Los Angeles Unified School District
Division of Special Education
Responding to Escalating
Student Behavior
Presented by:
Jacqueline Mora & Laura Zeff
Ideas & concepts throughout this presentation are adapted from the work of Geoff Colvin, Ph.D.
Students with disabilities experiencing behavioral challenges in the
school environment must be afforded the opportunity to be
supported using the evidence-based practices found in MultiTiered Systems of Support (MTSS). It is the responsibility of the
IEP team to design a plan to address student behavior through
teaching. It is the school staff’s responsibility to implement
positive behavior support even if such support is not specified in
the IEP. The IEP does not supplant the school’s responsibility for
holding all staff accountable for implementing Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
Objectives
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Participants will learn about…
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strategies to prevent and respond to
escalating student behavior.
phases of the crisis cycle.
interventions and reactive strategies that can
be utilized to respond to escalating behavior.
State and Federal legal requirements for
students with IEPs.
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Adapted from the work of Geoff Colvin,
Ph.D.
Adapted from:
Sprague & Walker, 2004
Targeted/
Intensive
(High-risk students)
Individual Interventions
(3-5%)
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Intensive social skills training
Individual behavior management plans
Parent training and collaboration
Multi-agency collaboration (wrap-around) services
Alternatives to suspension and expulsion
Community and service learning
Selected
(At-risk Students)
Classroom & Small
Group Strategies
(10-20% of students)
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Intensive social skills training
Self-management programs
Parent training and collaboration
School based adult mentors
Increased academic support and practice
Alternatives to out-of-school suspension
Community and service learning
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Universal
(All Students)
School-wide,
Culturally Relevant
Systems of Support
(75-85% of students)
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Effective academic support
Social skills training
Positive, proactive discipline
Teaching school behavior expectations
Active supervision and monitoring
Positive reinforcement systems
Firm, fair, and corrective discipline
Effective classroom management
Community and service learning
We have fire drills
We have earthquake drills
We practice “lockdowns”
We are trained to know what to do when
there is an active shooter on campus
Prevention
Strategies
Do we plan/practice how to respond
to escalating behavior?
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Behavioral Chains
• Key Properties of Behavioral
Chains
– Series of behaviors
• Build on each other
– Maintained by the presence of
reinforcement
– Interaction pathways
Teacher
George, please turn in your
assignment.
The assignment you didn’t
finish during class.
Great, please turn it in now.
You have a choice, turn it in
or do it again.
I guess you’ve made the
choice to do it again.
You are being disrespectful,
go to the office.
Teacher moves toward
George…
George
What assignment?
I finished it.
I don’t have it with me
right now.
You never believe me.
I’d like to see you make
me.
F_____ you!
Stands up, glares, &
raises fist as if to strike…
Avoid a power struggle….
…don’t pick up the rope
• If someone is noncompliant or argues, avoid being pulled
into the no-win battle of the power struggle:
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Step back and listen to the real message being conveyed.
Redirect the topic.
Offer choices and options.
Consider a reasonable middle ground when possible.
Focus on solutions.
Crisis Prevention Institute
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Let’s take a closer look at the
Escalation Cycle….
What does it look like?
What can I do?
The most important thing adults can do is
STAY CALM!
This image cannot currently be display ed.
Used to respond
to behaviors that
have escalated
and present
significant safety
concerns
Describes behavior at
each stage in the
Escalation Cycle and
staff responses
Stage 1. Calm
Stage 2. Trigger
Stage 3. Agitation
Stage 4. Acceleration
Identifies specific
school site
personnel
responsible for
carrying out the
plan, and their
response roles
Stage 5. Peak
Stage 6. De-escalation
Stage 7. Recovery
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The Escalation Cycle
The Escalation Cycle
The Escalation Cycle
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The Escalation Cycle
The Escalation Cycle
The Escalation Cycle
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The Escalation Cycle
Escalating Responses
(Things to Avoid)
• Getting in the child’s face
• Discrediting the child
• Nagging or preaching
• Arguing
• Engaging in power struggles
• Tugging or grabbing the child
• Cornering the child
• Shouting or raising voice
Restraint
• Emergency intervention (restraint) is a SAFETY
measure of last resort used ONLY when less
intrusive methods have not been effective at
the moment, and protecting the student or
others from serious injury requires their use.
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California Education Code 56521.1
Students with Disabilities
• (a) Emergency interventions may only be used to control
unpredictable, spontaneous behavior that poses clear and
present danger of serious physical harm to the individual with
exceptional needs, or others, and that cannot be immediately
prevented by a response less restrictive than the temporary
application of a technique used to contain the behavior.
• (b) Emergency interventions shall not be used as a substitute
for the systematic behavioral intervention plan that is designed
to change, replace, modify, or eliminate a targeted behavior.
• (c) No emergency intervention shall be employed for longer
than is necessary to contain the behavior.
Adapted from the work of Geoff Colvin,
Ph.D.
Ethical? Legal? Justifiable?
• If you question whether an emergency
intervention is okay, ask yourself this…
– Would you be comfortable:
• With the filming of you using this intervention?
• With it being featured on national television?
• If someone else used it on your
child/niece/nephew?
Memo 6361
Sponsored by the
Division of Special
Education
• Nonviolent Crisis
Intervention (NCI)
• Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA)
• ED Special Day Program
teacher training
• Strengthening Our
Behavior Skills (SOBS)
– for special education
assistants/trainees
• After School Behavior
Clinics
• On-line Classroom
Management
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Behavior Support for you!
Memo 6361
Web Based Learning / Recorded Virtual Class
Fundamentals of CHAMPs and Discipline in the Secondary ...
CHAMPs Course 2: Vision, Organization, and Expectations ::
Discipline in the Secondary Classroom (DSC) Course 2: V... ::
CHAMPs Course 3: Motivation, Correction Procedures, and... ::
DSC Course 3: Motivation, Correction Procedures, and Cl... ::
CHAMPs Course 4: Boosting Classroom Management: The Pow... ::
DSC Course 4: Boosting Classroom Management: The Power ... ::
Behavior Support for you!
Behavior Support Flipbooks
http://sped.lausd.net/instruction/behavior-support
For additional information please contact:
Jacqueline Mora
[email protected]
213-241-8164
Laura Zeff
[email protected]
213-241-8167
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