Psycho-education
is an educational approach for managing emotionally troubled and
acting-out students that is based on the principle that students can
grow socio-emotionally and can learn how to self-control their
behaviors. Psycho-educational interventions are skills-based, where
socio-emotional skill building is the key intervention. Psycho-education
is multidisciplinary, incorporating perspectives and techniques from
disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and social work.
Psycho-education challenges teachers to be versatile in current
psychological and child guidance techniques. In schools,
psycho-educational techniques can be adapted for use with practically
any child, at any age or skill level.
In
the psycho-educational classroom, we believe that when a single set of
strategies becomes the only one that the teacher knows and applies to
deal with students having difficulty with emotional and/or behavioral
self-control (one size fits all), the stage is set for limited
effectiveness and teacher’s discouragement. For example, a behavior
management intervention structured exclusively around rewards and
environmental control fails to explain and address each child’s unique
socio-emotional needs, offering only a very narrow view of the problem
and few available options or solutions. This does not mean that teachers
should avoid behavior modification techniques in the classroom; it
simply means that behavior modification is only one of the many options
available to teachers.
Psycho-educational
teachers believe that there are multiple options for every situation,
and the more child guidance theories, methods, and interventions
teachers know, the broader our understanding of the problem behavior and
the more effective we are in applying skilled individualized techniques
for each particular child.
Characteristics of Psycho-educational Teachers:
1. Psycho-educational teachers go slowly to build success, thinking of
making a slight change each day, not a big one. They always keep in mind
that little changes together make a big change at the end.
2. Psycho-educational teachers accept that change takes time and that
each child is responsible for his or her behavioral change.
3. Psycho-educational teachers choose to perceive children’s problem
behaviors as challenges, not threats. The psycho-educational teacher’s
motto is “I choose to be challenged by this child’s behavior.”
4. Psycho-educational teachers are “cool reactors,” avoiding reacting emotionally to students’ disruptive behaviors.
5. In each disruptive event, psycho-educational teachers look for
opportunities to teach students how to handle their emotions and
behavior.
6. They do not personalize the disruptive behavior and stay calm throughout the disruptive event.
7. They are flexible and capable of adjusting to each specific child.
8. Psycho-educational teachers understand that, if we want the
disruptive student to learn new behaviors, then we need to teach
explicitly those behaviors.
9. They show the child that they believe in him or her, and never give
up on a child, no matter how challenging the behavior.
10. Psycho-educational teachers see problem behaviors as a reflection
of children’s inability to cope with stress and conflict in an
age-appropriate and productive way; in other words, disruptive children
are deficient in social problem solving skills. Psycho-educational
teachers analyze problem behavior using problem solving techniques and
give options to students for solving social problems.
11.
Psycho-educational teachers teach social problem solving skills; that
is, searching for information, generating alternative courses of
actions, weighing the alternatives with respect to the outcome, and
selecting and implementing an appropriate plan of action.
12. Psycho-educational
teachers use behavior specific language (description of the problem
behavior), not evaluative remarks. In changing behavior, they coach, not
criticize.
13.
Psycho-educational teachers coach children by presenting a set of
instructions for appropriate behaviors and then having the child
rehearse those behaviors while the teacher provides verbal feedback.
14. They detach from the problem behavior, discussing the behavior without engaging, blaming, or accusing the student.
15.
Psycho-educational teachers do not focus on causes, or where the child
has been, but on goals, or where we want the child to go.
16.
They focus on the child’s competencies (strengths) instead of his
deficits or weaknesses. In changing behavior, they consider and use the
child’s strengths.
17. Psycho-educational teachers empower the child by focusing the child on successes rather than failure.
18. Psycho-educational teachers focus on the possible and changeable.
19. They do not bring up old issues, focusing on the here and now.
20.
Psycho-educational teachers do not use language that implies that the
child has no choice; for example, “You must…” or “You have to…” They
train the child in using the language of choice, e.g., “I choose to do
_____ because I want _____.” Psycho-educational teachers help students
understand that they have the choice of behavioral change.
21. Psycho-educational teachers give students ownership of the social problem they have created.
22. Psycho-educational teachers rely primarily on preventive discipline; they are proactive, and plan ahead.
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