10 Positive Ways to Assess and Support Students with Behavior Challenges

September 28, 2021

As the new school year unfolds, you may be seeing an increasing number of behavior challenges in your classroom. For students with and without disabilities, the return to in-person learning may be fraught with emotions that cause students to act out, withdraw, or react with extra sensitivity to elements like transitions and sensory stimuli.

In today’s post, autism and inclusion expert Paula Kluth offers 10 ways to understand and address challenging behaviors in your classroom. This set of reminders will give you new ways to look at your students’ behaviors, adjust your approach and teaching strategies when necessary, and empower students to make positive changes. Excerpted and lightly adapted from Paula Kluth’s bestselling guidebook “You’re Going to Love this Kid!,” these ideas will be helpful for use with students on the autism spectrum as well as their peers.

1. Focus on Connection and Relationships.

Perhaps the best way to better understand behaviors is to seek ways to connect with students and build relationships with them. This is especially important when students do not have a reliable way to communicate; these students cannot easily express themselves, so teachers must form relationships with them and their families in order to provide meaningful support.

Connecting with students can be accomplished in a number of ways. Some teachers make it a habit to explicitly convey caring. Expressing care can be especially important for students who are struggling academically or socially or for those being ridiculed or teased because they are “different.” Listening is another important part of relationship building. For students who can speak, listening will involve giving students time to share of themselves; eliciting stories from them; encouraging them to express themselves through drama, art, or writing; and getting to know them across contexts (e.g., in school, at home). For students who do not communicate reliably, listening may involve some of these same practices, but teachers will also need to pay special attention to a student’s body language and behaviors.

2. If Possible, Get the Student’s Perspective.

Examine every behavior from the perspective of the student, if possible. How does the student see the behavior? Is it hard or easy to control? Is it purposeful? Is it painful? Is it useful? Does the student want to stop engaging in the behavior? Do they view it as problematic? Is it something they use to cope? Is it something they need to stay calm?

Often, individuals on the autism spectrum engage in behaviors that look strange to others but serve an important purpose. Hearing firsthand from students can help practitioners learn more about life on the spectrum, realize misconceptions, and craft supports that individuals will view as truly supportive.

3. Prioritize Prevention.

When it comes to addressing behavior challenges, a little prevention can go a long way. To engineer preventative strategies, teachers must consider the potential difficulties students may have and—one by one—strategize ways to sidestep those difficulties. For example, if the student always seems to have problems during transitions, brainstorm specific strategies that can be used to ease the process.

See this blog post for additional ideas related to the prevention of behavior problems.

4. Talk to the Student’s Family.

Family resources are underused many times. Parents offer expert advice, and teachers must take advantage of it. Families often can tell us a great deal about their child’s disabilities and needs, but more importantly, they can tell us about their child. In some situations, only the parent will have the information we need to decode a student’s behavior, and only the parent can help us provide the proper support.

5. Use the School Community.

It certainly “takes a village” to educate all students, and every member of the school community should be considered a potential collaborative partner. Support might come from a secretary, the librarian, a volunteer, a PTA member, the school nurse, or the campus security officer.

Students also can be great supports for each other. Many insightful teachers I know use peers as resources and help all students understand that they have a responsibility to support one another.

6. Assess and Adapt the Environment.

Always assess the environment when behaviors erupt. Students may require adaptations to classroom lighting or seating. Or, they may need some tips on how to stay comfortable in places that are not “friendly” to their needs.

Helpful questions that can help you evaluate learning space for individual students include:

• How does the noise level in the classroom affect your students?
• How, if ever, is music used?
• What materials are in the environment? Are they adapted for your learners? Age appropriate? Varied?
• What types of visual inputs or cues (e.g., picture schedule) are in the room?
• Is the lighting appropriate? Is it too bright or too dim for some learners?
• What seating options do your students have?

7. Teach New Skills.

Sometimes we go for a shortcut response to behavior that will solve it temporarily, but teaching new skills, when possible, is likely to provide more long-term success. For example:

• Role play is a technique that helps students try new behaviors, language, and experiences in a low-risk situation with teacher support.
• Visualization is useful for any student in the inclusive classroom.

8. Evaluate Curriculum and Instruction.

Some of the most common causes of challenging behavior include:

• Curriculum that is dull and lacks variety.
• Instruction that is incompatible with the learner’s challenges and needs.
• Not enough opportunities for communication, conversation, and choice-making.
• Curriculum that is not age-appropriate.
• Not enough social interaction.

9. Be Willing to Adapt.

Behaviors are facilitated or even created when students are not allowed access to the adaptations and supports that they need. Behaviors are not fixed realities; when teachers work to understand students and adapt to their needs, undesirable behaviors can be minimized or eliminated.

10. Do Something Else.

Continuously approach problems from different angles. Sometimes thinking outside the box can help individuals and teams find solutions that they could not uncover by doing more or working harder.

Use this important set of reminders to help you this year as you provide behavioral and social-emotional supports to your students. And for more practical strategies on positive behavior support, see the related posts.