Radical Behavior

A Handbook for Humanizing the Functional Behavior

Assessment (FBA)

Christopher McMaster, PhD

Southern Skies Publications

Copyright © 2024 by Christopher McMaster
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-7385965-8-4 (print)

978-0-473-70527-5 (eBook)
www.southernskiespublications.com
For Andrew and his mother and step-father who invited me into their lives
and helped me become a better teacher
 Contents

Getting Started
Behavior as Communication
Data Collection Methods: Quantitative Data
Data Collection Methods: Qualitative Data
The Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA): Learning by Doing
The FBA, Part 1: Statement of Intent
The FBA, Part 2: Data Collection
The FBA, Part 3: Data Analysis
The FBA, Part 4: Goals and Objectives
The FBA, Part 5: The Plan
Reflecting on the Process
Knowing What Works: Creating Circles of Courage
Fostering Engaged Citizenship through Public Achievement
References
About the Author
 Getting Started

R adical behavior offers a needed re-assessment of how teachers

understand behavior issues found in their classrooms. This handbook
takes a child-centered approach to what is often referred to as ‘challenging
behavior’ or ‘emotional disorders.’ It is designed to equip the special
education teacher/teacher with the essential skills needed to understand and
plan for behavioral needs in the school setting using a Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA). However, it is also designed to equip the practitioner
with the skills to reflect upon what they are doing, who they are supporting,
and the role they are playing in the educational system in which they work.
Radical Behavior challenges the traditional approach to understanding
behavior. This traditional approach can objectify students and grossly
oversimplify the understanding of behavior. In a traditional approach the
teacher is tasked with ‘fixing’ the student or the problem behavior (and
these are frequently confused as the same thing). Fixing the problem is
often translated as managing to entice or threaten (reward or punish) the
student to comply to the environment in which they find themselves. The
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is typically used as a tool to
analyze and then set goals with that objective in mind.
In this handbook I encourage the reader to think critically about their role,
and to understand behavior as a form of communication. Schools are busy
places, with many demands on those who work and learn in them. Rather
than be a ‘mechanic’ in maintaining the functioning of a machine—the
school and classroom system—Radical Behavior aims to show the
practitioner how to be an advocate for the students with whom they work.
This handbook offers critical insights into the nature and purpose of
education, offer tasks and assignments to teach vital skills (such as
observation and analysis), and uses a unique method in teaching the FBA
process. This method is practice based, and the subject of the practice will
be you. With Radical Behavior you will learn how to complete a Functional
Behavior Assessment. You will learn about types of data and data collection
and analysis. You will learn about creating smart goals and objectives.
And you will learn what it feels like, as you will be doing an FBA on
yourself. Examples of each step of the process are given. These examples
are from my students and me. And while you are thinking about your own
FBA, I have imbedded into each section Thinking Points to encourage
critical reflection. Special education is a powerful system. It is important to
wield that power with awareness. Also included in each section are brief
biographies of some key people in educational thinking. Look down and
take notice of whose shoulders we stand on as we reach, with their help,
even higher.
In Radical Behavior we will first look at what behavior is and explore
behavior as a form of communication. With every language, we need to try
to understand what is being said. By the end of the section, you will have
skills to help you start interpreting. Next we explore data collection
methods (quantitative and qualitative). Much of your work in completing an
FBA is collecting and analyzing data. Data is the information you collect
that is used to make decisions or create hypotheses. Following that, the
FBA is outlined and you are guided you through each step of the process
and how to make sense of the information you have at hand. At the end of
this handbook are two additional chapters presenting models that encourage
child-centered and respectful practice. Each model can be adapted and used
in any cultural setting to enable you to reach the students with whom you
work.
And as noted above, each section in this handbook contains activities to
put learning into practice. The first activity is at the end of this introduction!
A few thoughts before we begin:
The concept of ‘EBD’ (emotional and behavioral disorders) has quite
recent roots. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that the mental health
revolutions in America and Europe began to encompass the study of
'disturbed' children. In the final decades of the nineteenth century
professionals finally confronted the notion that emotional disturbance
constitutes a childhood disability different from the adult form and separate
from mental retardation. Even after recognition of psychoses in children
and the formulation of methods for identification, diagnosis, and treatment,
severe childhood emotional disturbances remained largely in the realm of
psychiatrists and psychologists who never quite agreed on what the term
actually meant. Today it remains hard to define, and many definitions
offered reflect the mindsets and professional systems they come from.
Special education is a relatively recent development. Its roots are
based on the civil rights movements of the last century. In the United States,
it wasn’t until 1973 that the Rehabilitation Act guaranteed civil rights to all
disabled people. Then, in 1975 Congress passed the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act that mandated FAPE—Free and Appropriate
Education—guaranteeing the right to go to school for many children with
disabilities. Students could no longer be excluded or placed in a segregated
environment, and educators with specialist training were required. The law
required all students with any form of disability to be accommodated.
Education for All Handicapped Children was renamed the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during later revisions. IDEA emphasized
the use of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for all special education
students.
Culture defines how an educational model looks in practice. Culture
has been likened to the water through which a fish swims. Water is so
natural to the fish that the fish does not even notice it. You are the fish in
this analogy, and your culture is the water. It is easy to notice another
culture. Differences in costume and custom (how people dress and how they
act) stand out to the visitor. However, it is not common to stop and take
notice of how those in your own culture dress and act. Despite being very
‘normal’ to you, they are quite unique to your time and place. And it is not
only how those around you dress and act, but how you feel and what you
hold as important. Culture shapes everything we do, especially in schools.
Here are a few examples of how culture is expressed in different
educational systems: high stakes tests as a form of assessment; displays of
nationalism such as flag salutes or pledges of allegiance; defining who is
special, such as how to qualify for special education provisions and
services; even concepts like ‘gifted and talented.’
How disability is perceived and defined is reflected differently in
different cultures. As an educator, it is very important to reflect on what
your own culture looks like and consider what values you deem important.
What behaviors do you describe as normal? As disruptive? As
inappropriate? For some, not making eye contact when speaking can cause
offense and even be interpreted as insulting their position of authority. For
others, that lack of eye contact may reflect how they show respect in their
culture, or it can be an expression of a social disability. Stop and ask
yourself: What are your values? Why do you value what you do? Is it right
to expect others to share all of those values?

