Brad: “I Am Going to Drive You All Crazy”



It happens every year. Right about this time, I begin to hear about the new ninth graders our school will have next fall. Exasperated sighs are quickly followed by rumors and innuendo like “they’ll be adding 15 students to each of our caseloads” and “this one student drove two of the middle-school teachers into early retirement.”

No doubt, even in my short tenure teaching, I’ve seen some hardscrabble ninth graders, many with shaky academics and poor social skills. While I’ve nearly lost my faith a few times, I’m happy to say that I’ve always been willing to search for a seed of optimism.

For example: Last Wednesday, I lost it after a ninth-grade student in my classroom spent 90 minutes waving his hand in the air and making coughing noises to disrupt the class. I told him to go to the hallway, mostly just to give myself a moment to think of what to do next. Within 30 seconds, he rapped at the door, laughing and pointing his finger in the shape of a gun through the window. I fell back on the familiar, the only response I’d been able to quietly model and then teach others. I ignored him.

But as Anthony kicked the door with his sneakers, I admitted to myself that my method wasn’t working — what he was asking for was more attention, not less.

Over the last few weeks, we had tried to give him that through seemingly constant verbal redirection, reprimands, and (mostly empty) threats. As Anthony’s misbehavior became an almost daily occurrence, it seemed to make sense to respond to him less and less. When he misbehaved, I did nothing. And when Anthony was too tired to act out and actually submitted to work, I was quietly amazed and too mentally spent to do anything more than gibber in the relative peacefulness of the classroom. Anthony’s behavior had become the barometer of my mood and held most of my students in a state of consistent anxiety.

Early in the school year, Anthony was suspended for verbal threats and taunting. He returned after one day, and within two class periods he had resumed misbehaving. Soon I was back to my homemade prescription for dealing with his behavior, which included moving him to a more isolated corner of the classroom and keeping logs of his actions to share with his parents. At this point, my daily routines were little more than the quiet acts of desperate teacher. Despite my persistent hope that things would soon change (while Anthony continued to sputter and tick noisily in his chair), I secretly began to believe what he told us all a month ago — and he really said this — “I am going to drive you all crazy.”

I wish I could tell you that I’ve worked with my team, consulted the books, and turned Anthony around so that he’s a pleasure to have in the classroom. But I’ll leave that ending for the fiction writers to work out.

The real ending is that we’ve placed Anthony on a behavior plan based on five points. One point equals a green triangle with a star in it. We give Anthony one green triangle for absolutely any appropriate physical response he displays toward schoolwork or social appropriateness. Triangles with stars are only given, never taken away, and the levels of points correspond to rewards that Anthony and I have agreed upon. For example, five points is a visit to our Assistant Principal with whom he identifies with for some reason and has labeled “The Boss.” Four points is worth 15 minutes of computer time, and two consecutive four points lead to an M&M cookie.

I’ll be honest: We still have a long way to go. The visual point system works inconsistently. There are some days when Anthony doesn’t seem to care at all about the points or the rewards. However, on days that he behaves better, he is rewarded — and the constant delivery of triangles with stars gives him the attention he seeks while connecting educational staff to his appropriate, rather than inappropriate, behaviors.

The other night I was emptying my pockets before hanging up my slacks and I ran into a fistful of green triangles. I dropped them onto the counter and, standing in the half-light of the kitchen, I smiled. Even if they were only little hand-cut triangles, they may as well have been seven seeds of optimism — enough to carry me through another week with my student Anthony.

Questions for educators: Any advice for dealing with a student on the Autism Spectrum who seems to crave near-constant negative attention?
 

Comments

[Jason Tracy]

I was just wondering if you had any updates on how things are going with Anthony? Any other tips or strategies you have been using?

[Sheila O]

I had a student that I placed on a behavior plan for similar behaviors but, still displayed inconsistent behavior even when on the plan. LJ Danzer, Kathleen, and Mary I couldn't have said it better myself. I noticed when I started to give this student more attention the plan became more successful. I ended up using the reward of allowing this student to bring a friend or two to my classroom once a week to have lunch. During this time we would all talk or he could pick an "G" rated movie to bring in to watch. He really appreciated the extra attention and our personal conversations. Brad, you sound like an awesome teacher. Good luck I hope it all works out for you!

