Challenging Children and Behavior Plans

I have been wrapped up in something called a "Behavior Plan" this last month, I have been wrapped up in something called a "Challenging Child," leaving me less energy to deal with many other things; I really have been wanting to post something, but dealing with challenging children goes beyond your school day. I have come a long way in training my mind to not to constantly dwell on my circumstances at school, but it can be difficult.
It's no surprise that I have a challenging child in my classroom; in fact, there is more than one. They each have their special circumstance, but there are levels of challenges that each present. I have been very wrapped up in one particular child, who have came a very long way. This has been going on since the beginning of the school year and every time we come to a new point, things seem to become escalated.
What do I mean by that? I mean, parents are frustrated, but at the same time, the parents are a part of the problem. Who you are as a person, good and bad, transfers to your children; so it seems that it comes down to what parts of you outweigh the other parts of you.  We all have our good and bad qualities, but we really need to realize that to make a change. It's tough when you are dealt different cards in your life and sometimes that can be projected onto your children. The environment is a huge factor into how a child is shaped holistically.
That said, we have really been able to intervene and help shape this child into her better self. She has made huge progress, and that comes from consistency and also setting limits. With my school, they have something called a "Behavior Plan." This becomes a factor of intervention when a child's actions/behavior starts to affect his/her learning. This is not an evaluation or something to label a child; it is just to help intervene more purposefully with a particular child.
With this Plan, she has gone from being very angry and all over the place to sitting with us and actually addressing conflicts. She had a hard time expressing emotions verbally and is very extreme about her social and emotional expressions. Some of these things still come up, but she seems to have relieved some of the stress/burden of carrying her anger. We have changed her schedule up (going down to half days and incrementally up based on behavior), implemented praise (building self-confidence) and giving more responsibilities (to give her the feeling of more control). She has really come a long way and I am very proud of her; of course, we are still working on some things that pop up here and there though.

The Behavior Plan Format: 

[School Name] Home/School Behavior Plan

The school and parents agree to support each other, work together, and create consistent expectations for (student's name):_______________________________

Positive behaviors to be increased:
1.
2.
3....insert however many you think suits your situation

Behaviors to be decreased:
1.
2.
3.....insert however many you think suits your situation

The School agrees to:
1. Teacher will support [child's name] in the classroom by:
           a.)
           b.)
           c.)....insert however many you think suits your situation

Parents agree to:
1.
2.
3.....insert however many you think suits your situation

Next meeting date to review progress:
[List the actual date]

Signature of school staff: __________________________
Signature of student: This is for older students. This is left out of my preschool plans. _________________________
Signature of parents/guardians: ________________________


Make a copy and give it your parents after they sign!


Tips: 

The process: There's more to the Plan than writing it out and discussing it. My director sends a letter home to the parent that basically explains that the child's behavior has become consistent enough for it needed to be addressed with a Behavior Plan (if I remember, I will attempt to post the exact wording from the letter at a later time). At my school, one of the parents must observe their child for two consecutive days in the classroom setting after receiving the letter, before the child can return to school. Once the observation is complete, the Behavior Plan will be reviewed by the parent and teacher on the second day of observation and signed. This plan will carry on for however many weeks you planned. It will then be reviewed and revised every time you decided the new date. It can go many different ways. Because of my child's behavior being inconsistent with the plan we implemented with their parents, we took her down to half days and worked our way back up based on different strategies that we found that worked; this helped the child to adjust to smaller increments of time in school. Perhaps it is part of the day that the child has a hard time with, so you work up to it. At the beginning, we were trying to figure out what the issue really was. Take it one step at a time with good documentation and you will figure out what is best.

Documentation: You cannot do this Plan without documentation. You must be able to see consistent behaviors that affect the child's learning and environment and to prove it, you need to have it written down. Through this time on the Plan, you must continue to take documentation. This documentation needs to be absolutely factual and exactly what happened. The more details, the better off everyone will be. It is best to document the child exhibiting the positive behaviors and the situations that come up with the negative behaviors. This will show either inconsistency or consistency, which will guide your next steps.  I went from typical written documentation on lined paper to an outlined day. Below is an example:

I do this every single day that my challenging child is in class. It is tedious, but it works very well. It helps me to communicate with the parents about the child's day and to keep as document. The middle section is for different smiley faces, which is not for the child, but if the parent would like to review it with the child at home, then it's a good visual. There are four faces I use. The happiest one is a typical smiley face :), the next level down is for minor incidences which is a straight face : I, the next level down is a slanty face for more frequent incidences :/, and then the last one is a sad face when there have been an abundance of incidences :(. I leave objective comments and leave out other children's names.  I always give a copy to my parents and keep a copy in their file. I use these to help with revisions of the Plan.

Check your attitude: It is important not to fall into a pit of anger yourself. It is frustrating many times for many reasons. Everyone would prefer an easy fix and see progress consistently, but it takes time. Also check your attitude towards the child and the situation and then proceed. Don't forget about the big picture.