Task/Activity:
Research and write a paper/presentation describing features of your
education system. Explore how these features reflect the cultural ideas of
your time and place. To do this you will need to concisely describe the key
elements of your system and explain how the special education provisions
built into that system intend to serve and address student needs. Explore
essential questions, such as: How, in your system, is behavior
conceptualized? What are the expectations of the educational system in
regards to student outcomes? What type of student does your system
endeavor to produce? Next, compare your system with that of another
culture/place (such as Finland, Germany, Mexico, etc.). What features are
shared? How does your educational system and the other differ?

THINKING POINT:
 “We need to talk about … Power.”
The field of special education and the
power exercised by special education
teachers is implied in Thomas Skrtic’s
observation that the most prominent and
powerful field of both the early 1900’s and
today is psychiatry. Skrtic maintains that the
psychiatric-driven system often fails to view
the larger system. It tried to understand
those that do not fit nicely into what may be
considered ‘normal’ in a particular culture
or time. For example, it was not too long
ago that homosexuality was deemed a
mental illness. Same sex love was outside a
considered norm, and those who felt love for
a person of the same sex were therefore abnormal. Mentally ill. In order to
get people to neatly fit into one of our boxes (that are often only based on
behavior, not the person in total) psychiatry—and special education—uses
diagnoses and labels. The special education system in the United States is
based on these—to qualify for services a child must be diagnosed as ...
something. Autism. Intellectual Disability. Emotional Disturbance.
Orthopedic Impairment. Developmental Delay. There is a list of thirteen
possibilities. The boxes children are put in are not only labels, but often
actual environments—the EBD room, the Autism class, the Resource Room.
It is easy to see the errors in our past, but for some reason the repetition of
these errors is escaping many, to the detriment of us all. In what ways is
power exercised in your special education system? How might the exercise
of that power deny both the student and ourselves access to tools that could
create success for us and our students?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Francisco Ferrer (Spanish, 1859-1909)
The schools of Francisco Ferrer in Spain stood in stark contrast to the
power of King and clergy. His Escuela Moderna, established in 1901 and
based on libertarian and rationalist principles, posed such a perceived threat
that the authorities closed that school (and the many similar schools
established as part of his movement) five years later. Ferrer’s schools acted
as community centers, offering courses for adults in the evenings or on
weekends. These venues also served as the center for social causes and
union activity, which may have accounted for why they were perceived in
such a negative light by the state authorities.
Ferrer’s problem, shared by reformist and radical educators elsewhere,
was, “how to develop a well-rounded, thinking individual, independent of
reigning dogmas and prejudices ... how to raise a generation of children free
from subservience to authority and capable of working for the freedom of
others” (cited in Avrich, 1980, p. 50). To Ferrer, the purpose of education
was to equip the next generation to build a future inclusive and libertarian
society. This from Ferrer’s (1913) The Origin and Ideas of the Modern
School, published posthumously:
"We do not hesitate to say that we want men [sic] who will continue
unceasingly to develop; men who are capable of constantly destroying and
renewing their surroundings and renewing themselves; men whose
intellectual independence is their supreme power, which they will yield to
none; men always disposed for things that are better, eager for the triumph
of new ideas, anxious to crowd many lives into the life they have" (Avrich,
1980, p. 65).
Such attempts in monarchist Spain resulted in the imprisonment and
execution of Ferrer in October 1909. His death led to an international
outcry, followed by the establishment of the Francisco Ferrer Association in
1910, later called the Modern School Association.
 Behavior as Communication

