Module 3

Concept 1: Goal Setting

Summary: Goal setting is a very important phase of self-management. “Some research suggests that setting specific goals and making them public may be the critical elements of self-management programs' ' (Woolfolk pg. 287). By setting goals, and announcing them,  students can potentially do better on tests than those who kept goals private. By having higher standards students can have better performance. Some of the goals mentioned in the reading are self-direction, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and social responsibility. 

Reflection: I believe setting goals and verbalizing them can make you achieve them more. I have seen this first hand and with my students. A lot of the students I work with need help expressing what their potential goals might be but we work with them. After students experience behaviors, we sit and talk with them. We talk with them and let them express how they are feeling. After we debrief and access, we often set goals with them. Some of these goals can be small but we try and have them set goals on how to avoid these types of serious behaviors again. We explain to them how they are unsafe and can lead to bigger issues. We like them to independently come up with some ideas on what they can do to better them self. Sometimes they like to tell us and sometimes they like to write them down and have staff read them out. Most of these goals are problem solving, communication, self-direction, and social goals. They are guided by teachers but ultimately if they want to achieve them they need to work on the goals themselves. I truly think they by saying your goals and ambitions out loud you are held more responsible for them. When it comes to my students they have now told not only themselves, but other staff, and maybe even a few peers about some positive changes they are going to make. I think by keeping it private it gives a sense of “oh well no one knows I wanted to make that change, no point in doing it now”. More people are able to keep you accountable, as well as yourself.

Concept 2: Functional Behavior Assessments

Summary: When trying to understand the “why” of maladaptive behavior, this is known as functional behavioral assessment. Teachers and behaviorists often use the A-B-C’s (antecedents-behaviors-consequences) to identify the reason behind the behaviors. By documenting these things teachers can track and find the patterns as to why these behaviors are occurring. “Many different procedures might help you find you determine the functions of a specific behavior in your classes” (Woolfolk pg. 284). A few of the ways this can be done is by interviewing your students or observing their behaviors. Teachers may also talk to the students parents to get a sense of the behaviors. Once teachers have ideas of the behaviors, they can find out why they are occurring, and then how to change or stop them.

Reflection: I have used A-B-C data many times in my current job. We usually use them when new students are entering the school or if IEPs are coming up. When a new student comes to my school many times they don’t display behaviors at first. We like to call this the “honeymoon” period. Now this doesn’t always occur, but for some it does. On the other hand students display maladaptive behaviors fairly quickly. My job as a para is to collect data for the BCBA. I am the one who observes the behaviors and fills out the A-B-C data sheet. When the behavior occurs, right down the time it first occurs, I then fill out the activity the student was participating in or what they were doing. For example, “calendar time”. I then will write down the antecedent, this means “what was happening before occurred or why the behavior started”. Then I write down the types of behaviors displayed such as hitting, kicking, throwing items, yelling etc. The last thing I write is the consequences. This is what happened after the behaviors. This could be “restraints, time away, redirection, planned ignoring. This is whatever intervention the staff used. The point of this part is to see what worked for the student. The BCBA will use all the data collected to write the students behavior plan or change the behavior plan if the current one isn’t working. The purpose of these are extremely important and vital that you collect as much data as possible. They also show why different behaviors occur and if they are escape behaviors or as Woolfolk said “The same behaviors may serve different functions for different students” (Pg. 284)

Concept 3: The Need For Communication

Summary: Communication is not just the verbal words used between students and teachers. “Communication between teacher and students is essential when problems arise” (Woolfolk Pg. 538). People communicate in a variety of ways. They do this by actions, movements, voice tone, facial expressions, and many other nonverbal behaviors. One way to communicate is by paraphrasing. This is a summary of what someone said and only uses some of what is communicated. Another thing mentioned in this section is empathetic listening. This is paying attention to another person with emotional identification, compassion, feeling and insight.

Reflection: Part of our jobs as educators and future educators is communicating. As someone who is going into Special Education, I will have students who will have a hard time communicating. My job is to show them how to communicate in a way that works for them. Some of the students I have now are nonverbal but that does not mean that they cannot understand or don’t have ways to display what they are thinking. As Woolfolk mentioned, we can often know what our students need from different displays of communication. A few of those ways are body language or actions. In my previous reflection and discussions I’ve written about maladaptive and negative behaviors. Sometimes our students display these behaviors simply because they can’t communicate their wants and needs so instead they act out and communicate with their actions. A part of our job is to teach them how to correctly show us what they need. Not only do students communicate with us, but we do with them. Everyday we communicate with them our expectations. It is so important that we tell them clearly what we expect from them and establish that from the beginning. We also must make sure we don’t over prompt them and give too much direction, especially to our non-verbal students. Some of our students are just learning how to express themselves. Communication is a lifelong skill, not only for our students but for us as well.