“-operant conditioning occurs when an operant response is followed by reinforcing stimulus that by itself increases the probability of the response happening again”.
B. F. Skinner was a behaviourist psychologist who believed in operant conditioning. He believed that desired behaviour should be positively reinforced, and undesired behaviour should be negatively reinforced. However, according to ‘Child Care & Education’ (2004, page 49)…
“-the behaviour thus shaped is limited to a specific situation. It does not help the learner to transfer what is learnt to different situations.”
For this type of learning to be successful a child must learn what kinds of responses are required of them for positive reinforcement to happen. Hence, a child must learn to discriminate between stimuli in terms of knowing which response will result in reinforcement.
Behaviourism
Watson, a behaviourist, took a scientific and objective approach, conducting experiments that could be used to measure and evaluate behaviour through observations. Watson induced a fear and phobic response in an 11 month old child. He knew that children were afraid of loud noises but were not afraid of rats. Watson presented a rat to the child accompanied by a loud banging noise. This resulted in the child eventually fearing the rat because the child associated the fear-inducing noise with the presentation of the rat.
Watson saw unwanted behaviour as the result of a person’s history of conditioning.
Evaluation of the behavioural perspective
This perspective sees unwanted behaviour to be the result of past and present learning experiences. It is thought that unwanted behaviour can be adapted and unlearned. It is believed that current learning experiences are more important and influential that past experiences.
“In terms of effectiveness the behavioural approach has been scientifically evaluated and is relatively effective across a range of emotional and behavioural problems, e.g. anxiety, phobias and different kinds of disruptive class room behaviour.”
‘Perspectives on Behaviour’ (2001 page 9).
Behavioural Interventions
A behavioural intervention should be an organised and planned approach, based on classical or operant condition, in order to change unwanted behaviour. These interventions can be used with an individual child, group, class or whole school. The aim of behavioural interventions is to increase desired and appropriate behaviour and decrease or expel undesired and inappropriate behaviour.
There are two main types of interventions; those designed to increase appropriate behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement, and reward systems, and those designed to decrease inappropriate behaviour through time-out, sanctions, and punishment.
Humanistic Perspective
Maslow believed that human needs were arranged in an order of hierarchy. Maslow believed that at the bottom of this hierarchy were personal needs and intellectual needs were at the top.
His theories were based on people who were healthy and creative and who used their talents and worked to fulfil their potential.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs if a person’s physiological requirements are met, along with ensuring that they are safe from aggressors, then the person’s next concern is acceptance from their family’s and their social group. Once this need has been fulfilled they will move onto their ego needs, such as being valued and esteemed by others. Next is autonomy, their sense of independence, and lastly self-actualisation.
“Self-actualisation means in effect that individuals develop those characteristics peculiar to mature and well-adjusted people. They become, for example, realistic, independent, creative, problem-centred rather than self-centred and with a ready appreciation both of other people and of the world about them”.
‘Psychology for Teachers’ (Fontana, 1992, page 198)
Maslow was interested in how people function as a whole, he was interested in how people thought and felt, not solely on what could be observed or measured. The humanistic approach to managing behaviour looks at ways of how to maximise a child’s motivation for learning by ensuring that the school environment is conducive to this, by minimising factors that could demoralise or hinder the process. This can be done on a whole school basis and on a class room basis.
Strategies and Interventions
It is important to generate a feeling of ‘belonging’ and what values the school holds dear. In the school where I work this is done by highlighting how staff treat each other and treat the children; how all members of the school treat parents and visitors; how the school looks; what the school is proud of; how work is displayed (Some believe that displaying children’s work encourages them and fosters a sense of pride and accomplishment, other’s argue that this is not the case. Smith (1996) believes that it is not beneficial to a child and information on current topics and work should be displayed in preference to individual children’s work.); in the class room instruction games are played to help children develop positive experiences of following instructions and co-operating; the class have developed a set of ‘class rules’ as a group, these are all positive, rather than a list of ‘don’ts’, these have then been displayed in the class room along with a picture of each child (either drawn by the children or a photograph), this has helped to promote a sense of belonging; circle-time is used to foster a sense of valuing each other’s contributions and respecting each others points of view; having a ‘Job List’ where each child is given a job or responsibility with in the class room; ensuring that the children understand the rules and routines of the class room (children from different backgrounds and cultures may find it beneficial for these to be made explicit to them); the language used by the staff in the class room is also very important and influential, for example we as staff refer to the class as a ‘family’ and the children’s ‘family seats’ are organised in such a way that the older children are mingled in and seated on tables with the younger children, so that they are encouraged to look out for one another and take care of one another.
In my working environment I am very fortunate because I work in a school with only forty children on its role, and eight members of staff. We have very few behaviour problems, and these are very minor ones compared with what other schools have to contend with.