W hatBehavior
is behavior?
has traditionally been defined as something that a person
does that can be observed by two or more people who can agree that
something has happened. Behavior, in this approach, does not refer to
feelings or emotions—it is simply focused on what the person does. What
the person does is observable, and can be targeted when creating a behavior
plan. Yelling at the teacher is a behavior that can be observed. Feeling
frustrated at the teacher is not.
In a traditional, or clinical, approach behavior is looked at
problematically—how much of a problem the behavior presents. Here the
team would decide if a behavior was destructive, disruptive, or distracting.
These three behaviors are prioritized—destructive behavior is considered a
top priority as it may pose a threat to others or to the student themselves.
Disruptive behaviors (such as crying, making noise, running away) can
interfere with learning and become destructive if not addressed. Distracting
behaviors do not necessarily require a plan but could become disruptive if
ignored.
There is an attractive simplicity in this behavioral classification. The
behavior specialist can ask: Can I see it? Can I count it? Does it happen
more than once? Is it observable, measurable, and repeatable? If so, they
can define it (sometimes called an operational definition), and the team can
then focus on the behavior to replace or eradicate it.
Another common simplification in analyzing behavior is reducing
motives to a simple dichotomy. A dichotomy is a contrast between two
things, a this or that, an either-or. It reduces behavior, and the motivations
behind a behavior, to wanting to get something, or wanting to avoid
something. A child mis-behaves because they want to escape from or avoid
a situation, such as work they perceive as too difficult or boring. They may
fidget or annoy those around them, (a ‘distracting’ behavior). Alternatively,
a child may behave in a way to get something. Calling out in class (another
‘disruptive’ behavior, but with a very different motivation) may gain that
child attention.
This model is reductionist, meaning it reduces something complicated to
very simple terms in order to manage it. Unfortunately, this reductionist
approach is found in many standard texts about behavior.
This chapter is not interested in reduction, or attractive simplicity. It is
interested in why the child may be yelling at her teacher, where the feelings
of frustrations come from, and helping to create an environment where both
teacher and student need is met. To do that we must try to understand what
the behavior is communicating. All behavior, from the toddler, to the child,
to the adolescent, to the adult, is a form of communication. The aim of his
chapter is to leave you with a deeper appreciation of what might be
happening in the classroom, of what is possibly being communicated, and
what (and whose) needs are possibly not being met.
An efficient behavior specialist can identify destructive, disruptive, and
distracting behaviors. They can help create plans to extinguish or replace
those behaviors. Here we hope to turn efficiency into effectiveness, where
behaviors can be understood and plans created with a deeper understanding
and empathy for self and towards those you are working with.
The first part of this chapter will explore behavior as communication. It
will discuss four mistaken goals; and strategies for understanding that
communication, such as using your own feelings. The chapter will conclude
with an examining and recognizing needs—the needs of the teacher and the
needs of the student. As a result, the focus becomes about meeting needs
rather than how to control behavior—and when needs are met behaviors
reflect this.
Behavior as Communication
All behavior is a form of communication. This is very important to
remember when working with the student, and it asks the educator to look
behind any behavior to discern what is being expressed. Behavior can be
modified—that is clear from research as well as practice. External
motivators such as rewards and punishments can shape how people (and
animals) act in specific situations or environments. By rewarding a certain
behavior with a treat (chocolate, free time, praise), a particular type of
behavior is encouraged. It works the same with punishments. By
responding to a certain behavior with a sanction (a reprimand, time out, loss
of privilege), the subject will (ideally) cease the undesired behavior. This is
called operant conditioning. An association is created between a behavior
and a consequence.
However, that approach tells the educator nothing about what the
behavior was communicating, or more importantly, what need was being
expressed (we’ll talk about needs below). And for the educator to be
effective, to create plans and methods that help develop a child to their full
potential, they need to be able understand the child. They need to be able to
listen to what the child is saying, even if it is through how they are acting.
For the purposes of this chapter we will frame the idea of behavior as
communication within several concepts—within a model of human
behavior. The key components of this model are (briefly):

