Controlling Impulsive Reactions

One year, after the first month of school, my co-teacher and I identified a student who was extremely impulsive. The minute something caught his eye, he would pull it off the shelves and start playing with it. The rest of the class would watch and see if they could do the same. We had to come up with a plan to retain our focus on learning as opposed to managing.

• To begin with, we used visual cues-a big red STOP sign on the shelves indicate that they were off limits for the day—for all students.
• Second, we went over behavioral expectations everyday—with the whole group and privately with the impulsive student. (To give students more control, we incorporated students’ choices when we planned for the week ahead).
• Third, we went over the consequences. “What do you think will happen if you pulled out the materials from the shelves whenever you want?” You lose learning time because you haven’t completed the work set out, it disrupts the class, and there are consequences from the teachers…”
• Next, we worked on alternate methods of asking to explore the materials—“Please may I look at … during lunch time/before dismissal?” "Can we plan a lesson using...?"
• Last,we used an incentive system to recognize/reward the students' appropriate behaviors.

In general strategies to control responses must include

1. Environmental adaptations,
2. Teaching alternate methods to respond to the task/situation (it helps to identify a STOP and THINK cue), and
3. Understanding the consequences of impulsive actions.
4. Use a reward based behavioral management plan if appropriate for the student and the situation.

Techniques:

1. Model the behavior you want your students to learn. If you are deliberate (stop/think/act) in your actions, they get to see how it is done.
   
   2. Use self talk i.e., the thoughts/ideas that spring to mind in response to a problem or task. Narrate out aloud how you arrive at a plan to deal with the situation. Let the students see/hear you modify your steps when you make a mistake. “There are five sums on this page. I will start on the first sum. Maybe I should cover the other four with an extra paper. I must finish this sum before I uncover the second sum…”
   
   While encouraging the student to use self talk, also be aware of how it impacts the others around him. If he is too loud, it will disturb them. Choose peers who have good attention skills to sit with him, or position him in a quieter area. Slowly work on reducing the volume—ideally the student should work towards ‘talking in his head.’
   
   3. Cue students to stop and think about the consequences of their actions. “What do you think will happen if you do…?” “What will happen if you do it the other way?” “How will your action affect you, your friends, your academic work and your social circle?”
   
   4. Generate alternate actions to delay the response—get a drink of water or take a walk for a few minutes. The intensity of the response comes down because the student has had a few minutes to think/cool off/plan.

Be prepared to use any strategy for a good length of time—it takes time to substitute impulsive reactions with planned responses. In the case of my student mentioned above, we worked on this for nearly three months before we saw significant changes. Even after six months he needed occasional reminders. Did it make our work easier? Did the student feel more in control of his behavior? Did the rest of the class benefit from putting in a little extra effort for one student? Yes!

You may find that learning to control responses in one situation doesn’t neccessarily generalize to other situations. For example, say your student has learned to raise his hand before blurting out the answer in class. It doesn’t necessarily follow that he will not interrupt when two of his peers are having an argument. Unfortunately that may lead to a bigger social fracas. You have to teach the same skill in different contexts (with multiple repetitions).

Ms. S

At dismissal time you can see a parent group...

...outside the gates of every school. The younger the children the more enthusiastic the discussions turn out to be. “My son is quick to understand and act,” a parent declared loudly in one such group. “He starts to do the activity before I finish giving him directions. He is just too smart,” she added. I could hear the other parents join in about how their child was equally quick to respond.

Occasionally, I’ll hear a quiet voice piping in, “My son is very calm and deliberate in all his actions. He doesn’t rush to any activity—he likes to think it through before he acts.”

We’ve all heard our parents and teachers say “Think before you speak,” “Think before you act,” and other such homilies—directing us to stop and reflect instead of reacting impulsively.

Inhibition is the ability to control our responses—stopping impulsive behavior and ignoring distractions. Research shows that the ability to inhibit our responses has a strong impact on our attention skills. Inhibition affects both academic achievement and social behavior.

