How to Draw in the Student Who is Withdrawn

Retreat looks a little bit different on everybody. For some students, this appears as quiet lethargy. For others, it may look more like blatant apathy. Some students hang back from the class, hold back in social settings, or completely shut down. Often, students who withdraw appear depressed. Sometimes, our bubbliest, most energetic students withdraw in certain situations. Does this sound like anyone in your class?

When we observe a behavior, we often think A-B-Cs and functions. We use this to develop interventions that will shape or modify the behavior. But with withdrawn behavior, we need to dig a bit deeper. Common attempts to modify the withdrawn behavior causes more withdrawn behavior. I had an a-ha! moment recently.

I observed a thoughtful, fun-loving child who has a great sense of humor. She was taking a quiz. Question #4 was tricky, and she got stuck. Her head went straight down, and it stayed there for a while. Privately, I assured her that this was okay. #4 is tricky for most students! I got #4 wrong when I was in school, too! Everybody makes mistakes. That's just part of learning. I actually love mistakes, because it means I get to teach something again in a different, maybe better, way! Skip it, and try the next one. I tried everything I could to cheer her up and accept being stuck on a problem. The whole shebang. I analyzed my data. The antecedent to every "shut down" incident was a difficult problem or a mistake. The function was to escape the difficult problem or mistake. Or so I thought.

My mistake.

I decided to give her some space. I'd been trying this intervention in trying to help her cope with mistakes for weeks, and others who had worked with her had been trying it for years. It was pretty obvious that it was not working. Sure, we'd have to wait for maturity to kick in-- but still. There had to be something I could do to help her cope right now.

I asked a colleague for advice. She said, "Don't think behavior on this one. Go deeper. Think self-esteem." That's when it clicked. My attempts to help her feel better were actually salt in the wound. Here's why.

She wasn't trying to just escape the task or demand. She was trying to escape feeling worse than she already felt. I realized that I wasn't sending my message in a way that she could hear me.

My intentions: "Mistakes are okay! Here are some ideas we could use to make this better."
Her interpretation: "Not only did I make a mistake on my quiz, but now I also made a mistake in how I handled it. I didn't fix it correctly."

Salt in the wound. -2 self-esteem.

I decided to change my approach. At this point, I no longer cared about the quiz. I'll reteach common and proper nouns another time, when she's feeling better. Right now, I can't teach her to cope, either. My attempts will make her feel worse. Instead, let me try building her confidence-- but not in a patronizing way that shows she did something wrong.

I started talking to her about unrelated topics-- her likes, interests, etc. Of course, she didn't want to speak, so I started telling her a funny story about how I caused an iPad app to malfunction and was stuck in how to fix it. (I knew she knew how to fix this particular app). Finally, she looked up and said, "Duh, you just need to..." and she went on to tell me how to fix it. I thanked her profusely for her help. +2 self-esteem. She finished the test a short time later.


The next day, she made a mistake during a play break. She came in and pushed everything out of her desk, and she completely shut down. Adults tried to make her pick up everything she pushed. The problem was that she wasn't being defiant. She didn't push things off her desk or stomp on her artwork to be malicious or to bother others. She did it out of sheer defeat. If she had instead chosen to hit herself in the head, people probably would have said, "Please don't do this. You're going to hurt yourself! You're a good person. Please stop!" Her pushing those items off her desk really is the same type of reaction. Unfortunately, it elicits a different kind of adult response. She destroyed her personal belongings, things that made her feel good about herself, because in that moment she felt bad about herself. Reprimanding that never fixed the situation before. It wasn't going to work now.

I said, "I'm not upset with you. Let me help you clean this up like you helped me clean everyone's desks yesterday." She got right up and cleaned up the mess. She even kindly took the items out of my hand to show me that I didn't have to help her. I felt like my mouth was going to fall to the floor. +2 self-esteem.

I realized I had made another mistake in only talking to her about her shutting down during and after an incident. I should have instead talked to her before the incident. I forgot to plan, prepare, practice, and encourage.


Granted, we do need to stop her outward behavior-- pushing items off the desk, not attending to instruction, not completing assignments. How do we do that, though, with everything else on her plate?