Behavior is purposeful or goal-directed. There is a reason why

people behave the way they do (even if they cannot articulate it).
 We are social beings and we all want to belong or have a place in
the group. Behavior can be a way in which the child (or adult) is
trying to be significant. Sometimes the goal is revealed in the
consequence. Sometimes the goal is mistaken.
Children are sensitive from an early age to the social atmosphere
around them, and build a self-image from their experiences and
experiments in it.
Often, actions and choices are based on faulty assumptions about
life or about themselves. The child who believes that they are the
class clown, that their place in the group is based on their clowning,
will act like a clown, because they mistakenly believe that is who
they are, and that is their role in the group.
Humans are biased in their perception of the world around them. In
other words, we do not experience reality as it is, but rather,
experience reality as we perceive it. An example of this could be a
person suffering from grief or loss. The day itself may be pleasant—
blue sky, a gentle breeze, birds singing in the trees—but the private
logic of the individual (in this case, “I am unhappy”) will affect how
that individual experiences that day.
Finally, we all have the power to move in any self-determined
direction. We may be guided by social lessons learned from an early
age, we may have mistaken goals as to how to belong or support our
self-image, and we may not be able to articulate those motivations
to ourselves. But we can learn what moves us, and we can help
others understand what moves them.

As an educator, especially one who helps design and implement behavior

plans, it is vital to investigate those motivations, and the goals being
pursued—what is being communicated—to help the student reach their full
potential. In their book, Maintaining Sanity in the Classroom, Rudolph
Dreikurs, Bernice Bronia Grunwald, and Floy Pepper identify four possible
goals of ‘problem’ behavior in children. These are not meant here as a
simplification (such as wanting something/not wanting something) but as a
tool for understanding behavior, and going deeper into the underlying need
not being met.
Mistaken Goals
The four mistaken goals are: to gain attention; to seek power; to seek
revenge; or to display inadequacy (real or imagined). The point of
identifying the mistaken goal is to be able to understand what is being
communicated, and to effectively meet the need being expressed. In the
following section we’ll look at each mistaken goal and some ways to help
identify them.
Attention Seeking
Attention seeking is often a form of behavior that confuses adults.
Remember a key component of the model described above: all humans
want to belong and have a place in the wider group. Drawing attention to
oneself can mistakenly be seen as the way to gain that acceptance. But
attention can be drawn for other goals as well, such as power seeking or
revenge. The manner attention can be gained can be constructive, or it can
be destructive. Underlying attention seeking behavior may be the
assumption: “I only belong when people are paying attention to me.”
What the behavior specialist must do to help create an effective plan is
determine what the child is trying to achieve through their behavior. A child
may break another’s pencil, which is a destructive behavior. The teacher (or
the other child) does not want pencils broken. But why did the first child
break the pencil in the first place? The simple response is to reduce the
behavior to the either/or dichotomy above, and to respond with reward or
punishment. Destructive acts are typically met with punishment: if you
break another child’s pencil, this will happen to you (sit in time out, lose a
privilege, etc.).
And as said above, that approach can work. To a degree. If what we want
is only to control the child, it seems to work. But if we ask ourselves ‘why
do we want the child to act in the way we do? (what do we want their
motivation to be for doing as we ask), rarely will compliance alone be
satisfying. Do we want a child to do as we ask because they fear us or
consequences? Do we want them to feel shame or self-loathing? Most of us
want to support and empower the child to their inner-motivation to act in
ways that meet their needs in harmony and respect for the needs of others.
 What is missing is an understanding as to what the child is expressing
through their behavior—what are their unmet needs? If the child is trying to
gain (or be reassured) of acceptance, then a punishment may actually
reinforce their perceived feelings of being outside the group. This not to say
there should not be consequences for actions. Destroying other’s property
calls for some kind of restitution (such as replacing or repairing damage).
However, without an understanding of what is being communicated, the
causes of the behavior will never really be resolved. That behavior may be
modified, but the underlying need will likely be expressed in other forms of
unhealthy behavior choices.
So why did the child break that pencil? To understand this, the teacher
does not need to be a mind reader, or a trained psychologist. But they do
need to look at the child’s action and attitude and pay attention to their own
reaction to a behavior. Some typical attention seeking behaviors can be the
child being a nuisance in class. Or showing off, being lazy, or keeping the
