When students with challenging behavior come into their lives, teachers often find themselves at a loss, unable to turn things around or help the child behave appropriately. This student’s behaviour often affects not only his/her ability to learn, but all the other students’ opportunities to engage in meaningful learning opportunities. There is no magic bullet, but this three-day workshop presents in-depth background information and effective strategies to help educators understand, prevent, and address the behaviour problems found so often in today’s schools. The evidence-based techniques provided work with the most difficult behaviors and will benefit every child in the classroom.                        

Objectives
Upon successful completion of the workshop, the participants will:

• Understand the risk and protective factors in children’s lives;
• Be able to describe the relationship between a number of risk and protective factors and children’s behavior;
• Be able to identify possible changes that can be made to the physical space, program and social context in order to prevent challenging behavior;
• Be able to identify strategies to build positive relationships with the child and his/her family;
• Develop skills to connect with families and create a team approach to challenging behavior.
• Be able to implement strategies to intervene effectively when challenging behavior occurs including the use of Functional Behavior Assessment, the development of positive behavior support plans and WEVAS (Effectively with Violent and Aggressive States).
• Be able to reduce bullying behaviour

Outline
Day 1: Promoting Social/Emotional Competence: Understanding and Preventing Challenging Behavior
When you recognize that a child’s challenging behavior is rooted in biological and environmental factors and not a desire to ruin your day, it becomes possible for you to figure out what the child needs to learn in order to succeed.

• What is challenging behaviour?
• What behaviours challenge you and why?
• Investigate biological risk factors including temperament, substance abuse and developmental delays.
• Investigate environmental risk factors including violence, trauma, cultural dissonance and childcare itself.
• The concept of fairness
• The physical environment and behavior
• Looking at the program, schedule and transitions and their impact on behavior.
• Creating a positive social context.
• Developing positive relations with the student and his/her family.
• Responding to challenging behaviour: What works, what doesn’t work? Why?

Day 2 (Part 1): Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support
The premise of the linked strategies of Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support is that every challenging behavior can be thought of as a child’s solution to a problem and a form of communication. This workshop will help educators learn how to use these strategies to help them to understand where the behavior is coming from, why it is happening at a particular time in a particular place, the logic behind it, and function (or functions) it serves for the child. Even if the behavior is unacceptable, the function seldom is.

• The impact of aversive punishment
• Behavior as a form of communication
• What is Positive Behavior Support (PBS)?
  • Step 1: Convene a team and identify goals of intervention
  • Step 2: Gather information (functional assessment)
    • A-B-C Analysis of behavior
    • Possible functions of behavior
    • Collecting data
  • Step 3: Develop hypotheses
    • Developing an hypothesis statement
  • Step 4: Design behaviour support plans
    • Prevention strategies
    • Replacement skills
    • Responses
  • Step 5: Implement, monitor, and evaluate outcomes
    • The Process of Positive Behavior Support
• Review

Day 2 (Part 2): WEVAS Working Effectively with Violent and Aggressive States
Even to the experienced teacher, challenging behavior sometimes seems to come out of nowhere. WEVAS helps you to recognize warning signs, see things from the child’s perspective, and match your response to the child’s needs

• What is WEVAS?
• Calibration – Knowing the child
• The Anxious State
  • Recognizing the anxious state
  • Using Open Communication
  • Non verbal communication
• The Agitated State
  • Saving face
  • Planned responses: The child’s and the educator’s
  • Educational issue
    • The teaching Response
  • Influence issue
    •  The Interrupt
    • The Option Statement
•  The Aggressive State
  • The centered response
  • Non verbal communication
  • The L-Stance
  • The de-escalation dance:
    • Defuse
    • Detect
    • Direct
• The Assaultive State
  • Self protection
  • System Response
• The Open State
  • De-briefing
  • Verbal and non-verbal communication

Day 3: Bullying: What is it? How can it be prevented? What do I do when it occurs?
Bullying is a problem that touches most children and youth at some point in their school years. Children are commonly understood to be involved in bullying as those who bully others, are victimized, or serve as the passive or participatory audience for this destructive play for power. This workshop will view the problem of bullying problem through a different lens for a more effective way of addressing the issue.

• Understand the difference between bullying and other aggressive behaviours
• Understand the children who:
  • bully
  • are the targets of bullying
  • the bystanders’ roles
• Learn ways to prevent bullying
• Learn ways to teach children about bullying
• Learn ways to respond to bullying
  • When you see it
  • When you don’t see it
• Alternatives to a zero tolerance policy

Trainer’s Profile
Barbara has worked for three decades as a teacher and education consultant. She is the co-author of  Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing and Responding Effectively 3rd Edition (2011, Pearson Education), Challenging Behavior in Elementary and Middle School: Understanding, Preventing and Responding Effectively (2008, Pearson Education), and Meeting the Challenge: Effective Strategies for Challenging Behaviours in Early Childhood Environments (1999, Canadian Child Care Federation). She has also taught part-time in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec and Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

In addition to presenting workshops and keynote speeches on the topic of challenging behaviour and related issues throughout the United States and Canada, and in Melbourne, Singapore, New Zealand, and Mauritius, Barbara was the chief consultant for several regional projects that address the issue of youth violence and recently completed a series of webinars and guides on bullying for the Nova Scotia Department of Education. She has also developed an instructional DVD series and related workshops, Facing the Challenge, with the Devereux Center for Resilient Children. And worked with Family Communications Inc.(Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood) on a teacher training video program focused on managing children’s challenging behaviour, Challenging Behaviors: Where do we begin?

A Graduate of McGill University’s Masters Program in Educational Administration, Barbara was the founder and director of the first rural day care centre in Quebec, Canada as well as an innovative non-profit community-based centre that she started and ran for 17 years in Montreal. Her program became well known for its multi-age and inclusive groupings, program, and unique use of space, which empowered children and helped them learn how to make meaningful choices for themselves.

Methodology
This workshop will include lecture, large and small group discussion, individual reflection, audiovisual presentations, case studies (based upon information that the participants will have brought with them about a particular child in their program/classroom), and experiential activities. The format is designed to be engaging and encouraging of continual interaction between the learners and instructor.

Target Audience
Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary (grade 1-8) teachers, administrators, ancillary personnel, educational assistants, mental health consultants, behavioral and education specialists, coordinators, support staff and parents.

Duration: 3 days, 18hours