When supporting a student with challenging behaviors, it can be difficult to know what behaviors to address first. The learners we are most concerned about typically don’t have just a few behaviors we feel need changing, they most often have many. Changing 10, 15, or 20 behaviors can quickly become an impossible task to take on all at once. Not only would it be exhausting for one person to support this in the context of a classroom, the rate of redirections and negative interactions with the student would be extremely high which would cause the student-educator relationship to go south. When that relationship goes south, everything can fall apart.
Educators must give themselves permission to take on what will be realistic and effective. There is a need to prioritize. Like Oprah once said, “You can have it all, just not all at once.” We can ultimately address many behaviors over a long period of time, but we must chip away at them one project at a time. Start out by making a list of every behavior you would like your student of concern to change, make sure they are described as both measurable and observable. Next, imagine moving each of those behaviors into one of three cardboard boxes.
In the first box you are going to place the behaviors that you feel absolutely need to be addressed right now. It may be an urgent matter of safety, dignity, or disruption to the learning environment. These are the behaviors you are going to focus all your collaboration and planning around right now. It is here where you will go deep into antecedent supports, skill development, function, reinforcement, and data collection. Only a max of two behaviors can fit in this box, so prioritize carefully.
In the second box you are going to put the behaviors for which you have a very clear understanding of why and when they happen. You are going to alter the circumstances so the triggers that lead to these behaviors never come up. If it is a student with ADHD who typically starts having a hard time after 40 minutes of seat work because they need to move, you are going to make sure they are up and moving every 20 minutes. If it is a student who always starts hitting a particular peer when they are seated together, you are going to make sure they sit on opposite sides of the classroom. Whatever it is that brings about the behavior, you are going to plan for that not to happen. It does not teach the student a new skill, but it allows you the chance to prioritize supporting the behaviors in the first box.
In the third box you are going to put the behaviors you find somewhat disruptive, maybe a little annoying, but for right now you are going to be like Elsa and just “Let It Go!” It is not that you are ok with these behaviors remaining in play forever, but you again are giving yourself permission to take on what will be realistic and effective. Over time as behaviors in the first box make a change for the better you can systemically move behaviors over from the second and third box so they also can be addressed. Until that time when they are ready to be unpacked, keep those behaviors boxed up and stored away in your mind. Prioritize what you will address today and trust that over time your impact will be tremendous.