teacher busy. They may cry, use charm, be over sensitive, or be over eager
to please.
How the teacher reacts to this type of behavior (and the behaviors
described below illustrating other mis-taken goals) is very important in
understanding what the child’s goal is. When faced with a child seeming to
be seeking attention, the teacher may feel annoyed, or that they are giving
that child more time than others. They may show pity, give frequent
reminders, find themselves coaxing the child. The attention seeking child
may be seen as a model student, even a teacher’s pet. They can also be seen
as a royal pain. Until we know what the behavior is communicating, it can
also get worse. The time and effort can be exhausting, build resentment ,
and even reinforce ideas of helplessness or hopelessness.
Dreikurs and his colleagues noted four different types of attention
seeking behavior, and combinations of active and passive, constructive and
destructive. Active-constructive attention seeking would include the student
who stands out in distinction or feels lost. They try to rise above their
classmates through achievements or assistance. They try to be the ‘teacher’s
pet’. While their motivation provides them many admirable results, the
motivation is ultimately disempowering as it is living in constant anxiety of
‘falling off the pedestal’ that their sense of self approval is built upon.
The active-destructive child may be defiant, clownish, even bullying.
However, the lack of violence and antagonism differentiates this behavior
from others (such as power seeking or revenge). Once the goal of the
behavior—attention—is achieved, the behavior usually stops. For the
moment. Passive-constructive attention seeking may use charm. They may
tend to clinging or cloying. Passive-destructive attention seeking may be
exhibited through laziness. Help me, it’s too hard, I can’t do this. They may
cry when doing a task, eliciting the sympathy of those around them.
How does the teacher react to this behavior? What does the teacher feel
and need? These may seem like simple questions to ask, but they are very
useful in ascertaining a child’s motivation. In following chapters we’ll
explore ways to collect data, including those reactions. These division,
active-passive, constructive-destructive, are presented here to help the
behavior specialist better identify what is happening so that they can deal
with a behavior and ultimately attend to the student’s (and the teacher’s)
needs. With a deeper understanding, the strategies you suggest and create
with your team will be more effective—and providing essential life
empowering skills and awareness.
 Power Seeking
We all want to have power over our lives. A balanced environment,
whether a classroom, a work place, or a community, values and provides for
its members the healthy autonomy and self-expression. Often, in a school
setting, some behavior that is based on power seeking can be confused with
attention seeking. Again, a good way to start to understand what the
behavior is communicating is to pay attention to what the child is doing
(their action) and how the teacher is feeling (reacting).
When I taught Grade 2, I had a physical ‘tell’ to help me differentiate. If I
felt a tingling in my cheeks, that meant I was angry. Knowing that was what
I was feeling meant I could better understand the developing situation and
how to act in it. I knew from experience that if I acted on that anger, I
would cause damage to the relationship, damage that might be difficult to
repair. Typically, in a power struggle with a child, the adult rarely wins. I
would maintain that the child also rarely wins, as they continue to be mis-
understood and their deeper needs are not met.
Anger is one of the emotions a teacher may feel when faced with a child
seeking power. They may feel defeated, threatened, worried what
colleagues may think about them, determined to show the student who is
‘boss,’ determined not to let the student get away with how they are acting.
Some of the behaviors that bring up these feelings could be arguing, lying,
disobedience, doing the opposite of what is asked, ignoring instructions,
having to win, having to be the boss, trying to be in control of every
situation (and derailing a lesson with disruptive behavior is a form of
controlling that situation).
Remember, it is not OK for children to break their classmate’s pencils,
nor attempt to gain ‘power-over’ the teacher. But through understanding
why they are doing these things (what their behavior is communicating) any
behavior plan created by the team will be more effective and meet with
more long-term success. Sometimes, for example, a strategy for dealing
with attention seeking can be to ignore the behavior, to not give it attention.
But if the child’s actual mistaken goal is a desire for power (or more self-
autonomy in the learning environment), ignoring their behavior could have
the result of aggravating that behavior as it escalates the intensity of the
unmet need.
Revenge
 A child may want to seek revenge for many reasons. They may think that
people are unfair to them or disregard their feelings. They may have felt
hurt and want to hurt back. This hurt could be directed at the one perceived
to have hurt them, or at anyone (a common tragic behavior strategy to have
some sense of being ‘understood').
Children displaying revenge seeking behavior may steal or damage
