I have been thinking a lot recently about the approach to repeated challenging behaviour.
It struck me that the reason the behaviour is repeated is because the approach is not addressing the real problem. When I talk about the real problem I am referring to the reason behind the challenging behaviour and not the behaviour itself.
So are we setting our students up to DO IT AGAIN?
I would like to use the Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence (ABC) model as an example for discussion purposes as it is widely used, but I am in no way singling it out. I have witnessed the use of the ABC model in various modified forms regularly. While there can be some success with this approach I feel that often this approach does little to avoid the challenging behaviour being repeated.
I asked myself the question, Why?
My belief is that with this approach discussions take place where the student, who has been exhibiting the challenging behaviour is invited to talk about the moments leading up to the behaviour, how they were feeling when their behaviour was being challenging and finally they are given a consequence for their actions. Sometimes students are also given the opportunity to express what might be a better way to respond to a given situation in the future.
On the face of it this seems like a logical approach. The student has exhibited challenging behaviour and been given the opportunity to reflect on their behaviour when they are calm.
However there is not a lot of evidence to show how the student has learned from this experience. The consequences impose conformity but do not allow for learning to take place and do not guarantee that the challenging behaviour will not be repeated in the future.
I think this is where I struggle with a ‘one size fits all’ approach to behaviour. Each student is an individual with individual needs and because their needs are unique to them they deserve a unique approach to their behaviour.
While struggling with all of this I came across an article written by Professor Andrew McDonnell where he talks about his journey of discovery within the discipline of Clinical psychology. In this article Professor McDonnell describes how he has evolved from a radical behaviourist to someone who believes in an ‘eclectic mix of many different approaches’. The reason for this shift in perspective was the result of lived experiences. I am not going to summarise this article but I strongly advise you take a look as I don’t think you will be disappointed.
So I hope that I have sparked your interest to take a different approach to challenging behaviour. An approach where the individual is at the heart of any discussion and where support is tailored to the specific needs of the individual student. If we can move away from standardised approaches to behaviour and look further than the observable behaviour to the complex reasons then we will reinforce our student’s feeling of their needs being met. We need to stop thinking of an approach without punitive consequences as a soft approach. We need to promote the building of positive relationships and stop believing that challenging behaviour is attention seeking. If we continue to focus on challenging behaviour through a negative lens then we run the risk of overlooking the real issues with our students.
Strive to be the emotionally available adult for your students and respond to them in an understanding and empathetic way.
You will be amazed by the change that you can affect.
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