Impact on Academic Work:

When the teacher gives directions, students have to stop and listen to the whole direction. Once they have all the information, they can start, stay focused and complete the task(s).

What happens if a student starts to respond, halfway through the directions? He will miss the rest of the directions, and the task will be half finished or even incorrect. As the student doesn’t have all the information, he can’t correct his work.

During group discussions this student makes comments totally unrelated to the discussion topic. Why? Because he didn’t stop to think if it was relevant to the topic before blurting it out.

Ignoring other interactions or activities in the classroom is another aspect of inhibition. It is a natural response to look up when peers two rows down start talking. But becoming engrossed in their conversation takes the student’s attention away from his own class work.

Impact on Behavior:

Inhibition allows us to read any situation and to moderate our responses accordingly. We use it in social situation to know when and how to interrupt a conversation, wait for a turn, understand and follow safety rules, etc.

In school this manifests itself as unsafe behaviors on the playground, inability to follow limits, excessive emotional outbursts—aggressive or very weepy, can’t stop talking in class, and interfering in other people’s conversations or activities. This student seems to lack self control and needs a lot of support to regulate the intensity of his behavior.

Ms.S

About Technology and Learning

Parents often express concerns about gaming, internet, tv...mostly about how these interfere with homework completion, test prep and overall academic performance. Here's an article on more of the same.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?hpw

Ms.S

Chennai Event Highlights Welfare Schemes

Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu (SPASTN) is hosting a Fun Fair to highlight the welfare benefits offered by the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.


There are several schemes through which parents can get health and life insurance coverage for their children with disabilities.

The event, termed “Munnetra Padhai” is scheduled to start from tomorrow, the 18th till the 27th of November, 2010.

Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu
Opp. T.T.T.I. Taramani Road,
Chennai - 600 113, India.
Tel: 91 - 44 - 22541651, 22541542

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Fun-fair-on-welfare-schemes-for-parents-of-special-children/articleshow/6938424.cms

Ms.S

“Please, please. I have something to say, I have something to say...

...let me say it before I forget,” one of the five year olds interrupted me during circle time. I let him say his piece.

This was a child who always raised his hand to participate during group discussions but wouldn’t remember what he had to say, forgot the sequential order of numbers 1—10, and got confused with multi step direction even in activities he enjoyed. His parents, my co teacher and I worked together as a team to teach him to advocate for himself—in and out of school.

I met him again after 3 years, and sure enough his mother mentioned that he continues to need support to develop his working memory.

What Is Working Memory?

Working memory is the ability to retain information for short periods of time, enabling us to use this information to complete a given task.

image source:http://usablealgebra.landmark.edu

While working on a math problem, the student must be able to remember the numbers. Otherwise the computation will be incorrect.

Mental math is another area where students have to retain several facts or concepts for short periods of time. A student with poor working memory will face difficulties because he/she
• can’t access the information quickly enough and/or
• forgets the first part of the operation while working on the second part.

Students’ writing skills depend on their working memory. Spelling and writing complete sentences require that they remember the order of letters and words, and their place in the order.

To write a lucid essay, the ideas have to connect from one paragraph to the next. Else it becomes a collection of random facts or thoughts. This coherence is possible only if students keep in mind what they just wrote and how that information is relevant to the next set of ideas.

Successful students have a good working memory as it enables them to stay focused on a given task until it is completed. They learn new information much more easily by making connections to their prior knowledge and the speed and accuracy of their recall is also well developed.

Students with poor working memory, are easily distracted and miss out on instructions; make fewer connections with their prior knowledge because they has less information stored.

Do you wonder why some of your students keep repeating the same mistakes? They never seem to learn from the past. Well, with poor recall of the past, it is difficult to remember the details of their mistakes and the intensity of feelings which arise from the mistakes. Not learning from past mistakes affects their understanding of the future—they have difficulty setting goals and planning.

