Module 3b: Video Transcript

Video Title: Promoting Social & Emotional Competence

Module 3b: Individualized Intensive Interventions: Developing a Behavior Support Plan

Transcript

Video Clip 3b.1 - "Importance of Positive Behavior Support"

Teacher: …And I'm thinking the strategies and skills that I learned are helping me with all my children, and, you know, looking at, why are they doing that? And how can I help them see a different way that'll benefit them in the long run. And it didn't take a lot of time. I mean, in the initial meeting with parents, it can be a while, because everybody has something to share, and you want to hear what everybody has to say, because that's how you're gonna get the most information. Probably the biggest thing is truly looking at the triggers. So that - because if you know what's causing something, then you can go out there and figure out, okay, how can I change it? So that it turns into something positive. Once you can identify, as you mentioned, why something is happening, and what does he need from that, as soon as we realized, during clean-up time, he just needed extra time to finish. He was concerned about being able to finish. And I realize, okay, this is - it's not because he doesn't want to do what I'm asking him to do, it's because he hasn't even finished what he started. And so then I can tell him, you know…
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Teacher: You have to look at - what was the goal of his misbehavior? Why was he doing what he was doing? is what we explored, and then what were some new behaviors we could try to implement, or would do with him to get a better result. So, those kinds of things hadn't been explored before, and it was like the Aha! This is why it's happening, and this is what we can do differently to get these new behaviors out of them, and then we were starting to see much more success, because we did those things, so that was invaluable - an invaluable exercise. For the reasons the children behave the way they do, and trying to replace them with the behaviors we were looking for. But you can't expect it to be done through a miracle, you have to plan for it, you have to know how that child learns and what you need to do to work with them to help them be successful. So it's that partnership that has to occur.
Interviewer: Thank you.
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Teacher: …a little bit more extra work, but it opened our eyes, it gave us a clearer picture of what we were doing in the classroom, a clearer picture of what the child was trying to achieve in the classroom, and the outcomes outweighed any kind of extra work that we could've ever put into it. It not only benefited the child, it benefited the staff, it benefited the therapist, it benefited the families, you're talking about a whole team approach. And anything we've learned as far as positive behaviors before, it rolls into therapy, rolls into the classroom, rolls into the home, and if we're all on the same page, all working from - for the welfare of the child, it's a very positive experience, for us to think of the child, to see the little changes that occur, just little things…
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Father: Well, I think as far as Brendan's concerned, it's kind of showed us the way to communicate with him, so that he really understands what we expect of him, as opposed to what we don't expect of him. So, I think before we learned about positive behavior support it was like, don't do this, don't do this, don't do that, and I think the biggest thing I've taken from it is that you just kind tell them what you want for them to do as opposed to what you don't want them to do. He listens a lot better, and he communicates. As far as … (pause) … a lot easier. We can actually go out now, and go to a store, and he knows, if we prepare him with schedules, and tell him what we expect, and tell him what the day's gonna contain, he can make it through, whereas before we did that, it was like, it was a crapshoot. We didn't know what was gonna happen. We didn't know if he was gonna go in the store, or not go in the store, or throw a fit when he got there. I mean, it still happens now and then, but … (pause) … when we go out, especially stores or the library, I remember a lot of the time it would be tantrums just trying to get him in the store, he wouldn't sit in the cart, or he wouldn't hold hands, and it was like - he would just - I guess before, we didn't know why he was doing it. And we couldn't figure it out. People would look at you like you're a bad parent, people would - people always had a suggestion for you as to what you were doing wrong with your children. And so I think, after we implemented some of the positive behavior support steps, it's gotten easier. You can transition in and out of stores pretty well, and he looks a lot more typical.
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Mother: I think, since PBS, I've become real popular, I get a lot of phone calls. I think there's a lot of parents of children, typical or not, that ask me for help. How would you handle, this, what do you do with this, and they think I'm brilliant, but I'm not, I just, learned a couple of things about PBS. It just seems… I get a lot of comments from parents now, too, they go, "You're such an easygoing, nice parent," and I would've never thought of myself like that, because I would just normally flip out. Normally I was just - I tantrummed. So it helped me. And I see other parents - we can do things that we weren't able to do before. And people just think he's typical, and now they just come up and talk to him, but a little too fast, because they just think he's a typical kid, so they ask him too many questions, and they're too much, but at least they're engaging him and talking to him, and not just staring.

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