Академический Документы
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DOI 10.1007/s10643-011-0486-5
D. H. Gebbie
Fairview Elementary, 9414 Machado Drive, Indian Trail,
NC 28079, USA
D. Ceglowski L. K. Taylor (&) J. Miels
Teachers College 216, Ball State University, Muncie,
IN 47306, USA
e-mail: lhuber@bsu.edu
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Literature Review
Significance of Challenging Behavior
Children with disabilities have more than three times the
incidence of behavior problems as typically developing
children (Hemmeter et al. 2006). Challenging behavior is
defined as any repeated pattern of behavior or perception
of behavior that interferes with or is at risk of interfering
with optimal learning or engagement in prosocial interactions with peers and adults (Powell et al. 2007, p. 83).
Challenging behaviors may include: persistent noncompliance; problems regulating emotions; inability to form
relationships with adults or peers; and difficulty engaging
in learning activities (Fox and Lentini 2006). Challenging
behaviors exhibited during the preschool years are the best
predictor of school dropout, gang membership, adult
incarceration and early death (Whitted 2011). Behaviors
that are not changed by the third grade can become chronic
conditions that cost more to treat (Ibid). No less disturbing
than the serious problems previously mentioned, are
ongoing behavior problems that will negatively impact a
childs success in school. When compared with children in
other disability categories, children with chronic behavior
problems were more likely to have the lowest grade point
average, fail one or more times in school and have a higher
drop-out rate, starting a negative cycle of failure that leads
to other problems (Dunlap et al. 2006).
Teacher Efficacy
When children do exhibit challenging behaviors in the
classroom, teachers are directly responsible for providing
appropriate interventions. The effectiveness of the intervention is largely dependent on the skill and comfort level
of the teacher. A part of this skill and comfort level
involves teacher efficacy, or the teachers perception of his
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Findings
For each of the teachers, a description of the following will
be provided: (1) the behaviors of children before the project and changes in their behavior during the study; (2) the
teachers behavior management strategies prior to training
followed by the changes to their strategies during the study;
and (3) teacher efficacy and supports prior to the training
and interacting as well as after training and interacting.
Beginning Teacher: Mary
Behaviors Before the Project
Mary said that most of her children were challenging but
that three out of the eleven children had really, really
challenging behaviors.
I have children who run around the classroom or try
to run outside when they dont want to do something.
One child throws himself on the ground and throws
screaming fits when we transition from one activity to
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child who acted out for attention. She felt like he could
understand the verbal choices without visual supports. She
let him earn activities that he enjoyed such as walking
with her to do errands, watering the plants or turning the
lights on and off. Mary felt that the strategy worked when
he came to school calm. However, on other days when he
came into school bouncing off the walls and doing
everything he can to pick an argument with you or make
you chase him around the room, the ifthen verbal
choice did not work. In the online learning community, she
said that she felt good about the strategy because it worked
about half the time, which was better than anything else
they previously tried.
The second strategy Mary implemented was a logical or
natural consequence of removing a child from the group
when he jumped on peers like a wrestler. Mary removed
the child and gave him a designated place to sit away from
the group to calm down. She chose this natural consequence because she felt like he was getting over-stimulated
when all the children were close together in the same area.
For example, the child would pounce on his peers when
they were lining up and putting their coats on at their
cubbies to go out of the classroom. Mary said she did not
treat the removal as a punishment, but rather as a place to
calm down. She wrote that it worked well because before
they used to just repeat over and over for him to stop or
try to redirect him. We also tried assigned seats, but he is
an equal opportunity hitter. Removing him from the group
until he gets control of himself has worked better.
Teacher Efficacy and Supports: Prior to Training
and Interacting
Prior to implementing new strategies, Mary felt that her
classroom was under control but that it took a lot of
energy to keep it that way. Although she frequently used
redirection of behaviors, she did not feel like redirection
worked well in the situation of lining up and putting on
coats because the children were all crowded together in
such a small space. Mary sought and received support from
her assistants and co-workers but still welcomed good
advice and strategies. In the initial interview when Mary
was asked what supports she needed, she said It would be
great to have parent support, but Im not holding out for it
because I havent seen it. If parents would continue doing
what we do in the classroom that would be great. Otherwise, just hearing from more experienced teachers to see
what they do.
After Training and Interacting
Mary initiated an interaction with the online learning
community to share an idea with the group about an
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their gold medal. If they did not follow the rules they lost
their necklace. Ruth gave rewards like stickers and little
treats a couple of times a day for the children that kept their
medals. Regarding the child with challenging behaviors,
Ruth said, Sometimes he loves necklace. Hell stop what
hes doing if you tell him youll take his necklace. Other
times he could care less about it. Hell rip it off and throw it
at you. Although Ruth felt that the gold medal system
worked on some days, she felt that time out and removal
from the activity worked better to calm the child down.