Strategies In The Classroom:

• Is the lesson interesting and meaningful? If the student is bored and feels that the content has no use for him, he has no motivation to retain the information.


• Visuals, visuals, visuals:) Use plenty of visuals to reinforce concepts. Graphic organizers are excellent aids to make connections with prior knowledge. Color coding draws students’ attention to important information.


• Mnemonics are great for some students. But make sure that this is a useful strategy for your student. I have had students with verbal dyslexia look at me like I was from Mars when I tried to use these.


• Most schools use a forty minute class period. Divide the time in twenty minute increments with a water break or stretching break in between. Moving around increases oxygen intake and stimulates the brain.


• Everyone is under tremendous pressure to finish the syllabus. Sometimes we rush through the lessons without checking the students’ comprehension. Plan well at the beginning of the school year and organize your lessons. This will ensure that the student doesn’t get bombarded with too much information especially at the end of the school year.


• Use a peer tutor. I love this strategy. It works wonders on so many levels. Self esteem, multiple repetitions in a non threatening environment, incidental learning, social skills development, motivation—the benefits are endless.

Ms.S

I had a novel approach to test prep...

I had my books, snacks and tea on the table along with a clock. But I sat on my bed reading my murder mysteries. Why, do you ask? My plan was to start studying on the hour. If it was 7:30 pm, I waited until it was 8:00 pm. If it was 7:15, it was the same story. Everyone around me got nervous but I was very calm:) My justification was “I work best under pressure.” But then I would stay up all night to complete my study portions. Fortunately for me, I never fell asleep while taking the exams.

I have definitely come a long way…whenever I feel the ‘round hour’ monster creeping up, I know I have to start the job or I’ll put it off for another time/day.

If you have students who put off their work for another day…probe a little to find the reason. It is not just laziness or a desire to question authority.

• Do they understand the instructions? In some cases the instructions are so convoluted that their meaning is not clear. Or, the student may not have very good reading skills to understand what is expected.
  
• Is the work too difficult? If the student feels over whelmed by the enormity of the task, he/she may not want to start. On the flip side, is the work too easy? It is hard to be motivated by a task that is too easy and therefore, boring. How often do we teachers hear, “Oh that is tooooo easy. I can even do it in the last minute.” Something else may come up at the last minute.
• Does the student have good problem solving skills? These skills help us to deal with obstacles to our work. Someone with poor problem solving skills may not feel confident about their abilities. They’d rather look defiant than foolish.
• Is there a social/emotional piece to it? Does the student have to do group work with peers who aren’t good partners? Is there any conflict with a particular teacher?
• If it is a habit, what can induce the student to change? Can you use reinforcements?
• Does the student understand the consequence of not starting work on time?

These questions will help you find any underlying reason for not starting the task on time.

Teaching students to initiate tasks on time:

• Provide a lot of support at the beginning of a task-stand next to the student, make sure the instructions are clear and have her/him tell you the steps to completing the task. “First, I must do ___, then, I should do ___...” Wait right there until the student has started the work. Before you move away from that spot, reassure the student, “Call me if you get stuck” or “Ask ___ if you need help.” Physical proximity makes a big difference to a most students. Reduce the amount of help gradually, using verbal directions instead. “Why don’t you start and I’ll be there in a few minutes to look at it?”
• Model the behavior in class. “Today our lesson is about the animals of the rainforest. I'll start by listing all the facts we know about the animals in the tropical rainforests of Asia…” Narrating out loud what you are going to start with and actually doing so reinforces the behavior in your students.
• Use timers or stop watches. I’ve used these for very young children and with high school students. With young ones, cue them. “When the hand moves from '5' to '0', you will have to stop. So start your work now.” It is a good idea to inform them how much time is left, “You have two more minutes.”
• Self talk is a valuable tool for so many reasons. It helps with organization, sequencing, staying on task and of course to start the task. Encourage the student to talk to himself, “I will start ___ first, and then…”
• Recognize student’s effort to initiate task-whether it is with or without help. “Oh, you started the essay on your own…” or “You started writing the answers with just one reminder.”
• Use reinforcers--social, verbal or material, based on the student’s need.
• Think of new ways to motivate your student to initiate tasks. “Let’s see you start writing the words while I help ___. I wonder how many words you will have written before I finish with her.” “Can you do this before I finish my work?”

