Filling an Empty

Emotional Tank-

Recognizing and

Supporting Anxiety Driven

BehaviorsFall 2013 Catherine BartelmanLiz BlairLinda Warning

Word of the Day-HOPE

• It’s going to end-It’s the belief that staff can change their own behavior and child can change own behavior.

•Adjust the timeframes.

•Hope says this stinks right now, but tomorrow’s another day.

Not Taking Things Personally

• These kids lack the skills needed to be able to be in a better place than they are right now.

• We don’t have the magic right now, it might take until next week or the week after, it might be another month before we are in a better place.

• We have to leave the egos in the parking lot and come to the realization that these kids are doing the best their skills allow them to do. Whether they behave or not is not a reflection of your competence.

Not Taking Things Personally

(Continued)• You’re a coach in helping to remediate

the behavior, not establishing a hierarchy of who’s the boss.

• Don’t worry about what everybody else thinks. We get respect for controlling ourselves…..maintain calm and serenity in the chaos of what’s happening.

• High expectations lead to better outcomes

Define Anxiety

• Definition: Anxiety is defined as an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear marked by physiological signs, by exaggerated assessment concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one’s capacity to cope with it.

• 1 Minahan, Jessica; Rappaport, Nancy (2012-04-01). The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to

Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (Kindle Locations 791-793). Harvard Education Press. Kindle Edition.

Symptoms of Anxiety

• Symptoms: Anxiety symptoms may be disproportionate to actual events; interfere with a child’s daily ability to function (which may be seen as difficulty with peers, low self-esteem, academic failure, or stress in family relationships); and be present for a substantial period.

• 2 Minahan, Jessica; Rappaport, Nancy (2012-04-01). The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and

Teaching the Most Challenging Students (Kindle Locations 793-795). Harvard Education Press. Kindle Edition.

Anxiety: The Invisible Disability

*Like a can of soda-kids with anxiety look the same on the outside whether it (or they) has/have been shaken or not. You won’t know the level of anxiety until the child erupts. The only way to know if it’s been shaken is to open it!!

How Full is the Glass

Brain Rush

When your brain floods with more info than can be processed. When sensory and movement floods cognition and cognition can’t function. People with high anxiety don’t have to ride the roller coaster for this to happen

Neurotypical Cognitive Capacity

for Processing

Disordered Cognitive Capacity for Processing

How Does Anxiety Manifest

Cognitive Symptoms

•Our thoughts (automatic, catastrophic, ‘active minds’)

• Physical Symptoms

•Subjective feeling of discomfort, physiological arousal such as sweating, nausea and dizziness, flushed cheeks, tense muscles

Behavioral Symptoms (some classic, some less obvious)

•Overt behaviors of avoidance or escape, yell, kick, punch, cry, bargain, bolt (Need to find out why behavior happens just like in a heart attack victim, there is a need to find out what the underlying cause is). Loud, powerful and defiant. Inflexible, impulsive, shutting down.

Clues: Discover if Behavior is the

Result of Anxiety4 of the 8 Clues

1. Outside diagnosis2. Inflexibility, irrational, impulsive, emotionally intense or over reactive 3. Sudden and/or subtle changes in behavior4. Inconsistent behavior

Clues: Discover if Behavior is the

Result of Anxiety4 More Clues

5. Pattern of difficulty during certain times6. Escape or avoidance behaviors 7. Desire for control and predictability 8. Student has perfectionistic tendencies

Strategies to Deal with Anxiety

Slow DownSpeak LessStep BackSimplifySee OpportunitiesSwitch it up Stop and Wait*Remember: We lose our basic skills when we are under stress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyzfIaTGLf0

 

Supporting Transitions

4 S’s (Components to a Transition)1.Stop the first activity2.Shift (cognitive) to the next activity –STOP activity-3.Start the next activity,4.Structure and expectations during transition

What Makes Transitions Tough•Less defined duration, fewer physical parameters and less clear expectations.

Supporting Transitions

What Makes Transitions Easier•Find natural breaks• Help the cognitive shift• Task strips, visual schedules, engage in structured tasks during wait time in transitions. •Define where we’re going, what we're doing and how long it should take. •Use sponges as distractors (push in chairs, papers in mailboxes, organize books, etc.)

Communication Styles

Shared communication vs. directive communication

Paradigm Shift-Make less demands and more comments

Crisis Management

1. Listen, agree, apologize, when needed2. Collaborate-help them to find a

more appropriate way to getwhat they want

3. Distraction•Novel•Area of interest•Sensory

Haim ginnot-1971 Quote

As a teacher I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.

It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or dehumanized.

References

• Jed Baker-Fall 2013 AEP Conference

• Nicole Beurkens-2013 AEP Conference

• The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, Kindle Edition.