Check your resources:

1. Behavior Hotline - I work in Oakland Schools and they are pretty awesome. They have recently implemented a "Behavior Hotline" for teachers who need extra support with challenging children. You call and leave a message and one of the early childhood mental health consultants in the county will call you back to chat. It is a very laid back conversation and she just tries to gather information about the situation and give the best support ideas she can. So far, it's worked really well. She also offers to come in and observe and personally support. Check your school district! 
2. Director - This is a HUGE factor when it comes to challenging children; it's all about support the head honcho! I have had some challenges at first when my director first became involved, but she has been working with us and supporting us in our decisions; she has been a big guidance and has our back in this situation. I'm glad we have her. 
3. Social Worker - Does your school have a psychologist or social worker? Our GSRP program is located in an elementary school. Luckily, we have those resources available to come in and support our children; this can only happen when the parents sign for these services. They are not doctors and don't/can't label a child. He/she comes into the classroom and supports the emotional and social responses and expressions of our challenging child(ren).
4. Colleagues - Look to those who are more experienced than you, but are at your level. My colleagues have given me insight to the steps in this behavior plan and setting limits. They have also given me advice for the meetings and documentation styles. 

What this is NOT:

1. A cure/promise - This behavior plan is not a one step process and not something to take lightly. Behavior fluctuates and there are many factors in play when it comes to young children. Social and emotional development is like the ocean; you look down and can only see so far, until you keep diving deeper. Don't forget that you also need the right equipment and resources! This plan is not a promise that the child will progress to where he/she needs to be or where you/parents want him/her to be. We just need to meet the child where he/she is at and work from there.
2. A label - Again, this has nothing to do with what doctors can do. We cannot diagnose anything, even if we have a hunch. This behavior plan is not a label for "bad children." It is just saying that there are things affecting his/her daily life that seem to require more purposeful actions to address and adjust. 
3. One size fits all -This is not a one size fits all. Just because you have a challenging child in your classroom, does not mean that this plan will help them. Sometimes a child has much deeper issues/needs than a consistent behavior plan can meet. It's all about their experiences. 
4. Giving up on a child - This is actually the opposite of that. Even if you have to adjust the child's schedule (going from full days to half or only every other day of school), we are not abandoning them! Some children have a hard time adjusting to their first time with a structured schedule all day long with 15 other children involved. Not to mention, adjusting to all of those personalities and building safe relationships with new adults! Life is hard when you already have a lot going on and you are only four. Behaviors happen and this is to help cater to this specific child's obvious needs. 

What this IS:

1. Purposeful - This is the SPECIFIC plan to help your SPECIFIC child. This is addressing his/her specific behaviors that we want to see adjusted and what specific/actual supports we can do and the parents can do to help aid this journey. When we implement those, it becomes very purposeful to me. 
2. Intervention - This plan helps us to intervene in the child's life and to guide them in the right direction. This happens on all parts of the circle of people; the teacher intervenes in the way they planned, the parents intervene in the way they agreed to, the other resources intervene in the way they are trained, etc. It focuses on the individual child's response to something and having everyone work together to guide him/her in their daily life. 
3. Tedious - This consumes time and energy. This more than paper and meetings; this is working towards a common goal, all together, all the time. This is being consistent, which means never giving up; that's a challenge in itself. You have to be resilient and if you aren't, then you need to learn how because this can really take a toll on you. This is a test of your passion for children. 
4. Compromise - Things are not going to go how you want. There are days where you want to give up, let's be real. Everyone is human here, right? It's about compromising sometimes and doing the tough things, even if it's uncomfortable or you're just "done." Persevere!  Not to mention, you have to compromise with the plan and working with your director/resources; sometimes it is out of your hands. 
5. Meeting the child's [obvious] needs - This is what this is all about. If this turns into trying to get the child dis-enrolled or to get what YOU want, then you are doing it wrong; in fact, you are not doing your job at all. Don't have a lame and easy attitude. You are a teacher! Put your armor on and go help those kids succeed! Isn't that your job?! Isn't that your passion?! This child is challenging and has OBVIOUS needs. Your job is to meet all children where they are at, so if you are going to do that, then do it right. 
6. Positive - This is hard to convince your parents when you call to have them come pick up their child because of their negative behavior, but guess what? There's a bigger picture! This behavior plan is a positive thing. It is a purposeful plan for a child's very specific needs. As a teacher, you are stepping up and saying that you are willing to do what is best and appropriate for that child. Parents might be frustrated because that means they have to deal with it too, but that's life. You can reassure them that this is positive and you are ready to help their child reach positive goals and to succeed. 

Scheduling:

1. When: It depends on how fast you want your plan to move. To really see progress, how much time do you think your child needs? First, I started with three weeks, but now we are at about five weeks (once a month). We coordinate our schedule with our director's, breaks, social worker (recently included), and any other classroom related things that might interfere. We typically do it the 30 minutes before class starts on a Tuesday. This gives us time to remind them on the Monday before. 
2. With who: Depending on your situation, you might have different people there. We have consistently had our director and/or our assistant director in the meeting with my co-teacher and I. Recently, like I mentioned, the social worker came in to share some insight since she has been in the classroom with us. We also ran into a larger conflict with one of our parents and the Vice Principle stepped into mediate the meeting. It depends on your situation, but it's critical that you have extra support. 
3. Where: Besides our last meeting, we have been having them inside our classroom. Our last meeting was held in the Vice Principle's office though. It depends where you feel comfortable and where there is an available space.