How and Why to Use Social/Emotional/Behavioral Highly Leveraged Practices (HLP) in High School Life Skills Support Classrooms
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CONTENT WARNING: I would like to mention that I am not a psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist. All content posted on my disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes only and not intended to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care nor legal advice. If you suspect that your child is experiencing any social-emotional health concerns, it is okay to get help, and I highly recommend seeking help from a psychologist, therapist, and/or other mental health professional who is qualified to do so.
While highly leveraged practices (HLP) are essential, Universally Designed for Learning (UDL), and can be used in all classrooms, it is especially important to utilize them in Special Education placements. One of the particular highlighted HLPs that I have observed to be useful for students in the disability community is Social/Emotional/Behavioral HLPs.
Social/Emotional/Behavioral HLPs consist of the following four key areas: "(HLP7) establishing a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment; (HLP8) providing positive and constructive feedback to guide students' learning and behavior; (HLP9) teaching social behaviors; and (HLP10) conducting functional behavior assessments (FBA) to develop individual student behavior plans" (pg. 56, 57, 59, & 60 McLeskey et al. 2017). One of the most essential parts of many Special Education programs' curriculums is building the students' social-emotional skills and consistently encouraging application of these skills. For example, every morning when the students arrive in their classroom, one of the educators can lead a whole group morning meeting discussion. During the morning meeting, the schedule of the day and the students' Zones of Regulation can be discussed. Zones of Regulation is a practice used to provide mental health check-ins for students that allow them to share how they are feeling. They can identify as feeling in the green zone which symbolizes happy, yellow zone which symbolizes excited or nervous, blue zone which symbolizes sad or nervous, or red zone which is angry. The students can identify with one or more colors and explaining the reasoning for their feelings openly, privately, or at all should be optional and validated. This daily discussion is a common part of many daily class morning routines for students of all abilities. Daily mental health check-ins as part of morning meetings also provide respect for diverse feelings. The fact that it provides consistency supports the ritualistic preferences of the students with rigid mindsets present in the classroom. Consistency also provides organized and predictable routines for everyone. When developmentally appropriate (DAP) expectations, routines, and procedures like this one are provided, it can "reduce the potential for challenging behaviors and increase student engagement" (pg. 56, McLeskey et al. 2017). Providing interactions where students feelings are validated also lowers the chances of challenging behavior incidents. This is because when someone shows support for their feelings, it shows that how they feel matters, and someone cares about them.
There are several ways that multiple HLPs can be applied at the same time with overlapping. For example, before students present their projects, an educator should provide "direct social skill instruction" about the behavior expectations for when giving a presentation and listening to a presenter (pg. 59, McLeskey et al. 2017). This lesson is essential to teach the students about "respect" and the importance of paying attention (pg. 56, McLeskey et al. 2017). The teacher should explain at least 1-2 of these expectations that they have in mind following providing their students with the opportunity to share which of these behavior expectations come to mind for them. Some of the whole group's ideas should include but not be limited to speaking loud and clear, the speaker's body being turned towards their audience, the audience members' bodies being turned towards the speaker, avoiding teasing, raising hands to speak, and giving feedback to presenters.
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Educators should also elaborate upon the importance of showing these positive behaviors for the purpose of teaching students about verbal and nonverbal communication. For example, the teacher should explain to their students that that it is important for speakers to talk loud and clear so that the listeners can hear them. The educator should also explain that when listeners have their bodies turned towards speakers, it shows that they are paying attention. In the event that students talk without raising their hands and have their bodies turned away from a classmate or educator who is providing feedback to them, the educator should kindly redirect them. They can do this by saying, "Raise your hand when you have something to say" and "Have your body turned towards someone when they are talking to you." If a student repeats a behavior after being redirected the first time, the teacher should kindly ask something such as, "What are you supposed to do when you have something to say?" or "What should you do with your body when someone is talking to you?". This should be followed by the student trying again to improve their behavior and after improvement is exhibited, the educator should acknowledge it with behavior specific praise. The purpose of the solution of asking students with behavior concerns open-ended questions like these instead of prompting them to do so is because it guides them towards "independence", which can "lead to student learning and behavior" (pg. 57, McLeskey et al. 2017). Redirection and guidance of applying these "interpersonal skills" should also be "consistent, positive, and constructive feedback" (pg. 56, 57, & 59, McLeskey et al. 2017). Educators should also praise any other students who model this positive behavior, which is another way of meeting the criteria for this type of feedback and provides visuals to concrete learners.