“As an action programme, RBA has already started to make steady progress in ensuring that children with less significant needs, which includes those with moderate learning difficulties (MLD), who often have their needs overlooked in mainstream schools, and those with less severe behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD), are able to have their needs met in a mainstream environment. The production of inclusion and SEN training materials, as part of the National Primary Strategy and the Key Stage 3 Strategy (now the Secondary Strategy) to support teachers’ skill and confidence development, has played a significant part in supporting this initiative.”
Every Child Matters (2006, page 38).
We have a high percentage of children on the special educational needs register and a lot of our behaviour problems stem from these children. We also have a few behaviour incidents that occur in relation to other children.
“A child has SEN if they have a learning difficulty, which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child has a learning difficulty if they: have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; or have a disability which prevents or hinders the child from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the LEA.
Is under five years old and falls within the definition of a or b above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for the child.
Special educational provision means:
a) for a child of two or over, educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of the child’s age in maintained schools, other than special schools in the area.
b) For a child under two, educational provision of any kind”.
Taken from Education Act 1996, Section 312.
The 1981 Education Act states that:
“a child has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty which requires special educational provision to meet these needs”.
According to Kamen (2003):
The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2001 replaces the 1994 Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs and gives practical advice to LEA, maintained schools and others concerning their statutory duties to identify, assess and provide for children’s special educational needs.”
The Every Child Matters agenda states that teachers will have access to SEN specialists to support and deliver a personalised programme of learning for pupils with SEN. This is supposedly the task of the school’s inclusion co-ordinator (INCO) and the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) to bring such a team together. However, I have my reservations about this. Where will the funding come from to pay for these paraprofessionals? Most schools struggle to access enough resources for SEN pupils, such as SENSS support, is the government going to issue additional funding? Every Child Matters also says that teachers and early years practitioners will be able to spend less time on SEN paperwork and more time on supporting early intervention and identification, but all paperwork and records still need keeping up to date, so who draws the short straw?
In the setting where I work whenever a problem with a child’s behaviour arises the member of staff that deals with it has to write up the incident in a behaviour log (see appendix i). All staff follow this practice and all staff deal with behaviour incidents in the same way. This is done through our assertive approach to discipline and through constant communication with one another and our shared expectations of the children’s behaviour. As our environment is fairly unique because we are such a small community we are able to keep track of all the children’s conduct and deal with any problems promptly. All members of staff have very high expectations of the children and will not except anything less. The children are aware of this and I think that this encourages higher standards from the children.
“Teachers have expectations of what a class of pupils will achieve….Where teachers make them explicit they provide pupils with clear guidance on the standards of behaviour and work which they can rise to…….
Realistic but high expectations of learning provide pupils with the motivation to stay on task.”
Taken from ‘Managing Behaviour in Classrooms’, (page 24).
We also have a clear behaviour policy (see appendix ii) that sets out clear guidelines and procedures to follow should any situations arise. Also with us having noted any previous problem behaviour in the logs we have evidence for parents and children if they are concerned that an incident has not been dealt with efficiently.
Previously there was a recurring problem with a year six child who was not been amicable towards her peers. A parent of a child who had been ‘bullied’ by the year six child came into school concerned that her child was being singled out by the older year six child and being ‘picked on’. We were able to assure the parent that her child was not the victim of bullying, but that the older child concerned was having a difficult time and was been unkind to most of her peers. By referring to the behaviour logs we were also able to reassure the parent that all staff members were aware of the situation and that strategies were in place to try and overcome the problem.
The year six child concerned was spoken with, to ensure that she was aware of how her behaviour was affecting her classmates. The child was convinced that she was the victim in the situation, and that it was other children in the class who were being unkind towards her. By showing her the behaviour logs that had been completed every time there had been an incident where she had upset another child we were able to show her that she was the cause of the unwanted situations. We gave the child a ‘worry diary’ and a ‘time-out space’. In the diary she could write when ever she felt upset or frustrated with someone or something, she could do this in her ‘time-out space’, which was a little room just off the class room. We also designed a ‘smile chart’ for her. This is a chart that had personalized targets on that she had to work towards throughout the day.
We have found that ‘smile charts’ are useful in helping less problematic behaviour. If a child is finding certain situations difficult, such as being kind to others, completing things independently, or calling out in class when asked not to do so, we give them a ‘smile chart’. These are charts that have personal targets for that particular child on them, and time frames that they have to achieve these in (see appendix iii). The charts are effective and give the child a boost in self-confidence and provide a sense of achievement. The charts tend to only be a temporary intervention and aid the child in overcoming the ‘glitch’ that they are experiencing.
