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Ollie is a 5-year-old boy who is often off task in the Kindergarten classroom. He struggles to stay focused and spends his time making random noises and staring out the window. He seldom contributes to discussions in circle time and small group teaching and rarely completes work that is given to the class. Often while not doing his work he will disrupt the learning of his peers by talking or playing with them. Ollie is a kind boy who finds it difficult to communicate in English.
Ollie is falling behind his peers and is struggling to write, colour, and read sight words. He is very good at repeating words and sounds but does not remember what he just said, He moved from a bilingual English-Chinese classroom to an English emersion classroom. I am worried that Ollie has failed to bridge the gap coming from bilingual to English emersion and has switched off for all learning. He purposely tries to get through tasks with the least effort possible as he feels it is too hard for him. Even spelling his own name is too difficult for him.
Ollie lives with his father Monday to Thursday and his mother Friday to Sunday. Both parents work and say there is little time to go over Ollie's homework. The father does not speak English so does not attempt to understand Ollie's schooling needs and the mother tries to speak English with him on the weekend. The parents understand Ollie is struggling at school and have had weekly reports that highlight Ollie's struggles at school.
Challenging behaviours and their effect on the student
Since entering the class Ollie has been unable to speak only using words or the odd phrase to try to communicate his needs. This has been difficult for him as he came from a Chinese speaking bilingual environment to an all English speaking environment. He came to the International department with a friend from his class but has been switched off to learning since his arrival. While the other child embraced the challenge and has become a top performer in the class Ollie has struggled to learn anything.
Ollie will sit down during circle time or any teaching time but will avoid looking at the teacher and try to inconspicuously hide behind another child so he is not visible to be called up or will get bored and start making random disruptive noises. Other disruptive behaviour will be trying to go to the toilet every five minutes to waste his time and going to get tissues to blow his nose. Ollie is very smart and creative at finding ways to avoid sitting down and concentrating on what he needs to do. Unfortunately, all of his energy is focused on avoiding learning that when he is called upon to contribute he does not know what is happening. He then will need to have the exercise explained to him and stepped through how to perform the required task. Even if asked the same question as the person sitting beside him he will struggle as he does not focus on what others are doing.
Ollie misses out on a lot of learning due to his inability to focus and because he misses out on a lot he feels that everything being taught is outside of his ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) further leading him to switch off his focus as he feels it is all too much for him. In comparison to other children, Ollie has learnt ten to thirty per cent of what the others have managed to absorb over the year. I have advised the school that this environment is not suitable for Ollie unless he has some intensive one-on-one catch up classes to raise his English level to a suitable level. As this advice was given in the first month of the year and Ollie has not received any additional support from outside the class he is likely to struggle when put up a year or need to repeat the year but in a bilingual classroom.
How are the behaviours impacting the class?
Ollie's disruptive behaviour where he makes random noises to entertain himself during large group teaching usually distracts the children next to him and if he is loud enough the whole class. Usually the noises he starts to make are copied by other disruptive children in the class causing the lesson to be paused to remind children how to listen properly. As well as noises Ollie will sometimes try to touch the children close to him not violently but in a way that is distracting. I feel Ollie is just missing the social connection he could have in bilingual and is making these noises and disruptively touching children in a way to socialise.
As well as his disruptive behaviour distracting others and himself he also does not absorb what is going on in class. In a thrity minute class he will only semi pay attention for the time that you focus on him. In a class of twenty-five children if all was equal he would only be able to get just over one minute of one-on-one attention from the teacher. Due to his situation I try to spread out five minutes of attention across the class to try make sure he is focused some of the time and that he can recall something I have said. Due to this the other students in the class get less attention as I am spending more time on Ollie making sure he has listened and can participate in the activity. Even when doing this for Ollie it does not guarantee he pays attention as he is extremely good at repeating without thinking and cannot even remember what he just says most of the time. I have had to remind children to give Ollie time and not call out answers when it is his turn as he will sometimes wait for the faintest whisper to repeat to me as the answer.
How can the behaviours be addressed?