It's simple. We need to treat the problem, not just the symptoms. If a doctor has a patient with a broken arm, pain killers can be prescribed to treat the symptom of pain-- but the real issue is that the broken bone must be mended.

So how do we mend a broken sense of self? How do we treat the symptoms associated with low self esteem? Here are a few ideas.

• Talk to her when she is happy, and figure out which activities create the most stress. Make a plan for how to handle each. Practice this plan often. That's why we have fire drills so often! Prepare, practice, and encourage.
• Time the "talk" appropriately. Have the "talk" before the incident occurs-- not during. Explain to the student that she is about to begin a task, and that she might make mistakes. In fact, she is probably going to make mistakes. Maybe even lots of them. Plan what she'll do and what you'll do when this happens.
• Before starting a frustrating task, teach the student to envision positive outcomes. Help her to practice imagining herself getting through the problem and how she will feel after it is complete.
• Show the students that she has worth, in a manner that is not patronizing or that shows something was done incorrectly.
• Explicitly teach how to overcome adversity. Normalize it. Give examples of people she admires who have faced adversity. Point out when you take setbacks in stride. Reinforce when she takes even small setbacks in stride.
• Get her involved in volunteer work. Helping others is a great way to help yourself!
• Avoid forcing the student to engage in anxiety producing social situations. Encourage, and let the child start out by observing or playing alongside. Gradually engage the child in short doses.
• Point out what the student does well-- academically, socially, behaviorally. Do this often, but not only when the student is upset! Encourage others to do this, too.
• Pair the student with a preferred peer for groupwork, seating arrangements, transition buddies, etc.
• Read books with characters who gain confidence. 
• The Seven Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett 
• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud
• Try some of these ideas from Eric Jensen:
  
  • engaging students in community service
  • giving students activist roles
  • encouraging active hobbies
  • implementing physical activity
  • practicing personal skills
  • encouraging students to begin making contributions to family
  • enhancing positive states in class
  • giving students choices
  • providing plenty of opportunities to increase self-worth
  • utilizing confidence-building activities
  • thanking students for something they've done
  • helping students increase feelings of inclusion and ownership
  • giving specific positive praise and encouragement

Life is a lot like a tough quiz. I can teach anybody how to take a quiz... but I will teach her how to overcome the "tough stuff" so that she can lead a happier life.

What are some things you do to help students who withdraw? Please share in the comments below!

A Peach for the Teach

November Facebook Frenzy!

The November Facebook Frenzy starts today at 8:00 AM ET! Click through and "like" Facebook pages to download over 150 freebies!

 Get started liking over 150 freebies across K-5 and clip art!

 

 

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Happy liking,

A Peach for the Teach

Task Completion FREEBIE!

In formulating behavior supports, it's pretty common for teachers to use a task-reward process. A lot of research lately is drawing teachers away from an overuse of token economies. I try to couple reinforcement with phrases that call for students to make good choices to benefit themselves-- so they can improve themselves, not just earn something. I also try to use natural positive consequences as reinforcers, like extra free time. It's a great way to teach time management.

That being said, we do have some students with intense behaviors that need a little reinforcement to shape behavior initially. It's a way to give them a taste of success in an attainable way-- as long as the task is something they can accomplish. For example, we don't want to ask students to complete a long division problem and offer reinforcers, when they simply do not have the math skills needed to complete the problem.

Eventually, we want to lessen the token reinforcement and move students toward intrinsic motivation (i.e., "I was motivated within myself, not just to earn something.") I do this by asking the students things like, "How do you feel right now?" after they make a great choice, and I explicitly teach them that doing good things will make them feel good. I make them aware of when this is happening. I draw their attention to the fact that their time management allowed them to have extra time at the end of the period to do something they wanted to do. I also point out that they did a great job helping themselves to learn a new skill.

I made a behavior chart to help my students self-monitor their own frustration levels. I let them choose the reinforcers, and they rank their daily tasks or classes by frustration levels. This puts them in control. A common function of student behavior is control-seeking, so why not give them ownership and control in a positive, functional way? I have set limits with some students in the number of tasks they can mark as "red tasks" each day.

