Violence in Our Schools

“Education is the vaccine for violence”

Edward James Olmos

                                                                                                                                                                           I was listening to the news on my way to the office recently and was quite appalled by what I was hearing.  They were discussing the increasing number of violent incidents in our schools.  A few people who called in, one of those callers being a teacher, correlated the increasing number of children with needs in the classroom to the increasing reports of violence.  Nice simplification of a complex issue. 

When you really delve into the statistics (see: http://chatnewstoday.ca/article/513648/ns-releases-data-violence-faced-teachers-1800-incidents-last-year) the majority of the incidents took place at the elementary school level.   Which on the surface might suggest that our children are becoming more violent, but let’s employ some common sense here. 

Children do not know how to behave until we teach them, and, like any new skill, they need opportunity to practice it before they master it.  We tend to tell children what not to do (keep your hands to yourself, don’t be rude, etc.) but don’t often tell them what to do instead if they are experiencing frustration and feel the need to act out in response.  In a previous blog post I referred to the Zones Of Regulation.  This is a great program to aid children with recognizing their feelings and offering tools on how to response appropriately.  

Our family has benefited from having a child with needs.  This may sound strange, but the reason why I say this is because we have become better able to recognize emotional responses, not only in our son, but in other people as well.  I also understand that all people, adults and children included, need to have a sense of control.  Control over their environments and their person.  We can empower children, not by telling them what to do, but by helping them voice what they need in the moment (for example s time away from the classroom). 

We all have bad days, and that is okay.  However, there are also consequences to our actions.  I agree with consequences, but also that we need to treat incidents of aggression as learning moments.  Not only asking the child what s/he could have done differently, but also asking ourselves what we could have done to prevent the incident.   

Finally, I would like to point out that there have always been children with needs in our classrooms, regardless of whether there is inclusion or not.  Many children are not adequately assessed, or assessed at all.  And, all children make errors in judgement.  They are human after all!

I welcome your comments and input as always. 

                                           

Empathy and the “Bully”

In my last blog post I talked about emotional self-regulation. What is it and how can we help facilitate good emotional self-regulation in our children.  Being able to regulate one’s own emotional responses is an essential component to empathy.  When teaching children empathy, one of the first steps is helping children identify feelings, both in themselves and others.  Why is it important to teach our children empathy?  Empathy helps children see the world through someone else’s eyes.  Empathetic children become compassionate adults.  Which is wonderful…until your child feels bullied. 

Our son came home after school complaining (again) about a child who was being a “bully”.  Frustrated by hearing yet another tale of our son being physically accosted, the momma bear in me felt like marching down to the school and scolding the child in question.  However, once a calmer head prevailed I decided to address the situation in a different way. 

I told my son that what the child did was wrong, however I asked our son why he thought the child was acting in that way.  Our son looked at me inquisitively.  We talked about how not everyone thinks before doing.  That the child was likely not thinking about how his actions could be hurtful to others.

There are many reasons why a child might act in a hurtful way toward others, but that doesn’t mean he should get a pass on his behaviour.  And let’s face it, everyone can act like a jerk sometimes!  We can’t change everyone else’s behaviour, but we can manage our own responses.  This is an important lesson for our children to learn. 

I remember when our son was young bringing him to an indoor play centre.   Our son ran to me upset by another child who was pushing him.   I told him that he did not have to play with the child, that we do not spend time with others who are not being nice.  Our son promptly told the child that he does not play with people who are not nice.  This was empowering to our son and also stopped the other child in his tracks.  We are always teaching our children to be nice, but forget to tell them when others are not nice they do not have to stand for it. 

At home where our son is most comfortable we have him practice what he would say if faced with unwelcome behaviour.  Rather than run away and tell an adult right away, we want our son to feel confident asserting himself and using his words effectively.  We also chat about what “bullying” means, because I think this term has become overused.  But, that is a discussion for another time.  I welcome your comments and opinions, as always. 

"That Child"

A young boy and his parents are at a friends’ home for dinner. The mother worries about how her son will react when he is asked to remove his toy from the dinner table.  He is having so much fun with his toy tank, but dinner is being served and it is time to put toys away.  Sure enough, he becomes very upset with the request to put his toy away and has an unexpected response of crying and refusing to rejoin the group at the table.  The mother gets up to help him calm down.  The father interjects that he can play with his toy later and to stop crying.  One of the friend’s encourages the mother to leave the child in the other room and come enjoy her dinner.  The mother feels embarrassed, frustrated, and small.  These situations occur more often than not for this family.  The mother feels she has no control over how her child behaves.  She receives a lot of unsolicited advice.  She chooses to accept the advice as well-meaning, however cannot help but feel judged.  She feels pressured to be stricter with her child, which only backfires into increased emotional outburst. The next person who offers her advice is going to be on the receiving end of her own emotional outburst.

It is frustrating to be the parent of “that child”.   But, what if the child is equally frustrated?   Part of childhood development is acquiring emotional self-regulation skills.  Some children show immature emotional self-regulation.  Emotional self-regulation refers to a person’s ability to regulate ones feelings and emotional responses in various situations, and respond appropriately to other people’s feelings.  According to Dr. Bruce Sperry (see: http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/self_regulation.htm), failure to develop emotional self-regulation skills could be related to many factors, including genetic predisposition, developing insults (such as lack of oxygen in utero), or exposure to chaos, threats, and violence. 

