Sometimes children are stressed about seemingly small events that escalate into problem behavior. In this article, an insightful teacher discusses restoration of emotional balance by mobilizing positive support from both school and family using A Response Ability Pathways (RAP) intervention. The RAP techniques and how they can be used are…

Bullying often persists in spite of formal programs targeting this problem. Supportive school and classroom communities enlist brave peers in consoling, encouraging, and befriending victims, which removes the status that fuels bullies. For the past 18 years, this author has worked in multiple children's agencies and schools, studying bullying…

The Positive Behavior Support Team at Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin) provides consultation and wrap-around services for students who exhibit significant physical or sexual aggression. Several members of the team received training in the Three Pillars of TraumaWise Care curriculum from Reclaiming Youth International. This article…

Unresolved issues from home often spill over into behavior problems at school. This article discusses the five-minute RAP techniques: (1) connect; (2) clarify; and (3) restore. The authors present a case study wherein this brief restorative intervention had been a successful alternative to punishment and exclusion.

This article introduces a unique team approach to planning and positive behavior support. The young person becomes a key participant in solving problems and setting goals for growth. The CLEAR Team Problem Solving model shifts the focus from deficits to strengths and solutions. The goal is to identify how a child's private logic and interpersonal…

Despite the numerous, disparate, and often unfair demands placed upon educators to be all things to all students, they need to be prepared to teach better behavior every day. Perhaps of even greater importance is finding ways of becoming tougher in not giving up on them when they say and do things that are annoying, obnoxious, and inappropriate so…

Using rewards to impact students' behavior has long been common practice. However, using reward systems to enhance student learning conveniently masks the larger and admittedly more difficult task of finding and implementing the structure and techniques that children with special needs require to learn. More important, rewarding the child for good…

Discipline strategies must incorporate the learning and behavior of each child with the desired outcomes if they are to correct maladaptive behaviors. Suspension should be based on the student's best educational interests; conducted in a manner that teaches the student more appropriate behaviors; supported by empirical research; and used as a last…