For the child that jumped up and down in circle time,
Ruth blocked off the circle area by pulling a shelf over to
limit movement. She also moved him to a different area
when he was screaming. Ruth said:
Weve tried a lot of ignoring the behaviors. Sometimes it helps; sometimes it just makes it worse.
Well remove him from the situation and hell just
keep kicking and screaming and crying. So I havent
found anything that I think really, truly works for him
yet.
Changes in Strategies
Ruth chose several visual support strategies to implement
in her classroom. The first was a helper of the day calendar
where Ruth wrote a childs name on each day of the week.
She felt that she did not need a photograph of each child
beside their name because the children could all read their
names. Ruth said that having the names on a calendar also
gave them the opportunity to talk about yesterdays helper,
todays helper and tomorrows helper. This strategy helped
with behaviors at circle time for several reasons. First of
all, it helped to shorten the circle length because the group
sang hello only to the helper instead of having each child
come up. Ruth said:
They all loved this and talk about it all the time. My
children also go as far as the following week to see
who the helpers will be. It does not bother them at all
that they only get to help once every 2 weeks. They
are so excited about whoever is the helper of the day.
The second strategy was the I am working for card.
The child got to choose from two items at home (a pet ferret
and riding his truck outside) if he earned stickers for the five
spaces on the card during the day. She chose this because she
felt like the added visual would help him. Ruth explained:
Hes done well with that, and he knows if hes not
getting it. Hell go outside and tell mom, I had a bad
day. He understands and we just started it. I cant
tell you how effective its going to be yet, but I think
it will help him after he learns a couple of times that
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Discussion
Teacher efficacy or a teachers perception about his or her
ability to have a positive effect on a childs behavior is a
critical aspect to the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in the early childhood classroom. As indicated earlier,
teachers consistently feel that they do not receive sufficient
training in how to meet both the emotional and learning
needs of young children (Alvarez 2007; Guralnick 2001).
However, a teachers efficacy can be increased through
training, practice and provision of social supports. Increasing
teacher competence and efficacy through training and social
supports not only contributes to the alleviation of teacher
stress, but also positively impacts teaching practices
(Hastings and Bham 2003).
This study confirmed that even experienced teachers
can benefit from ongoing training and an awareness of
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Limitations
While this study indicated positive results, there were a
number of limitations that may lead to further exploration
in future studies. The researcher visited each teacher in her
classroom during the interview phase and provided individual consultations based on teacher report of students
needs. Because the researcher was also a full-time teacher,
it was not possible to observe actual child behaviors and
teacher responses for the purpose of data collection as well
as to provide more specific behavior support strategies.
Most of the classrooms were reverse mainstream classes in
which there were a higher number of children with disabilities than typically developing children. Fully inclusive
classes have been shown to provide more appropriate role
models, resulting in fewer inappropriate behaviors (Odom
2000).
Other limitations included the short amount of time
involved in the study and the small number of teachers
participating. The combination of teachers located in different school sites and the short amount of time made
follow-up group training and support not possible for this
project. Furthermore, information regarding teacher efficacy was based on teacher report rather than observable
measures such as a rating scale (Podsakoff and Organ
1986).
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that, social supports from
co-workers with similar experiences are a critical factor for
increasing teacher efficacy. And, since teacher efficacy
plays such a strong role in classroom learning experience,
addressing the efficacy of teachers should be an administrative priority. Special education preschool programs
could strengthen their programs by providing opportunities
for their teachers to build learning communities where they
can interact, learn and support one another.
Online learning communities can be instrumental in the
implementation of new classroom strategies by creating the
opportunity for teachers to learn about different behavior
support strategies from other teachers who have actually
used them. When teachers are members of communities
where they are valued as partners and colleagues they can
give and receive knowledge (Lieberman 2000). Teachers
should be encouraged to explore information on newer
strategies and then bring that information to the online
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learning community. Through conversation with colleagues, teachers could continue to develop and refine their
use of the strategies. Subsequent sharing with the community would enable a larger group of teachers to benefit
from individual experiences.
The best intentions are often overshadowed when the
routine of running a classroom consumes a teachers time.
Having the option of turning to an online learning community for information might be an effective and efficient
way to help teachers handle difficult classroom situations.
Finally, staying engaged in an online learning community
of colleagues who share similar experiences could lessen
the isolation that many teachers feel when they shut their
classroom doors. More studies are needed to determine if
the forum of online learning communities to promote
reflection and ongoing support through peer interactions
are effective in building teacher efficacy and improving
teacher intervention strategies (Lock 2006).
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