Ms.S

Parents and Advocacy continued...

Here's the other fact which stood out in the mom's comment:

The teacher said the child didn’t respond to her. Mom assumed it had to do with concentration. She was all set to focus on the child’s need but didn’t know the exact details.

What should you do if your child’s teacher said she had concerns? Ask questions…lots and lots of questions. Teachers frequently use words which indicate very specific needs but don’t explain those to the parents. Parents may have a general idea of what words like ‘processing, attention span, problem solving, initiative, working memory, retain and recall’ mean, but they don’t know how it applies to their child.

Some of this confusion is because in India, we don’t yet follow a uniform diagnostic procedure. Forget getting confused with mental illness and mental retardation (cognitive impairment), most people assume learning disability means a child with cognitive impairment. I think (only my opinion) it is because we have so many organizations following procedures from so many different countries. We don’t have the government or a parent body stepping in and organizing a uniform diagnostic measure.

In some countries, everything is a learning disability. I suppose there is a logic to that definition--any disability which impairs learning is a learning disability. But try telling someone you have learning disability in India and you can see the horror, pity, embarrassment, discomfort…because they think you have cognitive impairment. They have no clue about what specific learning disability is or how it affects a child’s reading, writing or math skills without impacting their potential.

In the same way, parents (and others) assume that any concern about not listening has to do with concentration (attention). There are lots of reasons a child will not listen in class. Limited attention is just one factor.

Some of these reasons can be addressed by the teacher in a regular class or the child may need a special education teacher trained to work on those skills. (I once visited a remedial reading class where the teacher didn’t know the correct vowel sounds)! In still other cases the child may need a speech language pathologist.

Most parents seek a speech language pathologist (SLP) only for delayed speech milestones. But they don’t realize that language development is the mainstay of a young child’s cognitive development. Language skills such as turn taking, speaking in complex phrases/sentences, listening for information, following multiple step directions are all within the speech language pathologists’ realm. In these cases, the teacher, SLP and parents have to work together to address the needs of the young child.

Children with sensory integration problems may need the services of a developmental occupational therapist. Even poor furniture can affect a child's ability to sustain attention in class. The OT can work on the child's fine motor skills and on accommodations for posture, muscle tone, regulating other sensory information. Listen to the exact words a teacher uses and ask how your child's learning is impacted.

Teachers, be sensitive to parents’ feelings-if this is the first time they hear concerns from you, be gentle. Your descriptions should be objective and clear. Use examples to illustrate your concerns. For example, “Ananya has difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. The rest of the class starts working on the next activity while I’m still trying to get her to put her things away from the previous activity. Because of this she is always late and never completes any task on time. This interferes with my ability to teach the whole class. (Yes, this is a problem if you have 30 children and one child takes up a lot of your teaching time). Her other teachers have also mentioned the same problem..."

Parents,remember the teachers are trying to help your child. Be open to their ideas and try your best to incorporate these at home. Children need several repetitions and multiple environments to practice their skills.

Ms.S

“My child’s teacher said she does not respond to her in class. I am so worried...

…how can I improve her concentration?” This is a common refrain from parents. I hear a lot of this from parents especially when their child starts pre-K or Kindergarten.

There are a couple points I want to mention in relation to this.

Parents get a lot of contradictory messages from friends and family alike. From “After all the child is still young,” or “Kids develop in unique ways, so just wait and see,” to “What does the teacher know? She doesn’t really want to work with this child,” all kinds of advice is handed down to make the parents feel better. Does any of this actually address the issue?