property, hurt others, accuse others of unfairness, think that nobody likes
them, want to get even, may even be vicious. The teacher or adult may feel
hurt, may dislike the child, consider the child ungrateful, ask other children
to avoid the child, may report the child to his or her parents so that they can
mete out punishment. With revenge seeking, actions and reactions can even
reinforce each other. Punishment or reprimand can reinforce the self-belief
that they are disliked, even that they cannot be liked.
Displayed Inadequacy
The fourth mistaken goal is inadequacy. These children have in some
ways given up on themselves and their ability to be part of the group. They
may believe that they simply can’t do it, that they aren't good enough, that
they will fail. They may feel helpless, stupid in comparison to classmates,
prefer to be left alone where no demands are placed upon them. Many of
these children may have tried to gain acceptance through the mistaken goals
above—attention seeking, power, revenge. Some may have concluded at a
very early age that they are not as capable as others.
Some are so determined in this belief that the teacher, after trying and
trying, will become discouraged and may want to give up as well. In that
situation, however, giving up isn’t usually a fulfilling option for the teacher.
Understanding the goal
We have talked about using teacher reaction and feeling as an indicator of
what is being communicated. Another important indicator is how the child
responds to teacher actions or reprimands. Does the child stop a behavior
once reprimanded, but then start again? That child may be seeking
attention. Do they continue the behavior? Perhaps they are seeking power.
This child may even increase the behavior. Does the child become angry or
abusive when being reprimanded? Does he or she complain of unfairness?
This child may be seeking revenge. Perhaps the child does not even
outwardly respond when reprimanded. That child may believe that they are
inadequate.
 Understanding what is communicated by behavior is an important part of
working effectively with the student, the teacher, and the class. However, it
is only one part of being an effective behavior specialist. Without an
understanding of the need being communicated, we will never fully enable
the child to grow.
Behavior is Communicating Needs
Communication gives us new and powerful skills and awareness to shift
from judging behavior and trying to ‘fix’ what we think is wrong about the
behavior, to recognizing and attending to the underlying human needs being
expressed through the behavior. The analogy of an iceberg is useful here—
the part we can see above the surface of the water is a mere 10% of the
actual berg. Most of the ice is under the surface. The ‘tip of the iceberg’ is
the behavior that can be seen. In a traditional approach, it is what is
measured.
Needs are underneath the surface and driving the behavior—all behavior.
All actions are attempts to try and get our needs met. Tragically, we have
not been taught to focus on needs but rather to focus on our analysis of ‘the
problem’. Many of the ways we try to get our needs met can even escalate
‘problems’.
Judging behavior with the four mistaken goals can support understanding,
but ultimately our ability to effectively (in any long-term sense) influence
desirable behavior relies on our ability to attend to the underlying needs
(ours and theirs). All the behaviors that we are naming—Attention, Power,
Revenge and Displays of Inadequacy are pointing to very core unmet needs
such as to belong, to be seen for our intention, to be heard, to be
understood, to matter, to be supported…
Needs are the impulse behind everything we do, and everything our
children are doing (or not doing). Behavior is communication and what is
being communicated are needs. Our challenge as adults is to be able to see,
understand and have a language to articulate the communication children
are demonstrating. Sadly, most of us have not been taught to recognize our
own needs or given a language to articulate our inner life. We cannot give
what we do not have, so it is not surprising that children don’t know how to
communicate their needs, except through acting out (or refusing to act).
At first glance it can seem overwhelming to imagine trying to meet these
essential human needs (that we all have and all, at times, experience not
having). Meeting needs doesn’t necessarily mean doing what we want or
doing what the other person wants. These are but two strategies to try and
meet needs—and there are often dozens of ways to get any need met at any
one time. When we are focused on the need, not attached to a particular
action, and have awareness, we can find many ways to get needs met.
Often, we meet so many needs by simply having the experience of our need
acknowledged and truly valued that our natural willingness to collaborate
and cooperate is stimulated (and this happens for the students as well—our
needs are universal).
As we learn to recognize and value our own needs, we discover that the
key aspect of ‘meeting needs’ is simply seeing needs—seeing our humanity,
and the humanity in others, in all the skilled and unskilled ways it is being
expressed. The ability to identify the needs within behavior (empathy)
provides the skill and awareness to not only effectively respond (rather than
react) to behavior, but to empower the student with these essential life
skills.

