Today's soundtrack is Les Discrets: Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées, and Nevermore: The Obsidian Conspiracy.
May the Fourth be with you, and also with you. Today's post will be longer than normal, and it is an especially fun one for me: Today is a self-directed Pro-D day, which means I get to research things that will help me in my position in the school district. I'll be doing readings from several sources: A.H. Maslow: The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, the CPI's Nonviolent Crisis Intervention handbook, Bentzen's Seeing Young Children: A Guide to Observing and Recording Behavior, and Suzanne M. Buchanan's Applied Behavior Analysis & Autism: An Introduction.
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Handbook
As a student's crisis development/behaviours change, so should our attitudes and approaches. If a student is exhibiting anxiety, we must be supportive. If a student is defensive, we must be directive. If a student is exhibiting risk behaviour, we should use physical intervention. Once the student de-escalates and exhibits tension reduction, our approach should be establishing therapeutic rapport.
There are three kinds of communication that we use with our students: nonverbal, paraverbal, and verbal.
It is important that we consider our nonverbal communication when working with students. There are three major components of nonverbal communication: proxemics (personal space), kinesics (body language), and haptics (communication through touch). We should use the "Supportive Stance" (p. 8) and consider our position (orientation), our posture, and our proximity to the other person. We must appear nonthreatening to avoid escalating situations.
Paraverbal communication is made up of three parts: tone, volume, and cadence.
In verbal communication, we follow the "Verbal Escalation Continuum" (p. 11). If a student is threatening us, we must take threats seriously and seek assistance. If a student exhibits an emotional and verbal outburst, we must allow the student to vent, preferably without an outside audience. If a student is being noncompliant, we should set limits and redirect the student's focus to the thing we want them to focus on. If the student is questioning for the purpose of finding out more information, give them the information that they are looking for. If a student is questioning for the purpose of challenging or engaging in a power struggle, downplay the challenge, stick to the topic, and set limits. Finally, as mentioned before, if a student exhibits a drop in energy after an escalation, reestablish communication in a positive way.
We set limits to make clear a student's choices and consequences in a situation. We must keep directions simple and clear, we must be reasonable in what we request, and we must only set limits and consequences that are enforceable. There are three approaches that we can use to set limits: the "Interrupt and Redirect pattern[, the] When and Then Pattern[, and the] If and Then Pattern" (p. 12).
When students are talking to us, we must be empathetic listeners. To be an empathetic listener, we must be "nonjudgemental[, give] undivided attention[, ]listen carefully[, ...]allow silence for reflection[, and] restate and paraphrase" (p. 13).
We are part of our students' environment. Our behaviour will influence their behaviours; likewise, theirs should influence ours: remember the appropriate responses to escalating behaviours that I mentioned in the first paragraph of this section. This is called the "Integrated Experience" (p. 15). We recognize that setting events (called Precipitating Factors in this book) will influence a student's behaviours; we must recognize that our own ability to detach, to maintain professionalism, to depersonalize crisises, and to address factors that lead up to criseses will help us to avoid being part of the problem.
When in crisis situations, adrenaline can have six effects on us: it can make us freeze, overreact, or respond inappropriately; conversely, it can give us increased speed and strength, increased sensory acuity, and decreased reaction time. Through training for crisis situations, we can condition ourselves to slip into the latter three states when a crisis emerges.
We use the decision making matrix, a 3x3 nine-square grid, to determine the seriousness of a risk. We consider the potential impact of the risk and the likelihood of the risk behaviour transpiring. FOr example, if a student bites his hand multiple times a day without breaking the skin, it's a high likelihood, but low impact - so it is a low risk. If a student is in grade eight and punched a staff member in the head once in grade five and once in grade seven, it is a high impact risk, but low likelihood - so it is a low risk. If, on the other hand, a student is known to try to poke others in the face with scissors whenever he finds them, that is a high likelihood and high impact risk, so it is a high risk.
When a student has escalated into the zone of risk behaviour and has grabbed a staff member or is actively trying to harm the staff member, we must use our disengagement skills to remove ourselves from the situation. Firstly, we should use the supportive stance to ensure we minimize our risk of getting into these situations; secondly, we must remember the three methods of getting out of a physical hold: "hold and stabilize, push/pull, and lever" (p. 21).
Once a crisis is past, it is important to debrief with all people involved. The book uses the acronym "CONTROL. First we give control back to the individual: CONTROL: Ensure that emotional and physical control is regained
ORIENT yourself to the basic facts
PATTERNS: Look for patterns or triggers for the behavior
INVESTIGATE alternatives to the behavior
NEGOTIATE future approaches, expectations, and behavior
GIVE control back; provide support and encouragement" (p. 47).
