- Hey y'all, it's Ayo with tips and strategies so that you can survive and thrive in SPED, and today, we're talking about proactive behavior strategies. (soft ambient music) When you go to work every day and you deal with negative behaviors, you can start to feel like a boat out in the middle of the ocean, just rocking back and forth. In fact, it can feel like the waves are coming at you, and eventually you're gonna drown, and that is a horrible feeling. So, what can you do to take charge of the boat and clear it to some calm waters?
You're gonna do that by using proactive behavior strategies. So, let's start by talking about what proactive behavior strategies are in the first place. Proactive behavior strategies are things you do before the behavior occurs, as opposed to reactive behavior strategies, which are things you do after the behavior happens. Proactive means we're gonna put things in place so that we never even get to the behaviors, and that sounds fabulous, doesn't it?
So, let's talk about the strategies that you can use in your classroom to prevent the behaviors from happening in the first place. Strategy number one is to add some wait time. Have you ever walked into a classroom and heard somebody say, "Get your pencil, get your paper, "do you have your pencil yet? "Did you get the book?
"Where's your book? "I thought I asked you to get your book." Even I am like, "Whew, too much." You've gotta add some wait time and some processing time for our students, it takes a minute to encode the information that you're saying, and actually produce results, so just wait a second.
The second strategy is to model and show a student how to take a break. Let's face it, everybody needs a break sometime, and including our students, so, be really proactive about providing them a way to tell you they need a break, and then showing them what a break actually looks like, that includes how long the break lasts. If a student needs a break and you don't provide it for them, they'll take it, and it won't be in the way that you want them to. Strategy number three is to lighten the load.
It can be overwhelming when you get an activity to work on in the classroom that's like a budgillion questions long. So, for some of our students, you just need to shorten that a little bit and make the work break cycle shorter. Asking a whole bunch and giving very little is not gonna set up a positive environment for your student, so, remember, it's okay to lighten the load, they'll still get all the work done, they'll just take a few more breaks, which will help to control the behaviors in your classroom. Strategy number four is to offer brain breaks, and an opportunity for your kids to get physical.
It can be a long day sitting inside of the same four walls or in the same seat, you've got to offer your students an opportunity to get up and move around. Offering a brain break where students cross the midline or do things like yoga, or jumping jacks, just to get physical, those opportunities mean a lot when it comes to students and preventing negative behaviors. Remember, your students need those breaks just as much as you do, so, include them in your lesson plans, Strategy number five, and I feel like this goes without saying, but you've got to use visuals in your classroom. Students with disabilities sometimes have a hard time processing oral language, and visuals can help you communicate more effectively and in a more meaningful way.
So, if you have not included visuals in your classroom like First-then or visual schedules, so that a student can see the progression of time through their day, you're doing them a disservice, include visuals in your classroom setup because it helps the students and really helps you to prevent behaviors from happening in the first place. Strategy number six is to offer choice, choice, choice, choice. Our students don't have a ton of chances to make choice in their day, so, wherever possible you should add that opportunity, it empowers the student and allows them to feel more involved and engaged in their day, they're not passive as things happen around them, they're actually making choices.
Remember, it doesn't have to be a choice between a preferred and a non-preferred activity, they're gonna do the work, but maybe they choose what color pen to use or what color paper they wanna use, the choice just has to be present, so, offer more choice. Strategy number seven is to include a reward system. I mean, we're all working for something, if my job stopped paying me, I don't think I'd go to work, 'cause that's the reward system that my job uses. What reward system is present in your classroom?
What are your students working for? Incorporating a token board system is a great way to give your students something to work for, and help motivate them through the day, and adding a system like this will help keep your students motivated and control behaviors, so, use a reward system.
Strategy number eight: you have got to have a communication system for your students, they've got to be able to show what they know and interact with the environment around them. And that can happen in a few different ways, it can be something simple, like a yes/no, and that completely works. You can try low-tech options like core boards, and there's a couple of different options as to what those look like, choose the one that's right for you and your students. You may have an AAC device, so use it, your students have to be able to communicate around them, and without a good communication system, I can guarantee you, you will have behaviors.
And last but not least, it's strategy number nine; you have to have some academic rigor, academic rigor. I was in a classroom once where a student completed an entire activity, and the teacher walked over and peeled every single thing off of the answer board, put it in a basket and made the kid do it again. And I was like, "Whoa, I'm gonna step back "'cause a behavior is about to happen." Yes it is.
If your students are doing a repeated task over and over and over again, and you are not including academic rigor in your lesson plans, you are going to have a behavior, so, include that academic rigor and have high expectations for your students. All right y'all, there you go, nine strategies that you can use in your classroom to be proactive about behaviors and prevent them from happening in the first place. If you do these nine things, I will guarantee you, your class will be a pleasure cruise from here on out. This is Ayo reminding you to stay strong and teach on.
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