Previously we have had a child, who has special educational needs (Russell Silvers Syndrome), who has quite a few behavioural difficulties. We had to put various strategies and interventions into place to deal with her behaviour and to prevent her from harming other children. This child has to have hormone injections and just before her next injections are due she tends to lash out at other pupils and act inappropriately. During this time we put various techniques into place to keep her out of trouble. These strategies included not letting her go into the cloakroom with the other children, making her wait for the other children to line up first before she was allowed to join the line, not letting her into the toilet alone if their were other children in there already. The child did not react well to group situations or in any situations where she felt that her personal space was being invaded so by implementing these simple measures we helped to ensure that the school day was a lot less stressful for all concerned.
Case Study
Part of my role in school is that of ‘Trainee SENCO’. I have noticed through this role, and through my time in Key Stage Two that a boy (who I shall refer to as M) in year three is displaying dyspraxic tendencies and behavioural problems which may be a result of this.
M is an only child. He has had a difficult, unsettled home life. Until recently he was from a single-parent family, his mother being his primary carer. They lived with his Grandma in conditions that were not ideal. Grandma’s partner was convicted of child abuse and sent to prison. He was known to be violent, towards who is unclear, but as far as we know M did not suffer any abuse. This home environment was over crowded and M was cared for by a lot of different people from an early age. M’s mother was in an abusive relationship and became pregnant with M at the age of fifteen. His mother has since married and now lives in a new house with her new husband and M, M has also taken his mother’s married name. Mum has two jobs, one of which means she works a night shift two or three times a week, the other she works from five until twelve at night, in a pub. When Mum is working a night shift M is cared for at home by his step-father. When his mother is working at the pub M accompanies her and is there until nine pm, or later, depending on when his step-father can collect him. M often arrives at school late, in dirty and crumpled clothes. He also used to forget his book bag and P.E kit frequently. M has also mentioned that he is hungry on a morning. When asked if he had eaten all his breakfast, he replied “Yes, I’ve had some Quality Streets and a can of coke”. M is often in trouble for hurting other children, something that he attributes to ‘just playing’, he plays rough games but also lashes out at others if he feels threatened or that he has been unjustly treated. M also comments frequently about computer games that he plays that involve a lot of fighting, killing things and blowing things up. He boasts that these are for eighteen year olds. However, like his comment about what he had for breakfast we do not know if these statements are true or not.
M displays the characteristics that are associated with dyspraxia. These include:
- finding it difficult to adapt to the structure of the school day
- finding P.E. lessons difficult, his gross motor skills appear awkward and unco-ordinated
- slow at dressing after P.E and swimming sessions
- finding handwriting difficult, and it is often barely legible
- immature drawing and copying skills
- short concentration span, unable to stay on task when left to work independently, and poor listening skills
- fidgeting, unable to sit still
- unable to remember more than two instructions at once
- slow to complete work and rarely finishes a task
- has a tendency to become easily distressed and emotional, has temper tantrums and is emotionally immature
- unable to form relationships with other children
- uses avoidance techniques
- continued high levels of motor activity.
I have spoken with the class teacher and the headteacher. M already has an IEP in place as his development has been slightly behind what is expected for awhile. I have already discussed my thoughts with the SENSS teacher. She has been very helpful and has already tested him for dyslexia, which concluded that he would have learning difficulties, and she is due to test him for dyspraxia on her next visit. I have carried out observations on M. These I have performed at different times of the day, during different activities and lessons (see appendix (iv) for an example of one of these).
The Dyspraxia Foundation defines dyspraxia as:
“’an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement’ and, in many individuals, there may be associated problems with language, perception and thought. The term normally used is Development Dyspraxia or Development Co-ordination Disorder. The condition is thought to affect up to 10 percent of the population in varying degrees. It is probable that there is at least one dyspraxic child in every classroom requiring access to a specific treatment programme.
Taken from: .
Dyspraxia can be diagnosed at any age and it is being increasingly diagnosed in children. This is due to the symptoms being more widely recognised by parents, carers and professionals. Children whose dyspraxia is identified early are more likely to achieve their potential and less likely to experience low self-esteem or not be accepted by their peers.
In my current employment seven of the hours I work are contracted to support a year six boy. J has been diagnosed with having dyslexia and dyspraxia. Fortunately we have not encountered any disruptive behaviour from him. He works very hard to produce work of a standard of which he can be proud and he also thrives on praise, and is eager to please. When I first began to support him, just over two years ago, J was very reliant on TA assistance. He was not able to complete any tasks or activities during the lessons with out step-by-step support. After a lot of very hard work, from myself, the school, himself and his parents, he is now at a stage where he has a good level of independence and is able to complete the majority of tasks with minimum assistance from me. I found that a good strategy was to make sure he was listening to the teacher as she explains what she expects from the whole class, and then I break this down into steps that he finds easier to comprehend. I then take a peripheral role so that he feels that he is completing work independently, but I am always close enough if he needs reassurance or if he is finding a task too difficult or frustrating.
