Understanding and Changing Challenging Behaviour
Challenging behaviour is a child’s actions, reactions and functioning in response to everyday environments and situations. Challenging behaviour happens for a reason, it’s a way of communicating, and for some children it is a way of controlling what is happening around them. This describes a range of behaviours which some children may display to get their needs met, that can interfere with a child’s daily life at school, home and in the wider community.
For students at YarraMe, difficulties with emotion regulation and their ability to manage uncomfortable situations is an identified area of concern.
It’s crucial to understand the reasons behind challenging behaviour for change to happen. Frequent or intense challenging behaviour is often a sign that children do not have the skills to manage their emotions or regulate their responses.
Self-regulation and YarraMe’s Behaviour Support Plan
Self-regulation is about a child recognising their feelings and emotions, developing an understanding of why they happen and finding effective ways to manage them. When children learn to self-regulate, they feel more confident and in control, which allows them the opportunity to cope better with stresses at school and at home.
A significant body of research has examined the effectiveness of interventions that aim to improve self-regulation. These studies found that improving self-regulation led to better engagement with education, reduction in school suspensions, improved social skills and better mental health outcomes. School success is one of the main areas that has been associated with self-regulation (Pandey et al., 2018).
As children develop, they can pick up self-regulation and social-emotional skills by seeing them in action. However, some children will need explicit instruction to understand and practice these skills.
At YarraMe School, staff work with the child, their family and mainstream schools to develop a Behaviour Support Plan. This is an individualised plan that identifies behaviours of concern, the reason and causes of the challenging behaviour and interventions that will support the child to develop positive coping and management strategies.
We use the Zones of Regulation (see diagram below) to help students gain skills in self-regulation. It’s designed to help students recognise when they are in different zones. The program also supports students to learn how to use strategies to regulate the zone they are in, so they can develop the capacity to manage everyday situations and engage in learning.
For students at YarraMe, difficulties with emotion regulation and their ability to manage uncomfortable situations is an identified area of concern.
It’s crucial to understand the reasons behind challenging behaviour for change to happen. Frequent or intense challenging behaviour is often a sign that children do not have the skills to manage their emotions or regulate their responses.
Self-regulation and YarraMe’s Behaviour Support Plan
Self-regulation is about a child recognising their feelings and emotions, developing an understanding of why they happen and finding effective ways to manage them. When children learn to self-regulate, they feel more confident and in control, which allows them the opportunity to cope better with stresses at school and at home.
A significant body of research has examined the effectiveness of interventions that aim to improve self-regulation. These studies found that improving self-regulation led to better engagement with education, reduction in school suspensions, improved social skills and better mental health outcomes. School success is one of the main areas that has been associated with self-regulation (Pandey et al., 2018).
As children develop, they can pick up self-regulation and social-emotional skills by seeing them in action. However, some children will need explicit instruction to understand and practice these skills.
At YarraMe School, staff work with the child, their family and mainstream schools to develop a Behaviour Support Plan. This is an individualised plan that identifies behaviours of concern, the reason and causes of the challenging behaviour and interventions that will support the child to develop positive coping and management strategies.
We use the Zones of Regulation (see diagram below) to help students gain skills in self-regulation. It’s designed to help students recognise when they are in different zones. The program also supports students to learn how to use strategies to regulate the zone they are in, so they can develop the capacity to manage everyday situations and engage in learning.
The importance of Social and Emotional Learning
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) aims to explicitly promote skills in children that will support positive outcomes for a student’s learning and engagement at school, emotion regulation, mental health, and long-term positive capacity building (Durlack et al., 2011).
For children with unmet social-emotional needs there are a set of developmental skills that can be challenging for them to learn. These are skills that most typically developing children learn incidentally through positive interactions with their family/caregivers. The supportive process between caregivers and children that fosters self-regulation development is called “co-regulation.” (Rosanbalm, et al 2017)
Children who sit somewhere along the continuum of supports may not show the same trajectory of learning in social-emotional development and will require explicit teaching of SEL core skills and contextualised learning experiences. These SEL skills are the foundation for developing appropriate and effective social and communicative interaction, which are essential to participate successfully in their social world.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) identifies five broad competencies under which SEL falls: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
These competencies constitute the foundation of YarraMe School’s curriculum. They are the essential skills that we aim to develop in our students.
Social and Emotional Learning at YarraMe School
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) underpins all aspects of the YarraMe program. At the core of our program is the belief that all students have the capacity to learn to manage their emotions and thinking, and ultimately direct their behaviour to experience success.
YarraMe’s Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum Toolkit allows educators to develop SEL plans for students. The toolkit contains long term, annual and sub goals along with a range of strategies and accommodations to assist in setting and measuring SEL progress for each student.
Prior to setting SEL goals, YarraMe teachers are informed by a range of assessments and consultations to ensure that meaningful goals are personalised to the student to form the Personalised Learning Plan (PLP).
Embedded in the YarraMe curriculum are the Resilience, Rights, and Respectful Relationship (RRRR) learning materials. This program covers eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary education: Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships.
The research documenting the impact of SEL is compelling. More than two decades of research demonstrates that education promoting social and emotional learning (SEL) gets results. The findings come from multiple fields and sources, including student achievement, neuroscience, health, employment, psychology, classroom management, learning theory, economics, and the prevention of youth problem behaviours.
Please read the evidence-based reports.
Further reading
Catalano, R., Berglund, L.M, Ryan, J. A.M., Lonczak, H. Hawkins, D.J (2004) Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs. ANNALS, AAPSS, 591, January 2004
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D. & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions.
Pandey, A., Hale, D., Das, S., Goddings, A., Blakemore, S., Viner, R., (2018). Effectiveness of universal self-regulation-based interventions in children and adolescents. A systematic review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics. 2018; 172(6):566-575.
Payton, J., Weissberg, R.P., Durlak, J.A., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., Schellinger, K.B., & Pachan, M. (2008). The positive impact of social and emotional learning for kindergarten to eighth-grade students: Findings from three scientific reviews. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Rosanbalm, K.D., & Murray, D.W. (2017). Caregiver Co-regulation Across Development: A Practice Brief. OPRE Brief #2017-80. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services.
Taylor, R., Obele, E., Durlak, J., Weissberg, R. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects. Child Development, (00): 1-16.