Telling students to have their bodies turned towards speakers and encouraging attempts to make eye contact is also a "culturally responsive expectation" (pg. 56, McLeskey et al. 2017). This is because some individuals avoid making eye contact as part of their disabilities and cultures, especially if they are autistic/have autism/are on the autism spectrum. It is important for people of all differences to learn about the potential pros of making eye contact; however, it is also crucial to show support for everyone who avoids eye contact as part of their disabilities and cultures instead of assuming that they are being rude by not making eye contact. Doing so "values ethnic, cultural, contextual, and linguistic diversity to foster student engagement across learning environments" (pg. 56, McLeskey et al. 2017). "Special educators cannot 'make' students learn or behave; they can, however, create environments to increase the likelihood that students do both" (pg. 56, McLeskey et al. 2017). All of the exposure that educators can provide in this scenario gives students the opportunity to apply their positive behaviors to be successful members of society.
In regards to HLP10, whether there are or are not students with FBAs or "individual student behavior support plans" present in any educator's classroom, educators can utilize the aspects of FBAs and behavior support plans to support their students with behavior concerns in various ways. Educators can use these FBA aspects by conducting observations of their students. For example, an educator may notice that an autistic student tends to over-apologize and worry that people are mad at him. This behavior may frequently occur when the student makes mistakes. One of the educators of this student may discover that this student over apologizes and worries so much when they make mistakes because they tend to fixate also known as ruminate. This student fixates because they care about their actions and other people, places, and things. For example, let's say that this fictious student left their school bag behind at their home or workplace before coming to school and an educator has explained to the student what the plan is that is being worked out to retrieve the school bag. However, the student may repetitively self-express how they feel about the situation and ask one, more, or all of their educators when they are going to get their school bag back. The educator should validate the student's feelings and re-explain the plan. When explaining the plan each time, the educator should tell the student when they will be retrieving their left behind item back. As a "pro-social replacement behavior," the educator should teach the student to tell himself the plan that was communicated to him the next time that this concern enters their mind (FYI if the student has autism tell them to self-reassure in their heads. They may take this suggested self-regulation technique literally and self-reassure aloud) (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). This plan can "alter the environment to make the replacement behavior more efficient and effective" than the behavior concern (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). It also "alters the environment to no longer allow the problem behavior to access the previous outcome" (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). This is because the previous outcome in this scenario would be the student repetitively asking about their school bag. However, whenever the student "effectively and efficiently" uses self-reassurance, they may appear less stressed according to their body language (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). The student may show less stress after each time that they use self-reassurance by smiling more than they were before this suggestion was made. They may also self-advocate that self-reassurance about the plan makes them feel better.
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The educator should use ongoing data collection to monitor the student's progress of applying this skill in similar situations. For example, let's say a week or two or so after this behavior has passed, and this same student must deliver an important form to a teacher. However, in this fictious scenario, the student forgets to deliver the important form to the teacher and there is still time and availability for the student to deliver it. Even though the teacher is unavailable due to other valid priorities to fulfill during the period that the student delivers the form, the student can put the form in this teacher's mailbox. After the educator prompts the student to go deliver the form, the student asks their educator only one time when and how the teacher will receive the form. The educator should tell the student where to put the form and that the teacher is responsible for visiting their mailbox whenever they are available to do so. A few minutes or so later, the student may apply utilization of the "pro-social replacement behavior" that they were taught in the past situation (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). The student may exhibit this improvement by saying something such as, "I know that Miss Smith will know to visit their mailbox whenever they are available." As a result, the teacher should verbally praise the student for remembering to use the "pro-social replacement behavior" that they were taught to use before (pg. 60, McLeskey et al. 2017). According to the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), "effective teachers recognize that academic and behavioral support strategies are more effective when delivered within the context of positive and caring teacher-student relationships" (pg. 55, McLeskey et al. 2017). In regards to the teacher-student relationship, seeing any students' academic and functional progress should be a very proud moment for both the teacher and student. Contributions to academic and functional needs can also make teacher-student relationships stronger.
As part of my professional philosophy as a teacher, I take utilization of Social-Emotional/Behavioral HLPs in all classrooms very seriously. I have seen several successful accounts of Social-Emotional/Behavioral HLPs used in classrooms as well as successfully used them myself in my seven years of teaching. "Effective teachers focus on increasing appropriate behavior by adopting an instructional approach that incorporates the explicit teaching of social skills and offers students multiple opportunities to practice appropriate social behaviors throughout the school day followed by positive feedback" (pg. 55, McLeskey et al. 2017). One of the key social skills that teachers should especially teach their students is respect and they should progress monitor their frequency of applying these skills. This is essential to help students become as successful as possible. I will continue to show support for all of my students' social-emotional and behavior needs as much as possible to guide them towards success.
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Citations
1. McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Winn, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017). Highly Leveraged Practices in Special Education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center.
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