First let’s look at why pre-K and Kindergarten teachers are the ‘finger pointers.’ Play school is all about playing and learning to take turns.

Pre-K and more often, Kindergarten is when children have to do the following consistently:

• Sit and attend to tasks for a definite period of time.
• Start functioning as a group and follow common directions.
• Wait for their turn in group activities and in general classroom routines (like clean up time, lining up to go to PE)
• Participate in tasks within the range of time provided (there is always a range—some children are faster and others slower. It is when they fall too far behind that the warning bells sound)
• Transition from one task (or subject) to another with minimum support from the teacher (some children insist that they want to complete the task before moving to the next…this is not always possible in academic situations)
• Follow complex multiple step directions in specific sequences--first, second, last…
• Do their work (writing, coloring, playing or any planned activity) with far less supervision than in playschool or day care

As you can see, our expectations are significantly higher for a five year old than for a three year old. It takes a while for children to develop these skills. Just suppose the child continues to have difficulties in these areas by the end of kindergarten. It is the teacher's responsibility to inform the parents. It isn’t about ‘not wanting to do the work’ or ‘not being able to adapt the lesson.’ The fact that the lesson has to be adapted itself tells the teacher and parent that this child’s learning process is different from his/her peers. The teacher is in fact helping parents address the issue right at the beginning--when the gap can actually be bridged.

Some parents get rattled by teachers’ concerns. Yes it is scary to hear that your child has difficulties in learning. What is the next step though? Do you adopt a wait and see attitude, ignore the concerns or do you ask questions?

A very good friend of mine has a sixth grader who has just been assigned an IEP in reading and math. His son’s teachers expressed their concerns right from kindergarten-first they thought it was because English was his second language, then it changed to attention issues, comprehension…the list went on year after year. My friend’s wife is well educated and holds a good job but had no clue how to advocate for her son. Her question to the teacher when they first heard the concerns was, “Do you mean my son is dumb?” I was aghast when I heard that. I can only imagine what the teacher thought.

What is the outcome of all this delay? The boy who is very bright and social is doing very well in his math (which reportedly is at the same level as his peers but he has accommodations). His Reading skills are very poor because of which his language coursework is significantly lower than that of his peers. If he had had the same help at a younger age, the gap between his reading level and his age level would have been much less.

Parents, try not to panic and jump to conclusions the minute you hear the teachers’ concerns. Yes, some children may have maturity issues and may grow out of it…others need specific help. This is the age when basic skills are taught. You don’t want your child to be playing “catch up” all his/her life. So start the intervention when they are young.

Ms.S

“Every morning I remind my son to turn in his homework, but he invariably forgets to do so."

" When I ask him about it, he shrugs his shoulders like it was no big deal. I don’t like to check his book bag but if I don’t, his bag overflows with papers. The school counselor said he has to come up with his own system of organization. When and how will that happen?” My friend’s son was entering his teens and his habits were starting to interfere with his school work.

We all know children (and adults) who carry stuffed bags but can’t find a pen to fill out forms, or those who don’t do that last step to complete tasks (yours truly included in this one).

I bet every year you have at least one or two students who frequently don't have their notes/homework/textbooks because they forgot to pack these? They are unprepared for sports activities (without their PE shoes), come to the test hall without pens; no compass box for geometry…the list goes on.

It's not that they don't care of that they are lazy. Their poor organizing skills stop them from being prepared for even everyday activities. These students need to be taught organizing skills through direct instruction, just like we do with math and reading or other subjects.

Strategies in the classroom:

1. Teachers, set an example and be organized.

2. Use checklists for homework, weekly planners, for individual projects, to pack their bags. Checklists should be easy to use and target key tasks. Students should check or crossout tasks as they complete them.

