How is it possible that vacation can be over so fast?
This week marks the end of the school holidays for many of us, whether we are educators, parents, carers or students. It’s not fair…
Am I about to have a tantrum about returning to school? Of course the answer to that is no but it does get me thinking about how we need to regulate our emotions and respond to things in an appropriate manner.
I am talking about the need for ‘Self Regulation’.
It would seem simple enough to describe self regulation as the way in which we regulate ourselves. But, is that enough?
How we regulate ourselves varies with respect to our prior life experiences and our ability to react to the world in which we live. When talking about the challenging behaviour of the students in our care are we not really referring to their ability to self regulate?
I would like you to consider how the inability to self regulate can impact; how to control interactions with others, how to respond to stressful situations and how to cope with frustration?
Is it possible for students to regulate themselves in order to meet classroom expectations, such as, paying attention in class, sitting still during lessons, keeping their hands to themselves? Can they behave and respond appropriately to expectations and demands of school life? Do they need reminders and guidance in order to find success at school?
All children can exhibit challenging behaviour where they react impulsively to a trigger but I strongly believe that reprimands do not tackle the real issue. Students require support from us to enable them to develop their self regulation skills through us acknowledging their need (Bialer and Miller, 2011) . Furthermore, this need has been known to be impacted by stress and as a result the challenging behaviour has been labelled as ‘stress behaviour’. This highlights the importance of understanding why the behaviour occurred and what the trigger could be? Acknowledging the importance of the ability to self regulate and recognising when the student is reacting to stress can promote change in the behaviour.
According to Stuart Schanker ‘A child’s problem behaviours are critical signs that the brain’s rational prefrontal cortex is under too much stress and the more primitive “fight-or-flight” limbic system has taken charge’. The problem here is the negative environment which is created and the facilitation of negative reactions such as outbursts and violence.
We should always aim to believe that a child who exhibits challenging behaviour;
1. Needs our help
2. Really doesn’t want to behave in this way
3. Lacks the ability to communicate their difficulties in another way.
If we try to take this perspective we can begin to facilitate the lowering of the stress experienced by the children in our care. We can promote behavioural change through the building of positive relationships, the modification of classroom environments, the provision of alternative methods of lesson delivery and empathy. Supporting the development of self regulation skills can be achieved by helping students to recognise when they are becoming stressed and how best to respond to that stress, thus avoiding repeat episodes of challenging behaviour. This perspective provides the opportunity for us as the significant adult to facilitate student success.
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