To address this behaviour requires a coordinated response between home and school. Constant communication about Ollie's performance in school and at home need to be had to uncover some of the root causes for Ollie's behaviour. Once a thorough analysis us Ollie's triggers and motivation to behave in this way have been analysed a Positive behavioural intervention and support (PBIS) plan should be made. Interventions and support need to be consistent at home and at school to help to teach Ollie positive behaviour strategies.
● Mom and Dad were asked to try to ask Ollie about what he had learnt at school each day to try to link what goes on at school to what goes on at home
● Parent's were reminded to talk to Ollie at home about using gentle
hands and using indoor voices.
● Set aside time to teach the whole class about behaviour management and strategies we all can employ to better manage our behaviours
● We used the HighScope “Six Steps for Conflict Resolution” when Ollie's behaviour led to conflict with another child.
Approach calmly, stopping any hurtful actions.
Place yourself between the children, on their level.
Acknowledge children's feelings.
Gather information.
Restate the problem.
Ask for ideas for solutions and choose one together.
Be prepared to give follow-up support
What goals can be set for the student?
Ollie has been given easier goals so he can start to regain his confidence in learning as we try to bring him up to the same level as the rest of the class.
Positive reinforcement can be used to encourage him to display the desired behaviour at school and at home. A behaviour chart can keep track of his behaviour daily at school. As well as a reward system agreed upon at home and school for rewards Ollie can get for behaving well. This can be monetised with him earning enough money to redeem at home or school to redeem for appropriate rewards. This helps serve as a record for Ollie and those involved proof that he can behave well and something for Ollie to be proud of.
What positive incentives can be offered?
Positive incentives that Ollie can redeem with his reward dollars can be as little as a shoulder ride with the teacher, to mid-range gifts like one Ultraman/Pokemon card to larger incentives that he can save up for like a new game to play or even a trip on the weekend to the zoo. These incentives can help give Ollie easy goals to save up for at the start as well as more expensive goals that he can focus on as his behaviour improves and he earns more reward dollars.
What consequences can be imposed?
When Ollie causing problems with other children he is invited to resolve the conflict with the teacher and the other student. If Ollie does not want to be involved in the conflict resolution he is told to sit on a chair outside of class.
When Ollie is being disruptive in class and causing other children to lose focus because he cannot focus himself he will be reminded of the behaviour or he will be ignored and another student showing good behaviour will be praised.
If Ollie consistently is showing challenging disruptive behaviours he will be asked to pay one of his dollars to the teacher for wasting time in the class. If Ollie has run out of dollars 5 minutes of playtime will be taken away from him where he must choose to either sit quietly or practice calm down activities.
How can you communicate the plan and progress with the family?
We gave the parents a weekly pack of the resources we used in class for fine motor activities, English learning and Math to do at home to revise what he did in class for the week.
Suggest that parents post photos or videos of his work to WeChat so that teachers could praise him for his efforts made at home as well as at school.
Involve the parents in the positive behavioural intervention and support (PBIS) planning and investigation process
Discuss milestones and problems with the plan as it is being implemented and adjust the plan with feedback from school and home
Behaviour Management Theories
Skinner’s operant conditioning theory posits that behaviour that is reinforced is likely to be repeated, and behaviour that is punished will occur less frequently. When ignoring Ollie and focusing on the other students behaving well encourages Ollie to behave like them to receive attention. When making note and praising Ollie for his efforts to behave well this positive reinforcement becomes a source of
encouragement for Ollie.
John Watson’s theory of behaviourism posits that all behaviours can be reduced to a simple stimulus-response association. With Ollie, his learned disruptive behaviour
was an attempt to avoid learning and keep himself amused. This had been successful for Ollie for a long time so he knew he could use these behaviours as he has to continue avoiding learning without repercussions that he didn't like.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory posits that learning is a social process and that parents, caregivers, peers and society play a crucial role in the development of higher psychological functions. We need all of these interest groups to be onboard to successfully help Ollie to develop positive learning behaviours at home and in the classroom. With a united front supporting each other Ollie will be able to change his behaviour and understand his behaviour was not appropriate and that he should treat others with respect and kindness.
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