Here's a weekly Schedule I used with one of my students. As you can see it is color coded to cue him what kind of work was expected. Test preparation took precedence over studying for class dicussions; homework submissions were targeted based on how many days my student had -two days or a week.

Use a supply checklist to see if students have all the materials they need before they start as task-be it class work assignment, a science experiment, or a surprise test.

This was a checklist a co-worker used in her class to guide her students to gather materials before the start of projects and presentations.

The next checklist is a modified version of the 'Rules of Rubric Road' checklist from the website www.middleschoolguide.com.

3. Use different color book covers for each subject. I know the standard is to use brown for book covers. Just imagine how much easier packing your book bag will be if you cover all math books (geometry text, class work notebook, homework notebook, graph notebook) in red and all English books(literature, play, poetry, notebooks) blue, etc. You don’t have to go about checking fifteen brown covered books to find the right one!

4. Work with parents to help students organize their pencil box/pouch. Do they have working pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, highlighters, paper clips and essential materials?

5. At the end of the week, give students time to empty out their book bags. They can file old papers away and lighten their bag. Hey, you could very well find that missing homework, permission slip, etc. These can be submitted late:)

6. Pair students with study partners-those with good organizational skills should be paired with those who need some assistance. A lot of our incidental learning is through peer interactions. If done in a positive manner, they will both benefit from the partnership.

7. A student with poor organization skills will need to work on these at school and at home. Collaborate with parents to work on the same skills at home. Students with organizational skill deficits need plenty of practice anyway.

Ms. S

Cleaning house before Pongal or Deepavali was a major event in my family.

Every Godrej bero and cupboard was cleared at the same time. Saris and shirts covered the beds, daal, spices and all utensils were on kitchen counters or table tops…it was overwhelming to say the least. About half the rooms were reorganized and the rest were put back as they were ‘to be completed another day.’

Did I learn anything from this? Oh, yes! I group my chores into three categories:
1. Absolutely must be done (clean bathroom, kitchen, dust furniture, clean floor)
2. Needs to be done (spice rack, window panes, art supply organization, paperwork filing and shredding)
3. Can be done based on time and effort. (Rearrange furniture in the living room, change color scheme of curtains and bedding, air silk saris, polish brass/silver items).

How does prioritizing affect learning? Students have to juggle extra curricular activities, homework assignments, test preparation, not to mention prep work for entrance exams. Add to these entertainment activities. To be efficient learners (and workers), they must identify the most important activities and work on those first.

If the science project is due tomorrow, the cricket match can wait for another day. A tough (and possibly boring) history assignment has to be completed first before the easy math homework. Come exam time, students should focus on the important chapters or concepts rather than try to read understand the book from cover to cover.

Students who can’t prioritize are overwhelmed because they don’t know where to start, and how to target their goals. They spend too much time on one part of the assignment and end up rushing through the other tasks. They choose to work on smaller and easier tasks rather than focus on the bigger and more complex assignment.

Teaching students to prioritize:

Ask students to make a list of all the tasks for that week. Next ask them to put them in order based on their importance. Students must understand that prioritizing makes them more competent and effective. If they realize this, they will pick and choose tasks more effectively.

Criterion for choosing the order of tasks:

Assignments which are worth more marks go to the top of the list. Similarly, tougher or more challenging tasks need more time. So these should be completed first. But what if the student needs to be motivated first? He or she should choose a less demanding task which can be completed quickly. And of course, check the due dates. If the biology record is due tomorrow, that gets top priority. Once the bigger projects are completed students can work on the smaller tasks.

During study holidays, students should base their study timetable based on their exam timetable. If they keep to their schedule and order, they will have time to revise the subjects they targeted at the beginning of the study period. While preparing for tests, it is more efficient to cover important chapters. Almost all teachers announce the list of important chapters in class anyway. Most questions in the exams come from these chapters (I believe this holds true even now). Any remaining time can be spent on reading up on the rest of the chapters.

Ms. S