Classroom Escape with a Possible Attention on the Side

 

This is for a child who disrupts the class, because they want to go home.

 

Antecedent

 

Behavior Target

 

Consequence

 

 

Classroom setting- often math, but can be other subjects

Somatic and physical- Wants to go home

Spends time out of class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The writer didn’t indicate what the behavior was specifically but it sounds like they are complaining of physical ailments and get sent to the nurse.

Antecedent and Setting Event Modifications

 

I made a huge mistake when my daughter was in the first grade.  She had previously attended the school where I taught for Kindergarten and consequently had received lots of adult attention because she was my child.  When she started first grade, we moved her to her home school where she was one of 600 students instead of a one of the teachers’ children.  She started going to the nurse on a daily routine about lunch time complaining of a stomachache.  After being called home to retrieve her from school three or four times we decided she was doing this for attention instead of escape.  She liked the nurse and especially liked the fact that when I came to get her I spent the afternoon alone with her without her baby brother around.  Here’s where I made my mistake:  I told my daughter that if she went to the nurse again during the day, the nurse was going to send her to the principal and she knew what that meant.  I was hoping for the scare tactic which wasn’t a very smart move. 

 

About a month later, I picked up my daughter from school and she was as white as a ghost, her eyes were glassy, and when I took her temperature it was 104 degrees.  I said, “Why didn’t you go to the nurse?”  Hmmm, I wonder why she didn’t go to the nurse?  I learned my lesson.  Scare tactics will always come back to bite you in the rear.

 

A better solution would have been what I’m going to suggest for this child:

 

  1. One Sentence Intervention
    1. Many times children with low self-esteem suffer from physical ailments that aren’t really there. 
    2. Children feel better about themselves when an adult is paying attention to them.
    3. Instead of waiting for the child to complain of physical ailments, give them attention before they have a chance to complain. 
  2. Adult Intervention
    1. Depending on which adult this child is seeking, I would set up a daily time (during a recess perhaps) where this child could go be the “adult’s helper” for 10-15 minutes per day. 
    2. The time you send the child for this advanced attention would be prior to the usual time the child seeks treatment for the physical ailments.
    3. Make sure this visit isn’t contingent on good behavior; make this part of the child’s daily activities.
  3. Academic Intervention
    1. The writer mentioned that many times the child seeks the escape during Math.
    2. Call the parents in for a meeting and use these words:

                                                               i.      “We’ve got a situation. Chloe is asking to go to nurse every day during Math time.  We don’t want this to become a problem for you. Eventually, someone in Chloe’s future will not understand why she’s doing this and they will either get mad at Chloe or call you to take care of it.  We would like to do something proactive now.  Here’s how you can help.

                                                             ii.      We would like to send home the math assignments for the week ahead on the Friday before.  What we would love for you to do is spend ten or fifteen minutes every evening pre-teaching Chloe what’s going to be taught the next day. 

1.      We think that by doing this we will be giving Chloe some confidence in herself to do the Math and then she won’t want to leave.

2.      We can send home an extra Math book so Chloe doesn’t have to bring her book back and forth every day.  (Being proactive here will payoff because if you expect Chloe to take the book back and forth every day eventually she will forget it one day.

a.       Soapbox:  I have had teachers tell me when I suggest something like this that they shouldn’t have to send books home with children to keep at home.  They say, “Those kids should just know to bring that book back and forth every day.  It’s their responsibility.”

b.      My response:  How is that working out for you doing it that way?  Isn’t it better to be proactive and set things up for the inevitable rather than waiting to catch the child messing up?  Have you ever forgotten anything in your life as an adult?  Did people holding you responsible when you were younger keep you from forgetting things in the future?  I can not tell you how many times I have had to go back in my house to retrieve some item that I remembered as I hit the stop sign at the end of the street and I’m a pretty responsible person.

c.       Off soapbox.

 

Behavior Teaching

We need to teach this child to let us know two things 1) how to get our attention if they need it and 2) how to let us know they need help if they are stuck.  (It will depend on what the behavior support team determines is the function of the child’s behavior. This behavior could be escape or it could be attention.)

 

Either way the secret signal between the child and the teacher is the best way to go:

  1. Any kind of secret signal will do.  Here are some examples that other teachers have used:
    1. Giving all the students a name tag that is green on one side and red on the other.  The green side means they are working fine and don’t need any help.  The red side means they are stuck and need some help.  The students can flip their name tags.
    2. It can be a tri-fold name tag that just sits up on the desk:

 

 

 

 

 

 


    1. It can be a flat sided name tag that is laminated with Velcro on both sides so the child can attach it to their desk depending on their needs.
    2. Some teachers have the student take a particular item out of their desk that signifies they need help (small stuffed animal, pencil box, etc.)
    3. Some teachers have a popsicle stick with each child’s name on it.  When they need help they take the stick out of their desk and go put it in the “I need help” can on the teacher’s desk.  The teacher grabs sticks out of the can and carries them around until she’s reached all the students.  The students get their stick back when the teacher stops to work with them.

Consequence Modification

Consequence modification means changing what we do.  It could be that when the child says, “My stomach hurts.” The parent in us comes out and we start giving them doting attention about the cause of the ailment.  It might be a good idea to try saying, “probably so,” and let it go at that.  Once the child sees that this statement is not going to earn them attention nor escape from class they will go on with what they were supposed to be doing. 

 

All of the antecedent modifications that were suggested above should be proactive steps toward not needing to concern ourselves with the consequence modification very often. 

 

Academically

See the statement above for the parents to assist.  If the parents are not able to assist with pre-teaching, perhaps there is a study club that meets after school each afternoon or before school during that thirty minute period of time when children arrive at school and have to wait for dismissal to the classroom.

Long Term Plan

 

Teach the child to have confidence in themselves and wean them off needing to visit their adult of choice.  Eventually, the daily visit to the adult of choice could be a lunch date once a week and then once a month.  It is all a balancing act and watching the data to determine what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.