According to Kamen (2003), a pupil can be better supported by the teaching assistant by:
- “understanding the pupil’s learning support needs
- listening to the pupil
- enabling the pupil to access the curriculum
- respecting and valuing the pupil
- gaining the pupil’s trust and confidence
- responding appropriately to the pupil’s physical needs
- encouraging independence
- promoting acceptance by the rest of the class
- using plenty of praise and rewards”.
We have tried various strategies with M to try and focus his attention as when you manage to keep him on task he can produce some very good ideas. First of all we introduced a ‘fiddle box’ (this was a small box containing a few objects chosen by M), this however proved to be too much of a distraction. We then introduced a ‘fiddle stick’, (this was a clear plastic tube filled with glitter and a coloured gel-like substance), again this also proved to be too much of a distraction.
In retrospection we have introduced a ‘smile chart’ for M (previously we introduced one when M had difficulty in remembering his school things on a daily basis, this was very effective and M now has the things he needs in school every day). This includes targets and objectives that are personalised to him (see appendix v), and will hopefully help to increase his social skills. We have also started a small handwriting club, which M is a member of. This is a small group of children who need a little, or a lot of help with their handwriting. We meet for half an hour every morning. We are also ensuring that M sits at the front during registration and input time and that his attention is focused on the teacher, instructions will also be broken down for him into more manageable pieces. Staff also try to ensure that M has something from the healthy tuck shop at morning break.
I am hopeful that these interventions will make a difference to M’s behaviour, along with a lot of encouragement and praise.
“Use Praise and positive reinforcement to encourage the child, as he will have to use twice as much effort to complete physical tasks”.
P. Mukherji (2001 page 194).
It is hard to determine whether or not M has a behavioural problem or whether this could be due to his background and his home environment. Rutter (1992) believes that a person’s learning is about 60% nature and 40% nurture. M may be suffering effects from his early childhood environment. J. Bowlby thought that the theory of attachment was very important to a child’s development. He believed that the relationship between the baby and his/her mother figure was the most important. He believed that a baby needs one central person to be the mother figure. It is possible that M was not able to form an attachment to his mother during the early stages of his life because of the circumstances that were present such as being cared for by a number of different adults. Also it could have been the case that his mother found it hard to bond with M because of the circumstances of his conception. However, according to H. Ayers and C. Prytys (2002, page 27):
“-insecure attachments can become secure in later life due to the development of close emotional relationships with carers, friends and partners”.
Now M has a more settled home life (even though it is not ideal), with more routine to his day and more consistency in the people that care for him, it could be that his insecure attachments become secure ones.
The environment that M has been subjected to could have influenced his behaviour and his attitude as to what is acceptable behaviour. His early home environment when living with Grandma would not have been ideal. As I have previously mentioned, various theorists such as Maslow, Pavlov and Skinner all believe that a child’s environment and experiences have an impact on how a child behaves and conducts themselves. It is these environments and experiences, whether positive or otherwise, that mould and shape people.
References & Bibliography
Ayers, H. Clarke, D. & Murray, A. (2001) Perspectives On Behaviour. David Fulton Publishers.
Ayers, H. & Prytys, C. (2002) An A to Z Practical Guide to Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. David Fulton Publishers.
Bruce, T & Meggitt, C. (2004) Child Care & Education. Hodder & Stoughton Educational.
Cheminais, R. (2006) Every Child Matters. A Practical Guide for Teachers. David Fulton Publisher.
Children, Family & Adult Services. (2006) Care and Control Guidelines for:- Schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire. East Riding Of Yorkshire Council.
Children, Family & Adult Services. (no date stated) Towards Educational Inclusion A Strategic Vision Statement. East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
Educational Psychology and Behaviour Support Team. (2004) Consultation Framework Information Pack for Schools. East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
Cotton, J. (1996) The Theory of Learning An Introduction. Kogan Page Ltd.
Fontana, D. (1992) Psychology for Teachers. The Macmillan Press Ltd.
Kamen T. (2003) Teaching Assistant’s Handbook. Hodder and Stoughton Educational.
Maslow, A. (1966) The psychology of Science
Mukherji, P. (2001) Understanding Children’s Challenging Behaviour. Nelson Thornes ltd.
Nolte, D.L. & Harris, R. (1998) Children Learn What They Live. Workman Publishing.
Rogers, B. (2005) How to Manage Children’s Challenging Behaviour. Paul Chapman Publlishing.
Rutter, M. & Rutter, M. (1992) Developing Minds. Harmondworth: Penguin Books.
Smith, A. (1996) Accelerated Learning in the Classroom. Network Educational Press
Visser, J. (2001) Managing Behaviour In Classrooms. David Fulton Publishers.
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