Self Monitoring (combined with polite phrasing, etc)
 

Before I even met Dayvon or knew that he would be my future student, he somehow always became the center of discussion during student case conferencing or simply over a cup of coffee amongst the teacher’s. When his name appeared on my roster this fall, I was forewarned by several teacher’s to “keep an eye” on him and to make sure I regularly called home to update his mother on Dayvon’s current behavior within the classroom. With this list of “bewares,” I felt that I had already established a personal relationship with this rabble-rousing student. However, at the same time, it also seemed unfair that because this student earned himself a reputation during his angst filled freshman year, this label should follow him and spill into his new, fresh start as a sophomore. As a special educator are we not instructed to deconstruct destructive labels and build confidence within our student’s through positive reinforcement?

 During the first week of school I knew I had met my challenge for the year. Dayvon is definitely by far one of the more unique teenagers that I have encountered to date. He is a heavy set, 15-year-old boy surrounded by and swimming in roundness. His face is so chubby you can barely make out the inset of his light blue eyes, yet his thick, full, rotund lips command attention, somehow detailing every aspect of his child-like facial features. His oversized belly protrudes out like the Pillsbury Dough boy; constantly bumping into anything it can get a hold of. By all means Dayvon relies on and uses immensely all of his physical attributes, whether it be through his body language (all five senses) or speaking to define his character in and outside of the classroom. Although Dayvon might be described in a nutshell as a classic troublemaker with severe ADHD, I happen to find his quick-witted humor and attitude toward life amusing at worst and charming at best. As his teacher then, my goal becomes to somehow bring his overall positive nature and his disturbing, annoying and distractive behavior within the classroom setting into one functioning entity in any social setting.

 According to Mary Beth Hewitt (see www.behavioradvisor.com link titled “Testing the limits”), within the first week of school Dayvon had completely skipped over “The Honeymoon Phenomenon,” apparently in no urgency to illustrate his best behavior for his new teacher. Displaying multiple problematic behaviors that I knew needed to be nipped in the behind sooner rather than later, Dayvon was in the “Limit Testing” frame of mind trying to determine what my classroom “behavioral safety gap” temperature gage was set to (“Testing,” 1). Rather than allow him to take control of our classroom dynamics, I made the immediate decision to start applying Faber and Mazlish’s famous “Describing the Problem” solution.  Specifically, I focused on addressing Dayvon’s cursing, constant walking around the room and continuous ream of excuses, which had shifted quickly into second gear by the second week of school. Involved in this behavior modification tactic are not only describing what one sees, but also giving information, saying your thoughts in a word, talking about your own feelings and writing a note (Faber & Mazlish, 1980, 56). Unsure of how to start this process with Dayvon in hopes of effectively engaging his cooperation, I wrote him a short and sweet detailed note in his class journal, explaining what I had been observing with respect to his behavior in the classroom for the past few weeks.  My message stated: “Dayvon – It has been a pleasure to have you in my class. In hopes to continue forward on a positive note this term, I think it will help if we replace curse words with appropriate words as well stay focused in our seats during the lesson to avoid confusion later on. Let’s work on achieving these goals together!” Within this note I set a tone and level of expectation for Dayvon’s behavior in my class. Not only did I try and describe the problem by giving him information on how a smooth class should run, I applied all “I” statements in order to avoid attacking Dayvon’s character and behavior. This ultimately reinforces Faber and Mazlish’s point that “the best part of using descriptive language is that it takes out the finger pointing and accusation, and helps everyone focus on what needs to be done” (1980, 79).  Unfortunately, my lofty hopes were simply that - Dayvon understood my intentions and made it a point to utilize his constant excuse technique to excuse himself from my expectations within the note. Upon reading the note, Dayvon attracts my attention by waving the sticky note in the air (during silent journaling) and states matter of factly, “Yo, Miss – I have this problem. I can’t stay focused because I have ADHD. I can’t help getting out of my seat. I need to move this fatness. And my cursing? I can’t help that either.” Of course this comment draws everyone’s attention in the class, creating momentary chaos and distraction, with a few chuckles, all the meanwhile, Dayvon is sitting in his seat smiling at me fully aware of what he has done – maintained control of over our classroom situation.

