After hypothesizing about the function of the student's behavior you will then start implementing strategies.  

Attention Seeking

  • Determine if they want attention from just the teacher, a few specific students, or all students
  • Random stick generator
  • Give them jobs/leadership task
  • Let student teach the class
  • Student reads to a younger student
  • Eye contact with student
  • Close Proximity
  • Sit in a special chair
  • Physical contact when you notice positives
  • Visual signals for I see you, I hear you, “You are Awesome!”
  • Lunch bunch
  • Check-in, Check-out
  • Joke time-Let them be funny but during specific times
  • Write positive note to them and/or parent
  • Verbal words of praise
  • Wow Cup-Poms in their cup
  • Ignore inappropriate behaviors, and provide big reaction for positive behavior
  • Teach peers what and how to ignore
  • Running errands to preferred staff member after appropriate behavior
  • Model appropriate ways of gaining attention
  • Discuss “Time and Place” of when it is appropriate to seek peer attention
  • After student distracts class, teacher must use a positive way to regain the classes attention
  • Discuss Expected versus Unexpected ways and times to gain attention
  • Special jobs in classroom/school (non-contingent)
  • Leadership roles
  • Earning time with peer or adult
  • Increase positive interactions
  • Consistent boundaries (explicitly teaching boundaries)
  • Talking chips
  • Special designated share time with time limits
  • Student writes and sends a happy email to parents (or another staff member)
  • Visual structures and strategies (provide visual boundary of space, visual of where targeted voice level)
  • Don’t take it personally
  • SW-PBIS: Noble Knights, Gotchas, etc.
  • Investigate previous background of behaviors and whether anything has changed at school or home

Trauma & Anxiety

  • Building relationship with student
    • Eating lunch with teacher
    • Lunch bunch
    • Morning breakfast helper before other students come in
    • Morning triage
  • Ensure that basic needs have been met (e.g., breakfast/lunch, water, safety and security)
  • Building relationships with other teachers
  • Allow private journaling
  • Providing “me time” and opportunity for choice of idea what would help them
  • Peer mentor for younger students
  • Provide empathy
  • Routine & structure, predictability
  • Triage prior to stressful activities
  • Safe spot to go to on their own choosing
  • Calming atmosphere (i.e., colors, low lighting…)
  • Specific verbal positive reinforcement (use only “I see…”, not general compliments)
  • Social stories
  • Let them know they are being heard-show support
  • Team meetings to ensure all staff are aware of things to do and things to avoid
  • Having a signal that you share for certain purposes (e.g., signal for when they are prepared to share, or when they need to talk)
  • Use of calm voice
  • Walking them through the de-escalation process, not expecting them to work through individually
  • Consistent responses and remain calm and relatively flat facial affect when dealing with issues
  • SW-PBIS student unity groups (designated time when groups of students from various grade levels get together for activities)
  • Gum to chew or stress ball/band for reducing anxiety
  • Weighted backpack/compression vest for anxiety (check with OT)
  • Visual cues/reminders
  • Calm box
  • Scheduled time during the day to discuss anxiety situations
  • Social group
  • Listening to music with headphones
  • Noise cancelling headphones
  • Direct teaching of calming strategies
  • Reducing/modifying work
  • Finished folder
See also www.traumaessentials.weebly.com
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Sensory or ADHD

  • Fidget Toys (Squishy balls, Playdough, Wikisticks
  • Sensory breaks/Movement breaks/Brain breaks
  • Sensory box (cotton, soft brush, netting, velvet, sand paper…)
  • Wiggle seat
  • T-stool/balance chair
  • Tennis balls on chair legs
  • Velcro on/under desk
  • Headphones
  • Whisperphones
  • Stability balls
  • Stretch bag/Body sock
  • Alternate quiet location
  • Lighting adjustments
  • Easy listening music
  • Weighted backpack/blanket/vest/lap buddy
  • Pressure vest
  • Kinetic sand
  • Breathing strategies
  • Physical touch (tight/loose, scratch on back/arm)
  • Cool color environments
  • Light coverings (adjust for the flickering of fluorescent lights)
  • Visual schedule showing when the next break is
  • Standing desk & sitting desk
  • Cooperative learning with integrated movement
  • EPR (chorale response with movements)-whole class & small group
  • Gum/Oral/sour snacks
  • Talking chips/blurt out chips
  • Provide alternate methods of responding
  • Running errands/notes to office or another teacher
  • Heavy lifting jobs
  • Privacy folder/cubical to minimize sensory input/stimulus
  • Swinging/squeeze machine
  • Deep pressure/joint compressions (check with OT first)
  • Chewing on straws

