Ain’t Just Misbehavin’: The Neuroscience of Behavior
Kari Dunn Buron
www.5pointscale.com Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
My hope
• To inform.
• To spark debate about educational philosophy, educational neuroscience and educational practice as they are related to challenging behavior.
• Now think of someone you work with or live with who has troublesome behavior. Write this person’s name down.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
I think the fundamental aspect of autism – the feature that you must have to be considered autistic – is either an absence or an impairment of the social instinct.
Lorna Wing - 2009
And yet…there are students with ASD who do not have a social goal on their Educational Plan.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com What does early development of Social Cognition look like?
• Eye contact • Joint social attention • Joint social pleasure • Responsive smiles • Maintaining social engagement
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
5 month old baby
• Little body control • Joint social attention • Joint social pleasure • Visually following a point
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Not sharing
• he is selfish • he is spoiled • he is mean • he is self centered • he is inconsiderate • he is greedy
• He lacks joint attention and joint pleasure?
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com The words we use to describe a behavior influences how we think about the behavior.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
“The development of brain imaging is the equivalent of Galileo’s invention of the telescope, only we are now exploring inner space instead of outer space.”
Allan Hobson (Harvard Psychiatry)
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Social Cognition affects:
• How a person understands other people • How a person manipulates other people • Predicting the actions of others • The level of comfort one has in social settings • Challenging behavior and issues of emotional regulation that can result from social confusion and social anxiety
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com A child with autism may be placed in a classroom with other fifth-graders because he can do fifth- grade-level academic work. However, his social behavior may be more like that of a kindergarten- age child. This should not be cause for alarm among the teaching staff, but should be an expected and planned-for consequence of the developmental disorder of autism.
Nancy Minshew and Diane Williams Learners on the Autism Spectrum: Preparing Highly Qualified Educators
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
James is 6 years old. He walks into his Kindergarten class every day and hits his classmate, Rosie.
Andrew is 16 years old. When a classmate answers a teacher question with an incorrect answer, he calls them “stupid” and cringes with frustration.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Think about the person who’s name you wrote down when we started this afternoon. How might that person’s challenge relate to social cognition?
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Social cognition needs to be considered whenever you are observing socially odd, confusing or frustrating behavior.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
“Designing supports and accommodations is not beyond our capabilities as a society . . . first we have to learn to think more intelligently about people who think differently.”
--Steve Silberman (Neurotribes)
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Pull from other areas of study Social / Emotional Intelligence
Self Awareness Social Awareness
Self-Management Relationship Management
Daniel Goleman Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Consider what we know about autism learning styles
Simon Baron Cohen The Empathizing-Systemizing Theory
•The drive to create systems for increased understanding. •Systems are predictable, routinized and logical.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
A method to teach social confusion by teaching social-awareness, self-awareness, self-management, and relationship management through the use of a system. It is a strength based approach.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
A 5-Point Scale:
• Addresses self-management, relationship management, self-awareness and social awareness • Breaks difficult concepts into 5 parts • Is a visual strategy • Can be introduced with a story • Can be made small (business card size) to carry • Should be reviewed prior to predictably difficult moments • Can be introduced through a video
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Important****
• The 5-Point Scale is not a behavior management tool.
• It is a teaching tool – created to teach social and emotional concepts.
Make your scales positive
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
A 5-Point Scale
Self awareness Social awareness Self-manangement Relationship management
Addresses all four core areas
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Motivation “The way nature gets us to do what it wants is by making it a pleasure.”
Daniel Goleman
incorporate special interests
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Teaching the concept of energy • 5 = Tigger • 4 = Rabbit • 3 = Pooh • 2 = Owl • 1 = Eeyore
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Getting input
Perspective Taking on our part
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Meet Sam
Think about:
-how soon he talks in numbers -how willing he is to engage with me -how quickly he catches on to the system
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Think about the person you thought of this morning.
Given the behavior you observe, can you think of a concept or skill that the person might be missing? Write it down.
You can develop a scale to address that concept.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Have a system for objectively thinking about challenging behavior:
• What is he doing that you wish he wasn’t? • What would you rather he do? • What skills does he need to do that? • How can you teach those skills?
Ross Greene
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com • What is he doing that you wish he wasn’t? – hitting • What would you rather he do? – share • What skills does he need to do that? – Joint attention/sharing emotions • How can you teach those skills? – Video self modeling
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Video self modeling Positive outcomes only Based on Tom Buggey’s work
Other kinds of video modeling (commercial to youtube
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Don’t Think About Monkeys
Adam Seligman and John Hilkevich
Un cute and Un endearing – Adam DePrince
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com “Chronic Overwhelm” Daniel Goleman/Richard Davidson. Training the Brain
Teach recovery for best prognosis
“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self awareness, if you are not able to manage distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”
Daniel Goleman
“Under stress the brain favors rigid habit memory over more flexible cognitive memory.”
Dr. Margaret Schmidt, Biologist If a person can detect and interpret their internal states, it is possible to learn to dis-engage from stressful situations.
Kari Dunn Buron
The Calming Sequence
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Buron, Manns, Schultz and Thomas
“Children, just like us adults, react badly to the unknown, to the strange and unfamiliar.”
Dr. Bruce Perry
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com How to teach Relaxation
• Relaxation must be practiced to become a strong habit – routine. • Incorporate “do nothing” activities (easy – walk, swim, walk the dog) • Add a mantra (self-talk) “It is OK”. “I can do this”. “I am capable” to stories.
Kari Dunn Buron
“The brain changes in response to patterned, repetitive experiences: the more you repeat something, the more engrained it becomes.
Dr. Bruce Perry
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Mood Induction (Mark Durand)
Start the day with an activity that makes me feel good.
This is not earned, it is scheduled
Kari Dunn Buron Try Instead:
• “I’m taking a deep breath” • “Let’s count to 10” • “Let’s try talking at a 2” • “Let me help” • Silence – use a supportive facial expression
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Why is this important?
Stress and anxiety can play a significant role in triggering unwanted social behavior and yet direct teaching of relaxation is rarely seen on the IEP, behavior plans or as a part of social learning curriculum.
Kari Dunn Buron
Relationship Management
If someone smiles at you, what are you likely to do?
Story of Kevin and Aaron
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com Friendships lead to the development of flexible thinking and compromise.
It is important to find others who share interests and strengths.
Having a friend is like a stress inoculation.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Why relationship building and making friendships are good goals?
• Friendships teach resilience and flexible thinking. • Flexible thinking is necessary for a person to realize there are several options for solving a problem. • Social negotiation skills. • Even one good friend helps.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com A 5 is never worth it: The damaging effects of stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline)
• Repeatedly having to face stressful situations • Levels too high – too long is bad – a need for relief. • This can create an imbalance in the immune and nervous systems. • Person susceptible to illness and problems sleeping • No teaching happens anyway. We can’t leave stress management to chance. • Kari Dunn Buron
Teachers can reduce their own stress and student stress by showing compassion.
You don’t need to know why to be compassionate.
Kari Dunn Buron www.5pointscale.com
When Things Fall Apart ■ Remain calm (emotions are contagious) ■ SILENCE ■ Protect others and yourself ■ Afterward, rethink the student’s support plan to increase chances for a successful day tomorrow. ■ Avoid awfulizing (language of doom)