systems/settings and skill deficiencies as problem
  • Change the environment and teach skills
  • Emphasizes increasing skills
  • Focus on positive approaches
  • Focus on sustained results using a team approach

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Risks:

Instead, try to…

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The A’s of de-escalation

Awareness and Assessment

Know yourself

  • Helps to identify precipitating factors
  • Helps with our own ability to control our emotional response
  • Helps with identifying interventions
  • Helps with timing the intervention
  • How to react in return determines whether the situation escalates, de-escalates, or becomes mutually or individually tolerable.

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Think about a person who has positively influenced

�or motivated

�or inspired you…��Try to identify the skills and qualities that this person has

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Click to move on

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  • Open
  • Fair
  • Caring
  • Enabling
  • Assertive
  • Enthusiastic
  • Supportive
  • Resilient
  • Persistent
  • Respectful

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  • Resourceful
  • Engaging
  • Have high expectations
  • Flexible
  • Humorous
  • Creative
  • Brave
  • Patient

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  • Persistent
  • Committed
  • Trusting
  • Encouraging
  • Reliable
  • Challenging
  • Prepared
  • Sensitive
  • Listening
  • Consistent

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Relationships are key

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What kind of behaviours do you have

at home that annoy?

What pushes your buttons?

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Click to move on

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Triggers

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�Life experiences and influences: how well do you know the child?�

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  • We all bring a range of experiences and influences to school.
  • These influences can impact upon how we react to situations.

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The Human Condition

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Thoughts

Feelings/Needs

Behaviours

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The emotional cup

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What influences and experiences are children bringing to school?

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What are some of the behaviours that you might expect to see

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Click to move on

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Assumptions and Judgements

We sometimes make assumptions and judgements based on visual clues and prior knowledge.

However, it is important to find out accurate information by asking appropriate questions before deciding on a course of action.

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Do we really know what’s going on?

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Seeing the need and not the behaviour

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    • Structure

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    • Communication

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    • Relationship

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    • Safety

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    • Triggers

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    • Curriculum

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Primary prevention

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In order to de-escalate, consider…

  • How you modify the environment
  • How you promote curriculum engagement
  • How you present yourself – body language, active listening
  • How you work as part of a team – protocols, individualised plans
  • How you prioritise safety
  • How you aim to maintain positive relationships with pupils – restorative approaches

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Seven Stages of �Behaviour Escalation

Stage

The student …………..

1 Calm

Is relatively calm and cooperative.

2 Trigger

Experiences unresolved conflicts that serve to trigger the student’s behavior to escalate.

3 Agitation

Is increasingly unfocused and upset.

4 Acceleration

As the conflict remains unresolved, the student actually FOCUSES on the conflict.

5 Peak

Is out of control and exhibits the most severe behavior.

6 De-escalation

Having vented in the peak stage, the student displays confusion in this phase, but the severity of the peak behavior subsides.

7 Recovery

 

Often wishes to participate in non-engagement activities such as going to the nurse or counselor’s office, or putting her head down.

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Student

Staff

Watch this video-

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SX5Rc0sUwc

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The Triune Brain

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Emotional Hijack and the Hand Model of the Brain

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In an emotional hijack, the stimulus from the eye hits the Amygdala first. If the Amygdala detects a threat, it sets off the fight, flight, freeze reaction hijacking both brain and body.

Flip my lid – Dr Dan Siegal

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Defusing techniques

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  • Diverting
  • Planned Ignoring
  • Proximity
  • Humour
  • Child-proofing the Environment

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  • Broken Record Technique
  • Remove Audience
  • Use of Space
  • Use of Silence
  • Active Listening

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Re-focusing

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  • Steer pupils back to being successful

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  • Use of ‘thank you’ rather than ‘please’

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  • Private conversations – acknowledge difficulties, feelings

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  • Questions to re-focus

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  • Privately repeated directions

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  • Allow time to respond

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�What can we do if the child’s behaviour is challenging, possibly because of difficult circumstances outwith school?

React rationally by staying in control of our own behaviour and not taking acting-out behaviour personally:

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    • Be in control
    • Be professional
    • Look for positive diversions
    • Don’t take it personally

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Reacting to the child

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Body language/

non-verbal communication

Threatening:

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  • Close proximity
  • Face to face
  • Towering above pupil
  • Pointing, waving arms
  • Prolonged eye contact

Non-threatening:

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  • Appropriate personal space
  • Facing at an angle 45º
  • Sitting down if appropriate
  • Open-palmed gestures
  • Make appropriate eye contact

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What do people need? - Body language

S Sit at an angle

U Uncross legs and arms

R Relax

E Eye Contact

T Touch

Y Your Intuition

From SOLER to SURETY https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21489877/

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Total Voice Control

  • Tone – supportive and calm

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  • Volume – appropriate to setting / distance

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  • Cadence – rhythm and rate

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What to do before a person’s behaviour escalates

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  • Achieve eye contact.
  • Use the student’s name.
  • Use a non-verbal signal/Silent communication.
  • Do the unexpected.
  • Get them to think – give them time to decide.
  • Reduce distance – use proximity.
  • Give more “start” requests instead of “stop” requests.
  • Make non-emotional instead of emotional requests.
  • Use the “broken record” technique.

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Strategies that work:

  • Teacher empathy
  • Movement activities
  • Space
  • Options/Choices
  • Student involvement
  • Preferred activities
  • Relaxation techniques
  • Teacher proximity
  • Pre-arranged signal
  • Independent activities

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Praise the Positives

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  • Notice, recognise, appreciate

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  • Use positive cueing

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  • Focus on those who are doing well first/use frequent specific praise

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Techniques that may escalate

behaviours further:

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  • Raising your voice
  • Drawing unrelated persons into the conflict
  • Insisting you are right
  • Insisting on having the last word
  • Using sarcasm
  • Making assumptions
  • Attacking the student’s character
  • Making comparisons with siblings, events, or other students
  • Holding a grudge

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Choose your battles

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  • Avoid direct arguments

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  • Avoid being drawn into secondary arguments

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  • Ignore secondary behaviours if possible

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  • Avoid ‘why’ questions

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  • Avoid blocking exits

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Notes

  • What will you stop doing?
  • What will you start doing?
  • What do you need to know more about?
  • What support do you need from others?

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Time to reflect