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DESCRIPTION

You have a student who is physically and/or verbally aggressive toward adults or peers.

G O A L

The student will learn to respect the physical and emotional safety of others.

OVERVIEW OF PLANS

• PLAN A: For a situation in which the problem has just begun and/or occurs sporadically.
• PLAN B: For a student who may not know how to interact with others in nonaggressive ways.
• PLAN C: For a student who is predatory and/or whose aggression is long-standing.
• PLAN D: For a situation in which several students are aggressive toward one another.

NOTE:

These plans are geared for a student who engages in a variety of behaviors that might be described as aggressive. If any of the other behavior problems listed seem to more specifically describe the behavior exhibited by your student, you should review them. For example, Threatening Others (Staff or Students) has specific plans for dealing with a student who makes frequent verbal threats.

General Considerations

• Aggression is a potentially very severe problem in which the more comprehensive and pervasive the plan, the greater its chances of success. You should not hesitate to involve a school administrator, school psychologist, or others in setting up an intervention plan, as this may lead to resources such as parent training classes or counseling being made available (if appropriate).
• If the behavior stems in any way from academic issues (e.g., the student behaves aggressively because he cannot do academic tasks), concurrent efforts must be made to ensure his academic success (see Academic Deficits, Determining).
• If the student lacks the basic social skills to interact with his peers appropriately, it may be necessary to begin by teaching him these skills. Social Skills, Lack of contains information on a variety of published social skills curricula.
• If you have any reason to suspect a physiological or neurological basis for the student's behavior (e.g., the student truly seems to be incapable of controlling his angry impulses), consult with your building administrator and/or school psychologist to get advice on district procedures for following up on this type of situation.

Aggression-Verbal and/or Physical

If you have a student who is physically and/or verbally aggressive toward adults or peers, you will want to read this chapter (pg. 31 in book).

Chaos/Classroom Out of Control

If you have many students in your class who frequently engage in a variety of misbehaviors, you will want to read this chapter (pg. 175 in book)

Dr. Randall Sprick graciously has given his permission to post two problem behaviors and all plans listed within these two chapters. We sincerely thank him for providing this resource to the teachers of Kentucky so that they may effectively serve students with challenging behaviors. Please visit the The Teacher's Encyclopedia of Behavior Management Web page.