[Chris J]

Hi Brad
I am not sure I have any great ideas for you to help in your classroom, but there seems to be a lot of very good ideas for all of us to try. I think the frustrating thing for all of us who work with students on the autism spectrum is there is no one definitive "fix" for the disorder, each student will require a new behavior/incentive plan that works for that individual. I enjoyed how you viewed your little triangles as seeds of optimism, our students are the future and sometimes we need reminders of that.

[Subrinia Cumbo-Williams]

Have a board (place in the classroom that everyone and see) in the classroom that will show his name when he shows positive behavior.

[Kathy]

Regarding the other students: My first year teaching Special Education, I had a student with similar, or more, behaviors. I worked with him, his mother and various people around school. We came up with two rewards he wanted: on good days, I gave him a note to take to the principal who wrote a note home and gave him a piece of sour licorice. After 4 good days...or the Friday after, I got him a soda (this was before soda was outlawed on campus). It started working, but then my other students started getting irate: "We have to put up with him, why does he get the soda?" I agreed with them and we changed the deal. When he got four stamps (or whatever) he earned the class a soda party (8 minutes at the end of class.) It made everyone happy and he was working for more than himself.

[Mary]

Sometimes when you can't find any good behavior to comment on you can pay the student positive attention anyway by just "noticing" them. Say "Anthony, I noticed you have on a Red Sox shirt today, I noticed that" and then nothing. Every day, you can "notice" something about him and let him know he is not invisiable nor does he have to work so hard to be noticed.

[L Villaume]

Talk to the student privately. Connect. Find out if you did something to deserve the disruption. Fix it with him. Always gain connection with the power in you room. Find out what interests him, is he not wanting to learn what you have to offer? Then, differentiate, find out what skills this kid has and help him take off.

[Eleanorkrall]

It might work for him to be able to tune out the classroom and listen to music on headphones in a corner or space in the classroom where he is not distracting anyone else and can focus on his own work. This is a strategy sometimes used for students with ADHD who have trouble focusing their attention on one thing at a time.

[Mrs. Rose Moore]

I really wish that parents would invite teachers to their home for dinner like in the Olden Days (I'm 63 years old). Alot of behaviors that happen in school are probably happening at home. A good, see the whole picture, of this child is how he acts at home and once you see this than everyone can be on the same page at the same time. It's good to take the solving of problems outside the school in the child's own environment. If you are having all these problems than you can just imagine what the parents are going through. Just a thought and thinking outside the box.

[Kathleen Harden]

Brad, if Anthony craves attention, try giving him "attention" as a reinforcer. Have him work for the things that salve his need for attention (he should choose): 1) time to tell a joke to the class; 2) time to explain a concept that is being practiced; 3) time to student-tutor someone who is struggling on a skill Anthony can already do well; 4) time to tell the class a story (about something that happened to him, a show/movie he saw on TV, a new video game he got/played/wishes he had, etc.); 5) time to sing a song/dance/show off karate moves/or other physical skill for the class. Asking Anthony what attention he would like the most will make this a very easy job. Often, the misbehavior shouldn't be distinquished; rather it should be "channeled" into an appropriately-used behavior instead.

Only you can tell what is going to work well in your situation as you have to buy into it as much as Anthony does. But be certain Anthony KNOWS exactly what the behavior you like LOOKS LIKE and DOESN'T LOOK LIKE. Kids on the spectrum often don't know this - even if it's been "said" to them over and over again. "Oh, he knows!" is not appropriate. SHOW HIM! Show him what to do, what NOT to do, and what to do to replace the urges he has to misbehave in that/those ways. He may not know that!!!!! Kids on the spectrum don't learn the same ways - even about appropriate social behavior!

Good luck and keep strong, Brad. Things can only get better because you are focusing on them.

