HELP!!!! I am a new educational assistant. I have been placed in a kindergarten room with a boy who is has a behavioral disability. Our school has a “hands off” policy. This boy runs wild. How can I settle him down? I can’t lead him to his seat!!! Hands off!!!!Everyone wants to pass the buck!! Any ideas???????
Behavior
I see no simple answer for you. I spent my career in behavior disorders. Have a qualified behavior analyst in your district come and offer solutions. My advice would literally take pages, but in a nutshell, find out what makes the little guy tick and manipulate that to get the behaviors from which he can grow. Pray. Drink good red wine. Have someone you trust to lean on.
Carrie,
This is a situation that usually requires a team approach to handle. Who are the members of the IEP team? You should be part of those team meetings.
Anyway, a good starting point for a student who is feeling overwhelmed is to give them clear expectations and work at their level. He will probably greatly benefit from a visual schedule with clear transitions. The schedule could be made up in a number of ways but he could have a To Do column (Hang up coat routine, circle time, Choices, Snack, etc) and a Done column. After he has completed one part of his schedule, he can move it to the Done column using velcro. That way it can be reused numerous times. Then he could work on the next activity on his schedule. The schedule should be given to him as soon as he walks in to the classroom. Does he have a particular chair or spot on the rug? If not, give all the students their spaces so that he knows where he is supposed to sit during circle time but he is not singled out.
Find out what works best for him at home. What are his motivators? You may want to set up a “behavioral” program with reinforcers and motivators that his mom has identified work well. This should be done with the team’s behavioral consultant or school psychologist.
This is just a very basic starting point with general ideas to get you started.