To give control back to staff:
"CONTROL: Ensure that emotional and physical control is regained
ORIENT yourself to the basic facts
PATTERNS: Look for patterns in staff responses to the behavior
INVESTIGATE ways to tstrengthen staff responses
NEGOTIATE changes that will improve future interventions
GIVE support and encouragement" (p. 47).
A.H. Maslow: The Farther Reaches of Human Nature - Chapter 1: "Toward a Humanistic Biology"
I bought this book because I wanted to find out more about the works of the man behind the Heirarchy of Needs. I am looking forward to finding out what insights Maslow can give as to what behaviours we exhibit as we pursue self-actualization, and what behaviours we might default to when we find ourselves stuck at one of the lower levels of the pyramid.
Maslow starts his book by addressing the same problem that Watson brought up in his essay "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It," which I summarized in my last nonfiction blog post: Psychology was too restrictive to answer the questions that Maslow wanted to ask. Maslow said that he "was raising legitimate questions and had to invent another approach to psychological problems in order to deal with them" (p. 3). Maslow, writing approximately half a century later than Watson, identified three factions of psychology: "First is the behavioristic, objectivistic, mechanistic, positivistic group. Second is the whole cluster of psychologies that originated in Freud and in psychoanalysis. And there there are the humanistic psychologies, [...] a coalescence into a single philosophy of various splinter groups in psychology" (p. 4). Ah! So here we see - Watson did it! Though Maslow may have found behaviorism too constricting for what he wanted to study, behavioristic psychology was at this point named and created!
Maslow did not want to pigeonhole himself. He wanted to be neither identified as "being either pro-Freudian or anti-Freudian" (p. 4). He saw himself as "Freudian and [...] behavioristic and [...] humanistic" (p. 4); in fact, he believed he was on the cusp of developing a fourth psychology: a "transendence" (p. 4) of the others. Maslow says that "experiencing is only the beginning of knowledge (necessary but not sufficient), and [...] the advancement of knowledge, that is, a much broadened science, is our only ultimate hope" (p. 4). Thus, it is better for all of us to integrate the best parts of all of the psychologies.
Maslow recognized that in his work he was functioning more as a lone pioneer than as a a classic scientist who spends his time "applying, validating, checking, verifying" (p. 4). Maslow said that "[t]he pioneer [...] has to be a courageous man, [...] not afraid even to make mistakes[. ... H]e is of course scared of his own ideas, [...] and is well aware that he is affirming what he cannot prove" (p. 4). Thus Maslow admits that he is in this book "presenting personal hunches, and affirmations" (p. 5).
Maslow questions the notion that the human sciences must have clean data and be "value-free, value-neutral, value-avoiding" (p. 5). Does it make sense to remove the humanity from the science that observes humans? He says that "this value-free philosophy of science [is] unsuitable for human questions, where personal values, purposes and goals, intentions and plans are absolutely crucial for the understanding of any person, and even for the classical goals of science, prediction, and control" (p. 5). Maslow says that it is time that the question of whether pure chance is at work in evolution is removed from the study of human development, as "[i]t is absolutely impossible to say that a man becomes a good physician by pure chance" (p. 5). Thus, he says, he is not bothering to argue any more about "mechanical determinism" (p. 5).
Maslow proposed studying the highest capabilities of humans by involving in studies the "superior specimens" (p. 5) of humankind. He gives an example of what might be found: he personally observed that "psychologically healthy [...] people [...] are better cognizers and perceivers" (p. 5). He wanted to explore "'growing-tip statistics'" (p. 6), to find out in a longitudinal test whether the "the healthiest 2 per cent of our population, a middle 2 percent, and the least healthy 2 per cent" would continue on their path. By studying the top 2 per cent of the population, he would get the answer to his question, "'Of what are human beings capable?'" (p. 6). Maslow here draws a parallel: if we want to find out how tall humans can grow, are we going to pick a random sample of people, or are we going to compare the tallest people we can find? If we want to find the world's fastest person, are we going to compare a sample from the street, or are we going to compare Olympic athletes? Maslow raises a fascinating point: in the past, we have revered the top performers not as superior samples but as "supernaturally endowed" (p. 7); he wants us to recognize them for what they are and to learn from them.
Maslow said that "the actualization of the highest human potentials is possible [...] only under 'good conditions'" (p. 7). To foster good growth opportunities, we must have a good society, which Maslow identifies thus: "'[T]hat society is good which fosters the fullest development of human potentials, of the fullest degree of humanness'" (p. 7). What does this mean for scientists? "[O]nce they have accepted as their obligation the develeopment of the good specimen, then it becomes equally their scientific obligation to study all those conditions that conduce to the development of the good specimen, and to those conditions that inhibit such development" (p. 8).
