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Engaging the Disengaged
August 24, 2015 @ 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Do you work with young people who can’t learn, won’t learn or simply don’t care if they learn or not? Book a seat today to change the way you engage the most difficult students that often leave schools, teachers and parents desperate for answers.
All children can be challenging to some extent, but some are more challenging than others. Young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties can be extremely tough for professionals to engage, support and teach. Such disengagement is typically conveyed by refusing to complete tasks, craving attention, avoiding challenges, displaying loud or quiet defiance to learning, creating chaos and physically displaying utter indifference. These young people seem to do all they can to avoid behaving or learning. The impact of this that many of these young people are in danger of school exclusion and at serious risk of ending up in the criminal justice system and/or requiring long term mental health support.
The overall impact of this is disruption create major societal and economic costs on their peers, their families and often the overall functioning and culture of the organisations that are trying to assist and support them. Commonly these young people present amongst a cluster of overlapping and co-existing conditions; those who can’t learn – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), those who won’t learn – Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and those that simply don’t care if they learn or not – Conduct Disorder (CD). The common behaviour shared by them all is that many of these children display a ‘counter – will’ in relation to authority, especially when frustrated or stressed. They may be extremely inflexible or explosive in these situations and the more pressure which is applied to make them conform the greater the opposition.
You will learn:
- What are we dealing with? Understanding the risk factors for behaviour and learning difficulties. The prevalence and impact of ADHD, ODD, and CD. The importance of early intervention. Resilience factors for students and staff.
- Creating a context for challenging behaviour: Understanding the behaviour message and learning needs of ‘non-traditional learners’.
- The SF3R Behaviour Management Model. How the principles of Structure, Flexibility, Rapport, Relationships and Role Models are essential for developing a proactive approach to behaviour change and learning success.
- How to create proactive behaviour and learning environments (inside and outside of school) through structure, effective rules, rituals and routines. Including assessing the style of teachers, professionals and parents.
- Trouble shooting in action: behaviour action contracts, bullying and anger management, safer school partnerships,
- Strategies for re-directing behaviour and diffusing threatening confrontations through assertive discipline. Establishing effective communication to build rapport and foster positive relationships
- Strategies for effectively engaging and working with the parents and carers of these children and young people.
This workshop arms frazzled professionals with practical strategies and suggestions for managing challenging behaviour whilst at the same time, conveying respect towards ‘non-traditional learners’. Not only that it encourages school staff to reflect on their own personal practice so they can engage in a proactive manner rather than react to challenging behaviour.