Schools are frequently in a hurry to call things behavioral, manipulative or purposeful when they are confronted with situations that are challenging. In this instance, "behavior" has a negative connotation, unlike the IDEA definition which is value neutral. The following are some suggestions for school personnel and parents to engage in a more positive discussion and to help tease out behaviors from other factors.
Avoid use of all charged language like manipulative and intentional. It is rare that children with special needs have a plan and a design that they are following through on to upset the class. The adjectives do nothing to further the discussion and tend to polarize the parties.
Run through a checklist of other factors and rule each of them out before calling something a behavior [the list below is far from exhaustive]:
- is the child in medical distress(e.g. illness, injury, seizures, car accident etc) ?;
- is there a dental problem ? I have seen many children who act out because of some unresolved and unknown dental issue. For many children going to the dentist can be challenging so they do not go very often or when they do go the exam is far from complete;
- has there been a home-based crisis (e.g. death of a loved one or a pet, divorce, household move)?;
- has the child been allowed sufficient time for a sensory break or sensory input usually of the calming variety ?;
- has the child eaten breakfast/lunch/snack or does he need to eat or drink ?;
- is the child suffering from some allergic reaction ?;
- has the school just sprayed pesticides, herbidices, rodenticides or other toxic substances which tend to fall into the category of neurotoxins that can have a particularly dramatic effect on younger children especially those with an underlying neurologic issue ?;
- is the child responding to a change in personnel or routine?;
- is the child overheated either indoors or on a particularly hot day outside ?;
- does the child have reliable means of communication and was it available at the time of the incident ?
- is the child well rested ?
Of course all of these questions do not lend themselves to immediate on-the-spot answers. These questions also inject a complexity into the decision-making that school personnel often do not welcome. The point, frequently, is to make a snap decision; pigeon-hole the child and his issues and move on. Instead, asking contextual questions is required to make sound decisions and not unfairly marginalize the child. Additional questions in this vein are welcome to make this list more useful in the context of a school day.