Download the chart here for free!


What types of things do you do in your classroom to help students to complete frustrating tasks? Share in the comments below!

Happy tasking,

A Peach for the Teach

Saying Thanks on Veterans Day

November is one of my favorite months, because it reminds us to give thanks for so many things. This Friday many schools are observing Veterans Day and taking the time to honor our veterans and troops.

I've been looking for a friendly letter format to say thanks, but it's challenging for me to find something uniform for my multi-age class that meets their needs with varying line sizes. I also wanted something that included multiple branches of the military and females! I wanted something students could color and personalize. I decided to make my own, using some awesome clipart I found on TpT.

Download it here ($3)

What types of things to do you and your students do to thank and honor veterans? Share in the comments below!

Happy Veterans Day,

A Peach for the Teach

Why does my student avoid writing? How can I help?

It's common for students with anxiety, emotional/behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and ADHD to struggle with writing. Some students may avoid, retreat, or straight out refuse to complete writing assignments. Why does this happen?

Simultaneous Brain Processing

First, it's important to understand how the brain works when processing is affected by environmental stress and/or anxiety-related disabilities and disorders. As I noted in ADHD and Anxiety: The Vicious Circle, anxiety related disabilities and ADHD can impair brain processing. Impaired processing causes anxiety. Anxiety further impairs processing. Further impaired processing causes more anxiety. The cycle will often go on as long as the student is presented with the anxiety-producing task-- which often is paper-pencil or writing.

Writing is such an interactive, challenging task, because writers must process so many things at once. They must process the prompt or task, establish a purpose, brainstorm and convey ideas, organize, choose effective vocabulary, establish a rhythm and flow, write with voice, and use proper mechanics and presentation. Writers with ADHD and anxiety related disabilities often struggle with applying and maintaining multiple thought processes simultaneously. Writers with ADHD may also "hyperfocus," or over-focus on one particular part of the writing. Similarly, writers with autism spectrum disorders may perseverate, or "get stuck" on one component of the writing. Many writers may feel overwhelmed with the number of thoughts that pop into their heads at once.

Imagine doing all of these things under stress and with a disability or disorder that impairs processing, while trying to cope and write. Hiding under a desk might not seem like such a bad idea, right?

So how can we help?

Fortunately, with patience and understanding we can help students to manage writing-- and even enjoy it. It all starts with breaking down the process into simple, manageable segments. Here are some ideas to try.

• Provide extended time and a workplace with limited distractions. Privacy folders and noise-blocking headphones can help with this. Ask teachers and librarians in your school to donate old headphones that don't work anymore. Simply cut off the wires and use them for noise blocking.
• Allow students to verbalize their answers to you, an aide, a partner, or into a voice recorder.
• Allow students to use text-to-speech, word processing, or word prediction software. Many of these are available as iPad apps.
• Scribe or transcribe for the student.
• Scaffold with a sentence starter. For example, take a question like, "What is a community?" and turn it into, "A community is _____________." 
• Use "fancy pens for fancy words." Have students edit writing for word choice after they have finished writing. Have them erase 1-4 words and re-write a "fancier" synonym using a pen.
• Start small. Look for quality over quantity. Keep in mind that writing one sentence is as much work for some students as writing a paragraph. Sometimes when quality and effort are present, less is more.
• Use graphic organizers, such as Four Square paragraph writing and the ACE strategy for answer writing. These are designed to break the multiple steps into manageable bits. Many students find them easier to use than outline writing.
• Provide specific praise and encouragement-- not only for the writing, but also for the effort.
• Talk to the student. Get feedback, and have the student self-monitor his or her feelings toward writing. Brainstorm ideas together. What works? What doesn't? What can be improved or simplified?
• Make writing fun. Help the student by scribing or transcribing on assessments, but also provide fun writing practice where the student can write independently. Have them write to create books, menus, posters, letters to friends or favorite celebrities, postcards, newspapers, magazines, television show or movie scripts, video game or DVD/CD covers, banners, classroom labels, or double entry journals with friends, family, or teachers.

What are some strategies you use to help your students with writing? Share in the comments below!

Happy writing,

A Peach for the Teach