Activity/Task:
1: Identifying Mistaken Goals. Read the scenario below and discuss the
questions.
Setting:
Resource room (pull-out model) small reading group (four students)
Data collection (based on observation and interview)
Ali comes into class obviously unsettled, lies on the ground and makes
noises. The teacher aide tells him to stop it and to sit down. He starts to get
up. His teacher greets him and starts to set out work for him, working one-
to-one. Ali starts to engage with the lesson but when the teacher turns to
work with other students he begins to fidget and make noise again. He is on
task for the next twenty minutes but only with the teacher’s almost
complete attention. At the end that time the teacher offers him a three
minute ‘brain break’ and he goes to sit on a comfortable chair near the
reading corner. There he makes noise, saying loudly that his shoe is untied,
that he can’t tie it, etc. The teacher responds to him verbally, but Ali
continues to complain about his shoes. The teacher finally gets up and ties
his shoe.
The teacher says she feels annoyed about Ali’s behavior, that he is
selfishly taking her time at the expense of the other students in the group.
Questions:

What might the student’s behavior be communicating?

What might the teacher’s feelings tell us about the student’s
behavior?
What effect do you think the teacher’s actions (how she responded)
will have on Ali’s behavior?
How do you think the teacher might have respond differently/more
effectively next session?
What strategies might you suggest to the teacher?
 2. Recognizing and valuing your own needs
Identify a behavior you do but would rather not (such as nail biting,
yelling, eating lots of sugar…) Now identify the needs you are trying to
meet by this behavior. Next, identify the needs you are not meeting by this
behavior. Being aware of both sets of needs, can you think of one other
action you could ask of yourself that would meet both sets of needs that are
important to you?

3. Seeing the needs being communicated in student behavior

Identify a student behavior that is challenging for you (use observational
rather than evaluative words, i.e. rather than 'lazy', describe the actual
behavior that you are judging as lazy). What needs might this behavior be
expressing? What questions could you ask the student to help you identify
which need is the actual need? Don’t ask the student what they need—they
are probably not aware of their needs in a way they can articulate without
being supported by your questions.
 THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Pathologies.”
Pathologies are good for business. The
support system created to meet the needs of
people with disabilities, including the
special education system, has been
described by Kathie Snow as a Disability
Industrial Complex. Snow recognizes
supports for people with disabilities as ‘big
business’: “I’m chilled by many of the
stories I hear,” writes Snow, “which
demonstrate a frightening state of affairs:
services represent more than benevolent
help or legal entitlements." Human services
for people with disabilities represent Big
(Disability) Business! A special education
teacher makes their living either helping to label students or working with
those already labeled. They profit from the disability business. Even more,
they help perpetuate it. What are your views about being part of what Snow
calls the Disability Industrial Complex? What is your role in the system?
How can you reconcile your values with what may be expected of you as a
special educator?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