[Brad]

I am grateful for all the great comments. I have so many new strategies to try with this student. It's quite amazing to have so many suggestions. This has really helped me to remain focused on my task and my relationship with this student. Thank you all.

[LJ Danzer]

I would suggest a multitude of things.

1. Find out what Anthony is interested in and use it. This can be through a positive behavior plan or curriculum based. So for example, if he really likes car magazines, let him work for time to read them or have him read a magazine and write his "book report" on that.

2. Increase the positive attention you give him. You seem pretty sure that he is craving attention so give him as much positive attention as possible. Give him so much you don't think you can give him anymore. So, when you give him a star... make a big deal about it: use verbal praise, give high fives, etc. If possible, let his peers give him stars when they see he is doing what he's suppose to. That may help both the other students and him.

3. You're right, ignoring the negative behavior as hard as it is needs to be done. That means do not look at him, talk to him, etc. Teach the other students this too. He may not be getting attention from you but from his peers.

4. When he is showing a negative behavior, give the rest of the class a reward for following the rules. So, if he is getting up and moving around the room say something like, "I like how most of us are sitting and listening. I am going to give m&m's to everyone sitting and listening." State the behavior you want to see. However, if you do this make sure that when you catch him following the rules everyone gets a reward. He needs to tie that when he "behaves" he gets good things and when he "misbehave" he loses good things.

As I'm sure you know, he can take an extremely long time to change behavior. If he made the comment, "I'm going to drive you all crazy," then he is in full control of what he is doing. Trying asking him whys and whats: why does he want to drive you crazy? Why does he act a certain way? What would help you follow the rules? What can I do to help you? If he's capable of having this type of dialogue you may learn a lot from him.

Lastly, there's a book called "The Explosive Child" by Ross Greene. This is a great book to use with older students. You create with the students baskets A,B,C. You put behaviors into each basket. The A basket are things that always need to be dealt with. B basket is sometimes and the C basket is things that can be let go. What's great about it is you can work with the student to determine what goes where and when something new comes up discuss what basket it should go in.

Hope things move into a positive direction soon.

[Janine]

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and I work with children who have Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. This child sounds like he has Asperger's, although this is an assumption based on the facts supplied in your blog. These children who are highly verbal often "miss" seeing the whole picture and do not absorb social information the way neuro-typicals do. He needs someone to work with him to learn and develop skills around how to behave in a classroom, how to get attention appropriately, how to handle his own emotions/moods without making everyone else aware of it. I agree very much with the above comments by Laura DeAngelo and Lora Smith. You need support with discovering the "root" cause of this behaviour. Look past what he is doing, to discover why he is doing it (what does he "get" from it, or what is he trying to communicate to you in an inappropriate way?). Another great resource is a book by Tim Kowalski, an SLP with years of experience working with children with Asperger's and High Functioning Autism. The book is called, "Social-Pragmatic Success". It may take lots of reading and hardwork to help support this young man, but understanding that his behaviour is part of his disability (the "autism") helps you to address his needs and understand that it isn't personal.

[Susan]

A resource that you will find invaluable is Kari Buron's 5 Point Scale. You are right that this boy is asking for attention - he has learned that if negative attention is all he can get - then that is what he will go for.
Other comments are helpful...this one will be a long haul, but there is so much potential for you to make a HUGE difference. Don't give up. You may be the one teacher who helps this young man change his path!
SpecEd Behavioural Consultant

[Jalil]

Students that age have a history. Investigate. Talk to the student of course. Teachers in this forum have made great suggestions as to what to ask. Use a functional behavior assessment format for you investigation.

This is my 35th year of teaching. I have taught every grade level from preschool to high school, regular and special education. I now teach students on the spectrum. You are putting out effort but you do not have enough information to start an intervention but you can start investigating.

I am not a big fan of behaviorism except as a last resort. I am quite fond of learning as much as possible about my students.
As much as possible I am a human being around them. I have relationships and maintain them. I occasionally use reinforcers but the best reinforcer is your relationship - even with kids with autism - they may care about others the same way we do but I am convinced they feel on a deep level - their brains just don't work the same way - its like they possess their own language so you will need to find a good translator like an autism specialist if this is indeed the problem.
In a high school you have a lot of students to track. Most will take care of their own needs and not require more than a few caring people in their lives but we all need a few caring people.