Maslow credits Aristotle as saying that "[w]hat the superior man thinks is good, athat is what is really good" (p. 9); so, we should seek the opinions of the healthiest people as to what humanity's needs are, much as we seek the advice of an art expert before buying, or of a wine expert before tasting, or of an interior decorator before painting, as experts are "less susceptible to fads and fashions than average people are" (p. 9). Maslow notes that psychologically healthy people are much more sure about right and wrong, and - most vital of all - in the study that Maslow performed, "they tended to agree about what was right and wrong" (p. 9)! So ultimately, Maslow's goal is "taking superior people who are also superior perceivers not only of facts but of values, and then using their choices of ultimate values as possibly the ultimate values for the whole species" (p. 9). Why must we take this action? Maslow says that "we have come to the point in biological history where we are now responsible for our own evolution" (p. 10).
Maslow was fascinated with what was at the time of his writing a new science: the correlation between the body and mind, as observed by brain scans and electrodes. Scientists had recently learned that if they hooked up electrodes to the brains of rats who had the ability to perform an action that would trigger the electrodes, they would perform the action over and over again, neglecting all else: food, sleep, and sex. In another experiment, a scientist named Kamiya found that by using an EEG and operant conditioning, he could train people to get their alpha wave frequency to a point that produced a feeling of happiness and serenity. Interestingly, some people who had studied meditation could already spontaneously reach that alpha frequency through meditation. What this means is that we can "teach people how to feel happy and serene" (p. 11), meaning that we can now bridge the mind-body gap.
What though should we make of the "pleasures" desired by "sadists, perverts, masochists" (p. 12)? Maslow says that "the so-called 'pleasures' of perversion or murder or sadism or fetishism are not 'pleasures' in the same sense that is indicated in [the experiments mentioned above]" (p. 13); rather, "underlying the neurotic 'pleasures' [...] is actually a great deal of anguish, pain, and fear" (p. 13). Many people can identify both healthy and unhealthy pleasures; they "practically always report preference for [the healthy pleasures]" (p. 13).
All this being said, Maslow says that the data that he's seen points to a healthier society being formed by its inhabitants being given the opportunity of "self-regulation, self-government, self-choice" (p. 13). We should "[trust] [...] the child's own impulses toward growth and self-actualization" (p. 13), which means that we should focus more "on spontaneity and on autonomy rather than on prediction and external control" (p. 13); after all, our goal is self-actualization of the most number of people possible, and to reach that point, humans "prefer to feel free and to be free" (p. 13). We as the experts must take a Taoistic approach: "asking rather than telling[, ... being] nonintruding, noncontrolling" (p. 14). If we want to find "what is best for [human children, ...] the best technique for finding out what is best for them is to develop techniques for getting them to tell us what is best for them" (p. 14). Maslow believes that a good example of this is the psychotherapist who is there "to help the patient--inarticulate, unconscious, semi-conscious--to discover what is inside of him, the patient" (p. 14). But what of the patient who does not want to be healthy? Maslow says that we can "consider masochism, suicidal impulses, self-punishment, and the like as [...] ineffective, clumsy gropings toward health" (p. 15).
Maslow observed that being objective and detached "gets more and more difficult as we go up on the phyletic scale" (p. 16). If we can recognize this instead of ignoring it, we will be better able to perform research. But rather than recognizing it and then factoring for it, Maslow suggests that we can use this our advantage to gain further knowledge on subjects than could a truly objective observer. After all, "loving perception, whether as between sweethearts or as between parents and children, [produces] kinds of knowledge that [are] not to be available to nonlovers" (p. 16), for not only is the observer more likely to spend time examining, but the subject is more likely to let himself be examined. Even more importantly though, Maslow says that "if we love or are fascinated or are profoundly interested, we are less tempted to interfere, to control, to change to improve" (p. 17), which ultimately makes us more objective scientists.
Here, Maslow says that it is time to address the "Big Problems of our time" (p. 18). He says that "it is quite clear that no social reforms, no beautiful constitutions or beautiful programs or laws will be of any consequence unless people are healthy enough, evolved enough, strong enough, good enough to understand them and to want to put them into practice in the right way" (p. 18). To do this, as mentioned before, we must "make the Good Society" (p. 18), as there is an inseperability "between the Good Society and the Good Person" (p. 19). We need to be careful about how we undergo this process, as "it is possible to make social arrangements that will force [...] people into either evil behavior or into good behavior" (p. 19). So ultimately we must consider 1) how do we make the Good Person? 2) how do we make the Good Society? and 3) how to we maintain the human factor in science? For unless we maintain the human factor, we will neglect to recognize the link between psychological factors and physical ailments. In classic health studies, we recognize that if someone exhibits a vitamin deficiency, they need more vitamins. But we must also recognize that not having emotional needs met can also result in physical ailments, and we must consider these too!