So how do we help children develop these skills?  We need to model healthy emotional self-regulation for our children.  They learn by watching.  If a child struggles with emotional self-regulation, it is helpful to practice skills when the child is not faced with emotional distress. There are great resources out there for parents/guardians, child care providers and teachers to aid children with developing self-regulation skills.  For young children, The Zones of Regulation program (http://zonesofregulation.com/index.html) can help children label emotions and learn to control their responses.   Another great resource is the book You are a Social Detective (Michelle Garcier Winner, Pamela Crooke) and its associated Social Detective App.   You are a Social Detective helps children understand how their behaviour is interpreted by others; and explains expected versus unexpected behaviour.  It can be very empowering when we understand emotions and are able to respond in a socially acceptable manner.

The earlier we intervene with ensuring development of good emotional self-regulation skills the better.  These skills impact a child’s ability to develop friendships, learn, and cope with life stressors.  Emotional self-regulation is also the foundation for good mental health.  If we want to have well adjusted children who grow into well adjusted adults, we need to lay the foundation early.

Inclusion?

Does inclusion for children with special needs work?  Before we ask ourselves whether or not it works, we need to ask what inclusion means.  The Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB) has a Special Education Policy.  The policy indicates that the HRSB endorses the value of inclusive schooling and does so in accordance with the Education Act 54(2)(d).  The HRSB states that it is committed to “developing and implementing educational programs for students with special needs within the regular instructional settings with their peers in age in accordance with the regulations and the Minster’s policies and guidelines”.   Students with special needs are defined by the HRSB as students whose needs are such that they require supports in addition to those provided by the classroom teacher. 

There is an excellent article on Education Canada’s website regarding inclusion.  The article cites work from Roger Slee (British Journal of Sociology of Education 31, no. 5(2011): 561-573) who opines that we need to ask how we build the capacity of schools to grow with and work with difference , instead of asking how we train people to recognize difference and then run to the special education teacher for support.  In other words, we need to train teachers how to effectively manage the varying needs and capabilities within their classrooms.  It is my opinion that in order to effectively manage an inclusive classroom, our teachers need to be provided not only with specialized training, but also additional classroom resources.   

The key question is whether the child being “included” is benefiting socially and academically.  For some children being in a classroom setting can result in increased anxiety and distractibility.  It begs the question:  Are some children being kept in the classroom in the spirit of inclusion when they could be more successful in a different educational setting?   For example, for a child who struggles with emotional self-regulation, it can be challenging to socialize with peers of the same age who have already developed these skills.  Children need to be given opportunity to develop skills in a setting where they feel comfortable.  This also brings up the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders in a child’s development and education.  The stakeholders are the child, the child’s parents or guardians, educators, administrators, the child’s treatment providers (pediatrician, psychologist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, etc.), and the community. 

In a previous blog post I discuss working with your child’s school.  Although the school might recognize that a child is having difficulty with learning, the parent or guardian must authorize intervention, including testing. 

Seeking resources outside of the school can benefit your child’s ability to have success in an inclusive classroom.  For example, if we consider a child with emotional self-regulation challenges, an occupational therapist can be quite beneficial in this area.  While Occupational Therapists do work with schools, they typically will perform a brief assessment and offer recommendations to be implemented within the classroom.  Occupational therapy services are also available through the public health care system and privately.  By parents attending sessions with their children, the tools provided can be practiced at home as well as at school.  Occupational therapists who do not work in the school are open to visiting the school and/or communicating with the school. 

Regarding time spent in the classroom, from my observations as a volunteer at my son’s school, there are a number of children who leave the classroom throughout the day to work with a resource teacher or other staff member, in particular for assistance with math and language arts; and then there are some children who go to a resource room for a break from the classroom due to difficulty managing in an environment with high sensory stimuli.  We need to look at our classrooms and ask ourselves, how can we do this better? 

In some private teaching environments, children are taught with other children who are at the same developmental level, rather than with their peers of age.  The children are typically with children within a few years of their own age.  This allows the teacher to teach children with the same developmental level in a given topic, and also reduces the child’s frustration of trying to keep up with a curriculum that is beyond their current ability.  This would be interesting to pilot at a school with our current resources to determine whether it would result in better learning outcomes.

Speaking of resources, increasing classroom support in the form Education Program Assistants (EPA) or teacher’s aids would greatly benefit the classroom, in my opinion.  While some children, including our son, have an EPA assigned to them for a portion of the day, there are other children whose needs have not been clearly identified and are considered not to warrant EPA support.  Educating teachers on how to manage the various learning differences in their classroom is obviously important; however with a classroom of 20 plus children it can be difficult to address the learning needs of each student. 

Technology is another area that we should be investing in.   Most children today are comfortable with using technology, and for some it opens up an opportunity to advance learning.  Take a child with a speech and language disorder.  Assistive technology can address the child’s difficulty to communicate which is fundamental to success in school. 

So, back to our original question:  Is inclusion working?  Well, like I said, it depends.  For our son, inclusion has been successful so far.  However, I must tell you that he is provided with EPA support, assistive technology and works with a resource teacher for part of the school day.   We also have sought additional intervention outside of school and work with our son at home.  So although he is part of a regular classroom, he spends approximately half of his learning time outside of the classroom. 

In order for a child to have a successful school career, all stakeholders need to take part in creating a learning environment that is appropriate for the child.  We also need to clearly identify the learning goals for the child.