Peer Relationships and Social Skills

  • Referring to SW-PBIS motto or curriculum (Boys Town Pillars,  Noble Knights)
  • Modeling
  • Go through examples and non-examples
  • Expected vs. Unexpected
  • Lunch groups
  • Role playing social situations within context
  • Class team building activities
  • Peer models
  • Code switching
  • Give kids time to enjoy being a friend
  • Time Machine-Uses “I” messages
  • Video modeling
  • Video analysis/observation (video student and have them observe themselves for specific behaviors-need to have consent prior to this)
  • Class meetings
  • Role reversal (have student be the adult and observe)
  •  Writing letter to express feelings or successes
  • Use of language that refers to our community​
  • Teach formal and informal register (how we adjust our social language to the people and settings)
  • Work buddies
  • Team building activities (small group and whole class)
  • Look like/doesn’t look like (good, bad, and ugly examples)
  • Social stories
  • Social behavior mapping
  • Building communities
  • Structured cooperative learning with pre-teaching social skills
  • Social skill of the week (e.g., waiting your turn, manners, eye contact)
  • Interest inventory (then make connections with peers with similar interests)
  • Power Cards

Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
  • Create successful opportunities in front of peers
  • Build relationship (eating lunch, triage)
  • Giving students extended time to complete work and ensuring they complete it
  • Errorless learning (providing task that can’t be done incorrectly)
  • Job within building (non-contingent)
  • Focus on growth mindset
  • Short-term goal setting
  • Praise small growths and wins
  • Self-reflecting/Journaling
  • Working closely with parents and outside agencies
  • Positive self-talk (assist student with scripting at first if needed)
  • Bucket filling
  • Peer shout outs
  • Behavior bracelets
  • Specific feedback
  • Have kids highlight personal strengths
  • Recognize student using chains of kindness
  • Literature connections
  • Calls and notes home to recognize positives
  • Certificates
  • Scaffolding
  • Requests the student’s opinion during class
  • Provide questions beforehand so student can prepare their response before being called on
  • Make materials more personally relevant to the student
  • Pair up with peer for various activities
  • Listening to calming music
  • Positive notes on student desk
  • Communication notebooks between teacher and student
  • Calling them up to give compliments
  • Positive emails/calls home
  • Sharing work with class
  • SW-PBIS praise (gotchas, champion chips, Noble Knights)
  • Find something they are good at and share/teach the class/another student/small group
  • Teacher sharing personal experiences and challenges
  • Pairing student up with another student who has overcome similar challenges/confidence concerns\
  • “Five high & one low” conversations
  • Whole school recognition of accomplishments
  • K-5 school families
  • Friendly letters from peers
  • Warm fuzzies
  • Watch DOGS/Office staff
See also: 
- http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/shore/shore059.shtml 
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Emotional Regulation

  • Popsicle stick cards, “I need help,” “I need a hug”…
  • Cards with colors
  • Happy/sad face
  • Private writing/drawing
  • Emotional journal
  • Provide breaks and non-verbal cues
  • Frontloading
  • Teach social skill before activities which might trigger emotional response
  • Build relationship
  • Secret sign when help is needed
  • Red/Green card
  • Teacher directed choices
  • Do not attempt to find solutions until student is deescalated and calm
  • Creation of “safe place” in classroom
  • Trigger inventory (goes through various school triggers that may cause issues)
  • Look into the background information (family background/history, trauma issues, diagnoses)
  • Model and apply empathy
  • Breathing de-escalation strategies
  • Distraction and bring back to present
  • Focus on what is going on around them
  • “Use your words”
  • Class meetings
  • Social stories
  • Student graphing their own behavior/emotional regulation data to see progress
  • Student graphing their zones (from Zones of Regulation) across their day
  • Visual check on their desk
  • Allow to move to different locations in classroom depending on emotional state (reading table, safe spot, floor, under a desk in back of room)
  • Preferential seating
  • Student learning and identifying their triggers and strategies to address triggers
  • Student learning their physical cues before situation escalates
  • Physical touch to de-escalation