As teachers, we always start the school year off with setting rules and expectations for student behaviors… for a good reason. But, often times, rules and expectations can be hard to maintain, especially when dealing with students with disabilities. The more severe the disability and/or behavior, the harder it is to maintain rules and expectations. The question of how much they understand, what they comprehend, and whether they can learn, becomes the excuse for whether rules and expectations are understood and followed. Teachers become frustrated and inevitably modify them or give up on them completely. An attitude of just getting through the school day becomes the mantra!
There are a number of reasons we can argue why rules and expectations are often unsuccessful: inconsistency in the implementation, lack of enforcement, rules and expectations are unclear, and what I listed above. As teachers we are sometimes given the necessary tools to successfully implement rules and expectations. Trainings on behaviors and classroom management highlights what it takes to successfully manage behaviors and the classroom through rules and expectations. Often times, the focus is more often on positive reinforcement, and less on consequences. Here in lies the problem!
The success for implementing rules and expectations lies not in any of the above, but largely in how well one implements consequences. As teachers, we are often pros at establishing positive reinforcements, but not so much at implementing negative ones. You can have all the rules put in place, but they don’t make a difference if there are no consequences to back them up, especially when it comes to negative behaviors.
Students, even those with severe disabilities, need to learn that there are consequences to every decision they make and action they take. Negative consequences lets your student know that you do not like what he/she has done, teaches right from wrong, establishes clear boundaries, and, they learn self-discipline. I remember a behavior therapist telling me that he believes one of the biggest problems in dealing with our students and negative behaviors is that our students do not know when they are “in trouble.” That we as teachers and parents do not draw a firm line between what is acceptable behavior and expectations, and what isn’t. That our body language, facial expressions, and words do not demonstrate what it should. As I learned from him, I realized he was right!
I had a student who would give us grief going on the potty. We treated her behavior with “if, then”. If she was a good girl getting on and off the potty, then she would get her bubbles (her favorite activity). Needless to say, that didn’t work. Why, because we realized that although she lost her bubbles for not going on the potty, she earned them later for having a good day or doing something else that was asked of her (the idea of positive consequences). So, in essence, there was no real negative consequence for her potty behavior! What we learned to do was establish bubbles as her reward for toileting only. If she did not demonstrate appropriate toileting behaviors, she lost her bubbles. Her only opportunity to earn bubbles would be during the second toileting. If she did not earn bubbles then, she did not have bubbles for that day, period. That worked!
Another student loved to walk around the classroom and her home. In the classroom, she would go around knocking items off of our desks, counters, and tables, and destroying the blinds. At home, she would do the same. Originally, the game plan was she would lose the privilege to walk around when engaging in those behaviors, but could gain the privilege back later in the school day, after all, we are taught more about implementing positive consequences. But, that wasn’t working. So, the new game plan was free time to walk around after lunch. Engage in inappropriate behaviors, and the privilege is lost for the rest of the afternoon. Yep, that didn’t take long for her to catch on!
Negative consequences, when implemented appropriately and responsibly, can make a tremendous difference between successful execution of classroom rules, expectations, and the management of behaviors.