Introduce Behaviorally-Challenged Children to the Faculty

At one of my schools, the Special Education coordinator gave an interesting presentation. She showed pictures of the children in our school who had behavioral challenges, some in SPED and some not. She explained what we all needed to do to help them while at recess and lunch.

For example, one child must always be allowed to come to the office when he asks because he finds it helpful to talk to the principal when he has problems at recess. When adults attempt to stop him from going to the office (because maybe they think he shouldn‘t be in the school building during recess), he gets agitated and may become combative. We were being instructed in how to take a proactive approach to supporting his behavior, even given suggestions on wording to use to help defuse a flustered child (You're really upset. Why don't we... Let's ...This would be a good time to get a drink of water (or walk over here were you can be alone and think.) You're really trying hard to keep it together.)

The coordinator introduced each child to the staff so we could know the child by name and face and be sensitive to the child’s needs. Though a few questions were asked, no one asked about the children’s backgrounds or for any other personal information. Because there was a mixture of SPED and non-SPED kids in this presentation, children's privacy was not breached. We all simply needed to know what the child’s behaviors and triggers were, what our responses should be, and which adults in the school were the closest to the child (in case we needed assistance in handling the child). The presentation of the 6 children took about 15 minutes.