Seeing Young Children: A Guide to Observing and Recording Behavior - Chapter 11: "Frequency Counts or Duration Records"
I've chosen to review this chapter in particular because I do a lot of frequency counts in my position, and I want to make sure I stay up-to-date on it.
Frequency counts simply require the observer to mark on a tally sheet each time a particular behaviour is exhibited by the subject. This can be augmented by using the duration record, which also allows the observer to record how long the the behaviour persists for each time. We use frequency counts first to establish baseline behaviours and then to determine how effective a program is at increasing or decreasing that behaviour. Before performing either a frequency count or duration recording, we must clearly define the behaviour that we will be watching for. Both frequency counts and duration records are closed methods of recording, and both are selective, because we "first have to specify what [we are going to count]" (p. 190). We need to use both inferences and definitions "because [we] must define ahead of time what specific behaviors are included in the category [we] want to observe and record" (p. 190). TA big advantage of frequency recording is how simple it is to do. I is easy to set up, and even easier to jot down the tally ticks throughout the day; also, they give "almost immediate quantififiable data" (p. 191). The disadvantage of this form of recording is that it retains no raw data; nothing is known about the behaviour's context, unless supplemented by an ABC chart. Sometimes the frequency of the behaviour is less important than how long it lasts; in those cases, we would use the duration recording sheet.
Applied Behavior Analysis & Autism: An Introduction
The book opens by asserting that "there is solid devidence that early and intensive ABA intervention can produce comprehensive and meaningful improvements for a large proportion of children with autism" (p. 3). Children who receive eclectic treatment saw less improvements in all measured skill areas when compared to "children who participated in intensive behavioral treatment" (p. 4). ABA "uses reinforcement in structured and natural environments to help individuals learn new skills" (p. 7). Behaviour analysts consider the immediate environment of their students to understand their behaviours.
In ABA, we look for the ABCs of behaviours: the antecedent, the behaviour, and the consequence. There are four possible consequences: Positive reinforcement gives something desireable, negative reinforcement removes something undesireable, positive punishment gives something undesireable, and negative punishment takes away something desireable.
In ABA, we use shaping to "gradually teach the learner how to do something better" (p. 16). We use prompts to turn the student in the right direction: prompts are "extra cues or hints" (p. 17). There are several kinds of prompts: physical, gestural, modeling, visual, textual, and verbal. ABA uses Discrete Trial Teaching to teach new skills; it is "very systematic and methodical" (p. 20). There are three components to DTT: A discriminative stimulus (instruction), a response (from the child), and a consequence (our feedback to the child's response). We try to perform errorless learning: we "prevent or interrupt errors whenever possible" (p. 20).
We classify verbal behaviours in one of four ways: echoic behavior is a student's imitation of "a sound, word, or phrase" (p. 23). A mand is the student "making a request or demand" (p. 23) verbally. A tact is the student "labeling something in the environment" (p. 23) verbally. Intraverbal behaviour is a "back and forth conversational exchange; talking about things or people not present" (p. 23).
In ABA, we use task intersperal, which is "mixing known tasks with new tasks" (p. 25) in a natural environment. If we know that a child wants something, we can use incidental teaching by prompting with either a "nonverbal-cue, [... a] verbal cue, [... or a] verbal model" (p. 27). If the we need to build a foundation before the student is ready for verbal communication, we can use the Picture Exchange Communication System.
Sometimes, a task from beginning to end may be too complex for our students to understand. In those cases, we do a task analysis and task chaining: we determine all the parts of the task, then do either a reverse-chain or forward-chain program to teach the steps. We can help our students to be more motivated to perform complex tasks or multi-step tasks by using a token economy. We can help them to get better at performing the tasks more quickly by using Precision Teaching with Rate Building to increase the fluidity and muscle memory required to complete the task.
When unexpected behaviours occur, we can record what happened on an ABC chart and then use a Fuctional Behaviour Assessment to determine what the function of the behaviour was, and then figure out what to do to prevent the behaviour next time.
We use Positive Behaviour Support is a preventative method of minimizing the likelihood of problematic behaviours by identifying situations that are likely to lead to those behaviours and then finding alternatives to those situations before they happen.
Generalization is our ultimate goal when teaching an isolated skill. We want the skill to be used everywhere. We want our students not only to know how to use the toilet independently at school, but also at the mall.
We collect data to learn the baseline behaviours of our students and then to determine how well a program is working for their needs at shaping the behaviour. The most common ways to collect data include frequency, rate, duration, intensity, level, trend, and stability.
