Cracking the Behavior Code

by:  Mary Jacob, Executive Director

Behavioral problems have long been an issue schools and families struggle to resolve.  No one, no family, or school is immune.  Some would argue that they are worse than ever.  The truth is we've seen changes in behaviors and some are definitely more offensive.  I'm not talking about the occasional school shooting.  Not that school shootings should ever be minimalized - the reality is, if schools and parents work together to solve social issues facing our youth, we could in fact see a substantial decline in behavior problems. 

As an advocate, I heard from educators the behavior problems start at home and parents argue the behaviors are picked up in school.  Instead of placing blame on where the behavior started, parents and educators need to join forces to do whatever they can to eliminate behaviors.   

Over my many years of working with parents and schools to resolve behavior issues, the single thing that resonates almost every time was lack of fidelity.  A Specialist comes in to create comprehensive behavior plans, but nobody, not the educator or the parents, follow the plan.  We cannot expect a behavior plan to work when the adults responsible for implementing the plan is not doing it correctly.  In all fairness, some plans are partially implemented.  It's like going through Piccadilly and deciding what you want to eat today.  If you pick out all meat and desserts only, you won't have a well-balanced meal.  The same thing can be said for a behavior plan.  If you go through it and pick out what you want to do, then you compromised the plan and lost all fidelity.  The plan is designed to work only if used as it was designed. 

In my early years of advocacy I went to many IEP meetings where the school wanted to move the child to a more restricted campus.  We'd go over the behavior plan that wasn't working.  The parents and I would ask some questions and it became painfully obvious that the plan was collecting dust.  Every good plan requires a collection of data to determine if the plan is in fact working or needs tweaking - yet, 9 out of 10 educators have no data collected when they decide the plan is a failure. 

Managing behaviors is exhausting and overwhelming for the educator and parent, however; the cost of giving up on the child will be far more devastating. 

On March 6, 2015, we are offering an all-day conference on "Cracking the Behavior Code".  If you have a child, grand child or student(s) that have challenging behaviors, this conference is for you.  Come hear from local behavior experts on how to manage difficult behaviors.  Pre-registration is required.  Read more about this conference and other great Trainings we are doing below. 

Below is a list of articles on other topics we thought you'd be interested in reading. 

Helping You Learn for a Lifetime (English)

Helping You Learn for a Lifetime (Spanish) 

Identifying Communication and Learning Disorders 

Behavior and Education  

The ABLE Act Update

Augmentative and Alternative Communication