Distressed or Deliberately Defiant? Managing challenging student

Distressed or Deliberately Defiant? Managing challenging student behaviour due to trauma and disorganised attachment

Dr Judith Howard

It is not unusual for educators today, whether in the early childhood, primary or secondary sectors, to be confronted with severely challenging student behaviour - students who fly into unexplained violent and oppositional outbursts with little warning; who respond poorly to tried-and-true behaviour management processes. Such behaviour has considerable impact on the delivery of teaching and learning programs and the emotional wellbeing of the teachers themselves as well as raising safety risks for the entire school community.

This book explains the basis for such behaviour as the neurological, physiological and behavioural outcomes of "disorganised attachment" due to prolonged exposure to a traumatic home life and provides practical advice to educators on ways that schools can effectively manage these students. This book will help educators:

•minimise such challenging behaviour,

•manage crises and disciplinary responses such as

suspension and expulsion,

•improve student compliance,

•enhance education and overall wellbeing, and

•deal with parents.

Covers early childhood, primary and secondary settings.

Distressed or Deliberately Defiant? Managing challenging student behaviour due to trauma and disorganised attachment

Dr Judith Howard

QUT

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE: MANAGING BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOLS
What we believe about managing these students' behaviour?
How these students present at school?
Rodney
Garry
Taylor
CHAPTER TWO: ATTACHMENT AND TRAUMA
Let's talk about Attachment
Bowlby and Ainsworth: Two early theorists with important messages.
The neurological and physiological impact of disorganised attachment
CHAPTER THREE: THE SCIENCE LESSON
The nervous system
The human brain
Neurons and synaptic activity
The early childhood brain
CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AT SCHOOL?
Fight, flight or freeze
Revisiting Rodney, Garry and Taylor
CHAPTER FIVE: WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS - THAT WORKS?
Relationships (both the problem and the solution)
Emotional self-regulation
Six-element model for student support
A list of recommended strategies and approaches
CHAPTER SIX: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Preparing for and managing a behaviour crisis
Example of a crisis management plan
Helping teachers to understand and manage their own reactions and emotions during and after crisis
Considerations for school policy
Suspension and expulsion
Moving a student to a new school
CHAPTER SEVEN: COMPLIANCE, ADOLESCENCE AND WORKING WITH PARENTS
Recognise difficulties with compliance for what they are
Physiological and social concerns in adolescence
A note on working with parents
A final word