 With one strike against me, I continued to apply Faber and Mazlish’s “Describing the Problem” tactic; however, this time around I chose to use the one-word-statement (short statements) approach in addition to applying self-monitoring techniques. Aware of Dayvon’s crafty, perceptive intelligence I knew I had to be creative in my own behavior modification strategies. I pulled him out of his science class and told him I had a very serious task for him to complete during our English class that day. I explained that the school was requiring factual data from every English teacher in the building based on how frequently student’s curse in the classroom. In order to diffuse any of his inquiries, I elaborated by stating that it was either the teacher’s role to record the findings or, if they were unable to take time out of the class to do this secretly, the teacher needed to appoint a trustworthy student to do the recording. At this point I knew I was on to something because Dayvon’s eyes lit up like a full moon and a huge grin broadened across his face. To solidify this plan, I let Dayvon know that I believe he has true leadership skills inside of him that surface on occasion, yet now it is time to put this recognition into realization through his actions. What better time than now to start these processes by helping me do research for the school? Dayvon immediately signed on to this assignment eagerly. I prepped him for his role in the class that day and he followed through like a pro. For the entire period he sat in a corner of the room with a clipboard and literally tallied on a chart the frequency with which his peers cursed during the 40 minutes of instruction. I was able to get through an entire lesson that day with much thanks to Dayvon staying focused, seated and quiet. Finally, a success!

Following this, I made sure that Dayvon and I had time to debrief and discuss his findings that day. When he reported the data, it was incredible to witness his own shock at the enormity of cursing by his peers, which ultimately forced him to be self-reflective about his own choice of language. At one point Dayvon stated: “Miss., half the time I wasn’t sure what they’se sayin’ in the class. They be cursing every other word.” I thought it was a great time to ask Dayvon to provide his own suggestions to help remedy this lack of constructive communication within our class. Unsure of ideas, I offered that possibly we could create a list of “buzz words” that can replace curse words and effectively relay the individual’s thoughts in an educated manner. The following day Dayvon proudly presented his findings from the previous day to the class, including his statement about his peers not making sense as they spoke. While his peers were listening intently I introduced our new list of “buzz words,” again explaining the purpose and goal for using these words (e.g. “Please be quiet,” “Please leave me alone,” “Why did you do that?” “I wish you would…” etc.) within the school. There were several moans and groans in the background, yet expecting this reaction, I built in an external incentive for the class. Based on a weekly tally that the paraprofessional agreed to keep, if the class as a whole uses more “buzz words” to curse words they earn a treat on Friday. The catch is that they must beat their previous weeks score in order to receive a snack of their choice the following week. Unaware of it at that time, this informal class contract we devised is what Fred Roemer terms “whole class self-monitoring.”  Whole class self-monitoring is defined as “…an adaptation of individual self-monitoring techniques developed to increase self-control in at-risk students” (“What Is,” http://www.pb5th.com/selfmoni.shtml). Consequently, through Dayvon’s self-reflection of himself and his peers in the classroom, he agreed to try and modify one of his problematic behaviors. Our class has used this behavior management system since the beginning of October and the changes are incredible! Although it was a slow process, requiring me to constantly say “buzz word, please,” during the class, my kids are beginning to recognize how uneducated they sound when every other word out of their mouth is a curse. They make an honest effort to correct their statement and more importantly the kids are monitoring one another when one of them curses through imitating my statement, “buzz word, please” to remind their peer of the infraction. In a way, the initial “buzz word” phrase that I initiated to point out inappropriate language created a rippling effect in the class, encouraging the kids to rethink their choice of words. I am also aware that one of my goals as a special educator is to move away from rewarding student behavior with external incentives, yet, as the saying goes, “you have to take ten steps back in order to take one step forward.” In all honesty, this is where I am with Dayvon and several of his peers– at least it’s a start in the process toward developing self-management skills.

Additionally, in order to manage Dayvon’s inattentive behavior and constant walking around, we have devised several choices that he is able to choose from based on how he feels that day. For example, Dayvon knows to excuse himself with the bathroom pass before his behavior escalates and to return when he is mentally ready to rejoin our class. If it reaches the point in which I have to say the one word statement “bathroom,” he needs to automatically leave and upon returning, if he cannot handle himself, there is one seat that is always available set apart from the rest of his peers for Dayvon to sit in. Secondly, I also rely on using short statements to realign his focus by saying, “McDonald’s,” “Dayvon, board,” and “Dayvon, later.” Interestingly enough, he chose the phrase “McDonald” himself one day while we were conferencing because it is his favorite place to eat. I was concerned that this phrase would cause distraction so I let him know that the minute he starts using this phrase as a springboard for jokes about his fatness, he would receive an automatic school write-up and not receive credit for the day. Additionally, one of his peers he feels comfortable with (who is also a behavioral issue) was overhearing this conversation and I took the chance to ask the two of them if they might try to help monitor one another to improve their behavior? They both took to this task, picked the word “basketball,” for Terrance and decided that their second job within our classroom was to observe and correct each others choices and behaviors by stating the choice phrase and leave it at that. To my surprise, this peer buddy support system is fairly successful, except for the occasional moment when these catch phrases turn into a back and forth game, distracting the entire class during instruction.

