Agresywne zachowania uczniów ze SPE jako źródła lęków nauczycieli. Korelacja osłabiająca sukces edukacji włączającej

In inclusive education, teachers work with all students, including those exhibiting aggressive behaviors. Today, many teachers struggle with challenging student behavior. The study aims to examine (1) aggressive behaviors in students with SPE – a source of teacher frustration in inclusive education, (2) the consequences of these behaviors triggering fears in teachers, and (3) the relationship between teacher seniority and likely consequences as per objective 2. The survey was conducted among 188 teachers. The data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational approaches. We determined that (1) the main source of teacher frustration is the physical aggression displayed by students with ASD, ADHD, ODD and CD; (2) the fear students with SEN may hurt other students is prominent amongst teachers, with a linear correlation between predictable consequences, where the strongest links appear between prediction of conflict in a classroom and the accusation of incompetence levelled at teachers by parents of students with SEN and between the fear of losing self-control and disapproval by superiors; (3) no significant relationship exists between the seniority of teachers and their perception of the sources of frustrations and fears. Against the background of the results, we formulated recommendations on inclusive education training for teachers.

Functional Thinking for Managing Challenging Behavior

Challenging student behavior remains one of the biggest trials for classroom teachers. Understanding why a student performs a specific behavior is important in determining how to develop an intervention that targets the function of the behavior. This column focuses on how thinking functionally about behavior can help teachers understand why students engage in challenging behaviors. Specifically, three levels of functional thinking are discussed: (a) maintaining function, (b) deficits determination, and (c) intervention selection. Functional thinking is not meant to be a replacement for formal assessments; however, thinking about behavior in this way may help teachers to determine behavior function and develop a function-based intervention to alleviate the challenging behavior.

Rates of Common Classroom Behavior Management Strategies and Their Associations With Challenging Student Behavior in Elementary School

In this study, we (a) describe patterns of challenging student behaviors (classwide and for a target student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and teacher behaviors (i.e., praise, commands, and responses to challenging behavior) in kindergarten through Grade 5 classrooms, (b) examine the relations between these behaviors, and (c) describe a threshold of teacher behaviors most associated with low levels of challenging student behavior. Participants were 55 teachers observed using a modified version of the Student Behavior Teacher Response (SBTR) system. Across grades, there was variability in rates of classwide challenging behavior per hour ( M = 35.81 to 102.62) and rates of praise per hour ( M = 10.90 to 37.70). The percentage of challenging behaviors to which teachers responded appropriately was generally low ( M = 27% to 47%) and stable across grades. For classwide challenging behavior, higher percentages of appropriate teacher response were significantly associated with lower rates of challenging behavior ( b = −.43; p < .01), but effective commands and labeled praise were not. Classwide challenging behaviors dropped to 30 per hour once teachers reach a threshold of 51% appropriate response, with little incremental benefit at higher levels. Implications for professional development and future study of behavior management practices are discussed.