Location
Rural Strand - Bowie C
Focused Area
Improving School Climate for Youth-At-Risk
Relevance to Focused Area
This workshop ties directly into the “School Climate” theme. By helping staff effectively manage misbehaviors before they become full-blown crises, the content strengthens attendees’ skills in creating physically safe and emotionally secure learning environments.
Primary Strand
Safety & Violence Prevention
Relevance to Primary Strand
This workshop relates directly to the "Safety and Violence Prevention" strand. It teaches staff how to respond calmly and professionally to situations which verge on dangerous, de-escalating them verbally and preventing unnecessary physical interventions. It also teaches them to recognize when we as adults make situations worse by engaging in angry power struggles.
Brief Program Description
Educators and support staff are often called upon to handle serious problem behaviors. It can be tempting to react to all misbehavior with strict discipline, an approach that often alienates at-risk students. This practical, highly interactive workshop first offers staff a logical decision-making model, then explores two psychological sources of problem behaviors, offering specific strategies for each.
Summary
On any given day, staff who work with troubled children and youth may be called upon to deal with a wide range of behavior problems. Most are mildly distracting or disruptive, such as refusal to work or teasing peers. Some are destructive or even truly dangerous, such as property damage or physical fights.
Most professionals would agree that staff must provide a consistent front when dealing with problem behaviors. Yet because we come from such different personal and professional backgrounds, we may disagree on how (or even if) to discipline misbehaving children. Without a common framework to guide behavior management decisions, staff are all too likely to react to problems based on their separate personal and professional perspectives, leading to divisiveness and inconsistency.
This practical and interactive workshop first presents the “Therapeutic Behavior Management” (TBM) model, a decision-making guide which guides staff to assess behavior first by its danger level, then its psychological source. “Deliberate misbehaviors” are those which fill students’ social needs (Glasser) and usually benefit from rules-based behavior management strategies. By contrast, “emotional” problems are those which stem from overwhelming stress (Long), and often respond better to relationship-based counseling strategies.
These simple but profound concepts are reinforced using colorful visuals, clear examples, and entertaining video clips, then applied to scenarios based on attendees’ own experiences. Participants receive a useful handout, and electronic access to a valuable article summarizing the content, both of which they may freely share with colleagues. (Note: While this workshop is based on the presenter’s TBM school crisis intervention program, the session is purely educational in nature.)
Evidence
This workshop offers information and insights grounded in research by Drs. William Glasser (Reality Therapy/Choice Theory) and Nicholas Long (Conflict Cycle). The practical application of such theory is based on the presenter’s 25+ years of classroom instruction, research, training, and university teaching. In addition, schools and agencies using the author’s crisis intervention program (on which this workshop is based) have consistently reported a reduction in unusual incidents, including physical restraints, in the first year following implementation.
Format
Individual Presentation
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Steve Parese began his career as a wilderness counselor and special educator, working special needs youth in a variety of therapeutic, community, and correctional settings. Since leaving his teaching position at George Washington University in 1998, Steve has become a well known international speaker and author. He specializes in crisis intervention and crisis counseling for agencies serving at-risk youth, as well as workforce development for organizations serving challenging adults.
Start Date
10-24-2016 10:00 AM
End Date
10-24-2016 11:30 AM
Recommended Citation
Parese, Steve B. Ed.D., "“Stop That!” Therapeutically Managing Misbehavior in School." (2016). National Youth-At-Risk Conference, West (2015-2017). 4.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_vegas/2016/rural/4
“Stop That!” Therapeutically Managing Misbehavior in School.
Rural Strand - Bowie C
Educators and support staff are often called upon to handle serious problem behaviors. It can be tempting to react to all misbehavior with strict discipline, an approach that often alienates at-risk students. This practical, highly interactive workshop first offers staff a logical decision-making model, then explores two psychological sources of problem behaviors, offering specific strategies for each.