 Lastly, as a result of the tremendous success from assigning Dayvon the role as observer within our class previously, I still use this approach at any time with Dayvon, especially on those exceptionally difficult behavioral days. For every time he sits in his reporter seat, he is assigned a new, specific task to focus on and record. Consequently, to date, Dayvon has literally created a binder of classroom observations that have formed into a progressive assessment of his developing recorder/reporter skills. To ensure that Dayvon is accountable for his observations, at every debriefing he is always prepared to share suggestions to remedy the problems he noted, or he assesses the antecedents to his peer’s behavior. Ultimately, these observations have served as a strong self-monitoring strategy to help shape those more desired behaviors from Dayvon because he usually relates a particular situation to his own life, revealing why he follows through with certain actions within school.

Furthermore, in terms of modifying particular problematic behaviors, the one area of concern with Dayvon that I have been trying to address and resolve, yet with little success, are his never ending excuses that revolve around his ADHD and his “roundness.” As I mentioned before, it seems that Dayvon’s identity and security exist within and are defined by his behavioral disorder and plumpness. When he doesn’t feel up to participating in class, he’ll remark in a drawn out, overemphasized manner: “Miss., I can’t help it. My fatness weighs me down. I’m so tiiirreddd. My extra layers make me sweat like a slave. I need to rest.” This single statement in itself is problematic and yet the creative edge to the excuse makes it even more difficult for me to resist the urge to laugh, literally excusing him from the expectation to work by my own snickering. Regardless of the situation, in some way, shape or form Davyon centers his entire being around his fatness getting in the way, particularly when it comes time to focus in an academic setting. Overall, Dayvon is the epitome of that one self-prophesizing, special education student who uses his labels throughout his daily interactions, constantly supporting and proving why he needs the additional support within school in the first place.

As aforementioned, before I even knew what Dayvon looked like or that he would be my very own student, I felt like I already knew him on an individual level due to the numerous and infamous stories that surrounded his character. To my fortunate surprise, Dayvon and I work well together, having established early on a mutual level of respect for each other’s role within the school. I cannot say I don’t still hear those notorious stories over a weak cup of coffee or that they don’t occur within my own classroom, yet for me my goal to modify Dayvon’s behavior through various self-management techniques has been a positively rewarding challenge this fall. Although the improvements may occur in small baby steps, the point is that Dayvon is developing life-long, constructive skills that will never disappear once they’re established within his toolbox of preferred behaviors. Whether it be Dayvon making classroom observations, chewing gum to minimize his talking, assigning him additional duties to stay focused or playing soft background music to calm him, it rarely takes more than a quick glance or statement for him to register that his choice of behavior is inappropriate and must be replaced. I cannot express enough how often I find a teacher coming to me saying, “I’m not sure what it is that you do with that Dayvon, but the kids tell me that he behaves in your class!”  There’s really no secret except to say that I refuse to deny Dayvon the ability to express his inherently funny nature within our class, so long as it’s channeled and acceptable. There is always room for humor in the classroom!

References
Faber, A. & Mazlish, E. (1980) How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will
 Listen. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Hewitt, MB. “After the Honeymoon: Testing the Limits.” Retrieved December 10, 2004
 from http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDCSPC715_ MCINTYRE/
 HoneyMoonTesting.

McIntyre, T. (2003). The Behavior Survival Guide For Kids. Minneapolis, MN: Free
 Spirit Publishing.

Roemer, F. (1997-2004). Whole Class Self-Monitoring. Retrieved December 10, 2004
 from http://www.pb5th.com/selfmoni.shtml.

Megan Vail is a graduate student in the Department of Special Education at Hunter College.

Thanks Megan!

Posted on 1/25/05