Use the resources of your school. Check his records - I have discovered students who had records at other schools that no one knew about. Some caregivers will actually move to a new district in another state just because they want to start over fresh and give the kid a completely new chance. I am not sure how often this actually works but it is possible this student is already eligible for special education in another district.

Find people who know this student and are willing to help you dig deeper. Call his parents, the school counselor or psychologist, a few of his previous teachers etc - you will find their names as you keep making calls. You may find o Its a lot of work but he is a lot of work already and the next teacher may thank you.

[Maria]

I understand fully what your challenges with Anthony are.
There is a student at our school who is very temperamental. On certain days,he would work quite well. Then suddenly and without warning he would just become disruptive and provoke a fight or disagreement.
If he is given responsibilities, he would only do them if he is in a peaceful mood.
Most times he would disrupt the class, be disrespectful to his teacher and even walk out of his classroom. The only person he seems to respect is his principal.Rewards don't work as a strategy for dealing with him.

[Laura DeAngelo]

I am not a teacher, but I am an autism therapist, certified in RDI, Relationship Development Intervention (www.rdiconnect.com). Here is my perspective. In the article above and in all the comments, it appears that no one has attempted to get at the root of the problem. This would involve understanding what is going on in the boy's head that makes him have the "acting out" and attention seeking behavior. The first thing I am going to suggest may sound silly, or may be so simple that no one has thought of it. Here it is: Ask him. Has anyone tried that? It sounds like he is quite a competent communicator. Here is a way to do it that is non-threatening: "Johnny, you seem to have a need to disrupt the class. It seems like something is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it? Can I help?" If he doesn't offer anything, you can say, "Sometimes when people try to attract attention it is because they are not feeling good in the situation." Leave it open for him to comment. Then you can start probing, but not too hard. This needs to be a dialogue. Depending on what he says, you can start to determine if he is able to follow what is going on in class or is bored. I would bet you that it is one of the two, probably the former. Autism involves deficits in processing dynamic information - information related to change. The brain does not coordinate information appropriately between and among major brain centers. Processing is also delayed for many people. Therefore, a person with autism may have extreme difficulty listening to a lecture because the conversation may be moving too fast for his processing, or may require him to analyze and interpret information in a way that is difficult for his brain. What is the result? Think of how you would feel in a situation that exceeded your brain's ability to make sense of it. Feelings of incompetence. Confusion. Overwhelm. Disregulation. Feeling a loss of control and feeling a need to do something to regain the control.

What to do to regain our need for some control? For some people, we see the attention-seeking behaviors. He is trying to regain a sense of control and hide the fact that he feels incompetent.

I am not certain that this scenario is responsible for this boy's behaviors. But please consider it. If indeed he is acting out because the learning environment is not right for him, then steps can be taken to make him feel more competent. Of course the best way to remedy the situation is to involve the boy directly. Ask him: Are you bored? Are you having trouble following what the teacher is saying? Is there some other problem? etc. If he won't give you the answers, you can do some testing to try to nail down the problem.

I understand why you tried the reinforcer system. But please know that this system is no more than a short term compensation. I am working with a client whose son is so dependent on the type of reinforcer system that you have that now the boy won't do anything unless he gets a reinforcer for it. And if he doesn't get the reinforcer he has a tantrum. So we are recommended to the school to ditch all the reinforcers and change the teaching paradigm.

Treating the person with the problem behavior in a respectful and collaborative way, with no patronizing, is in my opinion the best way to build trust in the relationship and foster the person's feeling of competence and self-worth.

Hopefully this gave you some food for thought.

