Curiosity with Disciplining..
Courtney: What are the challenges
you find with discipline in a school setting?
Mrs. Pepsny: It is really challenging the more students you have in the classroom to manage all the behaviors. It is especially difficult when the other paraeducator(s) in the class with me are not as capable to discipline the students so it's all on me. It's difficult when, for example, I have 11 or 12 students in the class and one other paraeducator with me and one student decides to throw a huge fit and may need to be take out of the classroom, then leaving the remaining 10 or 11 students with 1 paraeducator (who isn't the most capable) so when I come back, the other 10/11 students are out of control and not learning.
I think with special education, we can do a lot more in regards to discipline than in general education though. I think we do timeouts a ton more, we can touch the students more (ex. "help" them to time out, hand over hand assist them, restrain sometimes when needed). You definately have to be creative at times with discipline. I feel like I have learned a TON in regards to discipline since I first started teaching. That was my most difficult area, I thought, because I didn't really have that much experience disciplining kids, not having my own kids. Now I feel more confident in the class and more confident I will know what to do with my own kids.
Courtney Davis:If a child does have a disability, what are the things done to record their behavior (are they done in IEP's?)
Mrs. Pepsny: It is really challenging the more students you have in the classroom to manage all the behaviors. It is especially difficult when the other paraeducator(s) in the class with me are not as capable to discipline the students so it's all on me. It's difficult when, for example, I have 11 or 12 students in the class and one other paraeducator with me and one student decides to throw a huge fit and may need to be take out of the classroom, then leaving the remaining 10 or 11 students with 1 paraeducator (who isn't the most capable) so when I come back, the other 10/11 students are out of control and not learning.
I think with special education, we can do a lot more in regards to discipline than in general education though. I think we do timeouts a ton more, we can touch the students more (ex. "help" them to time out, hand over hand assist them, restrain sometimes when needed). You definately have to be creative at times with discipline. I feel like I have learned a TON in regards to discipline since I first started teaching. That was my most difficult area, I thought, because I didn't really have that much experience disciplining kids, not having my own kids. Now I feel more confident in the class and more confident I will know what to do with my own kids.
Courtney Davis:If a child does have a disability, what are the things done to record their behavior (are they done in IEP's?)
Mrs. Pepsny: If it is occasional, we don't record
anything. Teachers all have their own ways of communicating and recording
data. For some of my students (the ones who get in trouble more often) I
send home a simple little note everyday stating the amount of stars they earned
out of 10 that day and how many timeouts they got that day. One the
bottom I sometimes write why they got the timeout. I don't keep record of
it but the parents have all the notes if they want to keep track.
Thankfully I don't have any behaviors at this time that warrent more
recording. Susi has a daily log she sends home to the parents each day
stating how the student did, good, not so good, bad, and why.
The past years, both Susi and I have had some intense behaviors. One recording sheet we use often is the ABC data sheet. It records the antecedent (precursor) to the behavior (ex, asked to do a task, transition, teased by another student), behavior (hit other student 2 times, tantrumed on the floor with kicking and hitting and screaming), and then the consequence (what we did as a result of the kid's behavior). This is a great tool to see patterns and trends of the behavior and to be able to see how to "fix it".
With intense behaviors, some we can even write a Behavior Support Plan (BSP) and that is included in the IEP. I've written these a couple times, one time with an outside company/behaviorist (Advanced Kids). The sent a consultant out who observed the student and took tons of notes. They were able to see things I didn't and also confirm things I did see. They also helped write the BSP and prepped items to help change the behavior. In the BSP you have to very clearly state the behavior and what we, as teachers, are to do when the behavior happens.
EX. When Joe tantrums, defined as screaming, kicking the walls, hitting the floor, staff will show Joe his rewards board with 3+ rewarding items to Joe and ask, "What do you want?". If no response, wait 1 minute and ask again. Continue until Joe responds, give reward right away. (not that great of an example but it does need to be very specific so whoever reading it knows when to do.)
This would be written only after tons of data was taken and the reason for the behavior was figured out and the replacement behavior was defined.
Courtney Davis: Have you ever worked with a child in a general education classroom as an paraeducator? If so, what difficulties did you find with discipline? Was the student distracting from the rest of the classroom?
I have worked with a child with Autism in a gen ed kinder class. I loved it, it was cake compared to what I do now!! But that's beside the point. This student could be distracting at times but I think it's good, to some extent, for the other students to have exposure to kids like that and to learn to ignore certain behaviors. Also, then when they see kids like that elsewhere, they are more understanding and don't just stare and gauk at them. I did have to take him out of class many times when he tantrumed until the tantrum was over. Some behaviors can be ignored and the teacher can teach over them, others (tantrums for example) cannot and the student needs to be taken out. I found it a little easier to discipline because you only have 1 student to worry about!!! There were difficult things though too because when the child is tantruming, for example,(thankfully I had a kindergartener) you may have to carry them out of the classroom.
The past years, both Susi and I have had some intense behaviors. One recording sheet we use often is the ABC data sheet. It records the antecedent (precursor) to the behavior (ex, asked to do a task, transition, teased by another student), behavior (hit other student 2 times, tantrumed on the floor with kicking and hitting and screaming), and then the consequence (what we did as a result of the kid's behavior). This is a great tool to see patterns and trends of the behavior and to be able to see how to "fix it".
With intense behaviors, some we can even write a Behavior Support Plan (BSP) and that is included in the IEP. I've written these a couple times, one time with an outside company/behaviorist (Advanced Kids). The sent a consultant out who observed the student and took tons of notes. They were able to see things I didn't and also confirm things I did see. They also helped write the BSP and prepped items to help change the behavior. In the BSP you have to very clearly state the behavior and what we, as teachers, are to do when the behavior happens.
EX. When Joe tantrums, defined as screaming, kicking the walls, hitting the floor, staff will show Joe his rewards board with 3+ rewarding items to Joe and ask, "What do you want?". If no response, wait 1 minute and ask again. Continue until Joe responds, give reward right away. (not that great of an example but it does need to be very specific so whoever reading it knows when to do.)
This would be written only after tons of data was taken and the reason for the behavior was figured out and the replacement behavior was defined.
Courtney Davis: Have you ever worked with a child in a general education classroom as an paraeducator? If so, what difficulties did you find with discipline? Was the student distracting from the rest of the classroom?
I have worked with a child with Autism in a gen ed kinder class. I loved it, it was cake compared to what I do now!! But that's beside the point. This student could be distracting at times but I think it's good, to some extent, for the other students to have exposure to kids like that and to learn to ignore certain behaviors. Also, then when they see kids like that elsewhere, they are more understanding and don't just stare and gauk at them. I did have to take him out of class many times when he tantrumed until the tantrum was over. Some behaviors can be ignored and the teacher can teach over them, others (tantrums for example) cannot and the student needs to be taken out. I found it a little easier to discipline because you only have 1 student to worry about!!! There were difficult things though too because when the child is tantruming, for example,(thankfully I had a kindergartener) you may have to carry them out of the classroom.
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