If you would like to speak with me further about this, I am at lbdeang@yahoo.com and if you want to review my credentials and see what I do, my website is www.autismfamilyservices.com

Take Care,

Laura

[Lora Smith]

I'm wondering why the autism specialist hasn't been consulted? This child needs a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and a teacher or parent can request one. This child is learning mal-adaptive behaviors that will not serve him as an adult. He needs intervention now from a specialist who will not misinterpret his autistic behaviors and punish him which sounds like what's been happening. He needs better positive behavioral supports. Please don't let your principal deter you from doing what's right and what this child needs. The autism specialist should come in to do observations as a part of the FBA. If anything, read "Lost at School" by Ross Greene. Fantastic book for teachers and parents.

[Van]

I agree with positive reinforcement for students like the one mentioned in this article, but I am concerned about how other students react to seeing someone who displays a lot of negative behaviour being praised and rewarded for positive things many of the other students do all the time. Does anyone have suggestions for ways to help the other students feel that they don't have to behave negatively most of the time in order to get recognised for the positive things they do?

Clearly, we can hand out stars or triangles whenever students show positive behaviour, but if we give a student a triangle every time he/she shows some simple positive act that he/she just does naturally, isn't there the risk that we're "lowering the bar" a little for those consistently "positive acting" students?

[Kim]

In addition to providing positive reinforcement for appropriate choices I would also recommend providing non-contingent attention throughout the day. If you can, use a scatter plot to gather frequency data on how often he exhibits attention seeking behavior, take an average of this data and provide attention a little bit under the average number. Example- if he averages attention seeking behavior every 10 minutes then every 8 minutes briefly check in with him or place a small edible discretely on his desk. What you are doing is an antecedent procedure to provide attention before he seeks it. An ABC chart may also help you confirm that the behavior is serving the function of attention seeking or it may be mixed with task avoidance which would be handled diffently. One final important point- the presentation of "positive reinforcement" is only truly reinforcing if the inappropiate behavior decreases- in a nutshell, the student has to "desire" what you are giving (even if it is verbal praise) otherwise there is no vested interest and therefore no motivation- If you reinforce the positive behavior while using "planned ignoring" for the inappropriate behavior you should see a reduction in the inappropriate behavior. It is difficult to compete with peer attention so you might also reinforce peers who are focused on you and not the student when he is "acting out" Best of luck. I am also a teacher and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and we have to wear many hats!

Kim C.

[Terry s.]

Offer a choice of reinforcers at the beginning. Of thbe sequence. Use the caught ya being good. As a bonus for the end of the day or week whatever he can handle.
Special ed teach 30 yrs

[Harvey IA-SPED, LVUSD]

The worst kid out there will occasionally do something "right". Using the techniques and methods of the "ONE MINUTE MANAGER", "catch the kid doing something right and reinforce it". Always frame your mand by telling the kid what you "want" him to do NOT what you "don't want" him to do. The results will be amazing.

[Steve Levinson, Ph.D.]

Sometimes students respond inconsistently to rewards not because they don't care but because they "forget," that is, they stop paying attention to the "what's-in-it-for-me" reason why they should behave.

Might Anthony respond more consistently if he could stay actively aware of the benefits to him of behaving? If so, he might benefit from using a MotivAider or similar device that privately and repeatedly reminds him of the big why for behaving.

[teachermum]

Hi Brad
I find the 123 Magic method words exceptionally well in my classrooms. I have recently written a blog post about it in response to another teacher's search for an effective plan for children with behaviour problems. You can find my post at http://www.teachermum.com/2011/03/1-2-3-magic-a-classroom-discipline-policy-that-works-for-me/

I loved your seeds of optimism. Would love to hear how it all turns out.

Good luck

[Pat]

Maybe make your student an assistant manager (like on a job site). When I gave all my students job duties instead of rules, it changed the atmosphere in the classroom. My assistant had to help with the daily routines that a student could do like let me know who was absent, collect homework and mark down who didn't have it, pass out papers etc. I sat down with my assistant and said that I really needed his help and to be in charge, it was important to model good behavior for others. Sometimes being in control was a big boost for the student. After a month, I let my assistant manager choose department managers and had him give the dept. manager the same kind of talk. We then chose some duties for the department managers. Eventually everyone was a "manager" but by then the behavior had been taught and all was well.