John Dewey, (American, 1859-1952)
The educational philosopher John Dewey saw education as the
foundation of strong democracy. The school had the potential to play an
important part in not only the socialization of youth, but also developing the
‘social intelligence’ necessary to underlie an informed democracy. The
reason school was doubly important was that the school itself was a social
site. By looking at the school as society, an opportunity presents itself to
combat societal problems. The social medium of the school inculcates the
values of a group or community. For Dewey, the primary aim of education
was to foster a consciousness of interdependence. The type of society
Dewey wanted to see was an inclusive society based on mutual
interdependence. Education in schools provided an opportunity to achieve
this through developing social insights and capacities, and by instilling
democratic habits in students. To Dewey, school provides a special
environment where education does not just take place directly through
instruction but also through the social environment.
Dewey’s regard for method meant he valued an active role in the process
of change. Education to Dewey was designed to facilitate transformation in
society. In a very immediate sense Dewey tested his theories in his
Laboratory School established in Chicago in 1896. There he set about
building a school that reflected a small community and pioneered a more
experiential pedagogy. Through this approach he sought to create in the
American educational system, “tendencies towards greater freedom and an
identification of the child’s school life with his environment and outlook;
and, even more important, the recognition of the role education must play in
a democracy” (Dewey & Dewey, 1915, p. iii).
In contrast to Maria Montessori, Dewey’s focus on the child should not
be confused for an advocacy of a ‘child-centered’ approach. However,
Dewey strongly criticized the ‘traditional’ approaches of his day, what the
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire would later describe as a ‘banking’ system
of education, where the instructor endeavored to fill the student (reduced to
containers or receptacles) with the information deemed at the time vital for
their ‘education’ (Freire, 1996). The traditional approach questioned by
Dewey remains, however, in the form of national curricula focusing on
content and exams which require students to demonstrate how well they
have been ‘filled’ with ‘knowledge' by their teachers.
 Data Collection Methods:
Quantitative Data

Q
uantitative data is any information that can be easily expressed
numerically or in quantities. This type of data quantifies things in
terms that can then be analyzed statistically. Measurements and
counts are the most common types of quantitative data, representing an
actual physical amount or frequency of something.
Quantitative data is distinguished from qualitative data in that it is values
or quantities that can be used in mathematical calculations or statistical
analyses to reveal trends and identify patterns. Quantitative methods allow
researchers to perform numeric calculations, identify correlations, and
conduct hypothesis testing. Experiments, surveys, and records tracking
frequently employ quantitative data collection techniques in fields ranging
from physics to finance.
Typically, in school settings quantitative data is used to measure student
aptitude in exams; test scores and grades are calculated. This data is usually
also aggregated at the class or school level to measure teacher and school
performance compared to national averages. This type of data is also used
in the analysis of diversity within a school setting. For example,
percentages of students in each class who are male and female, and how
this compares to national or subject averages.
Other uses of quantitative data include understanding more subjective
experiences, for example, overall wellbeing and life satisfaction. In the
example of satisfaction, students may be asked how satisfied they are with
their learning experience with options ‘very satisfied,’ ‘satisfied,’ ‘neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied,’ ‘dissatisfied,’ or ‘very dissatisfied.’ Answers will
be aggregated (e.g. twenty percent of students were ‘very satisfied’, or
converted to numeric values for further analysis). This type of data is
known as a Likert scale, which we’ll look at below.
Data collection forms
Forms are ubiquitous in special education. Wherever you work, you will
come across a myriad of types. Your district or school may have forms that
you are mandated to use, in which case they should be used. There is
certainly no shortages of forms to fill in. This handbook does not have
pages of sample forms or templates because of this. By the time you finish
this book, you will hopefully have your own ideas of what a form needs,
and what it doesn’t.
Quantitative data is a useful tool to help you understand behavior and
inform any goals and objectives you develop. Many forms are available to
observe and record the ‘ABC’ of the situation, and if they are not, it is not
difficult to design yourself. ABC stands for antecedent, behavior, and
consequence. What came before? What happened? What followed? These
questions can be very useful in trying to identify patterns in not only the
subject child’s behavior, but their teacher’s, their classmate’s, and the
environment.
 Below is an example of a simple ABC form:

Some forms may ask you to assess routine situations and score the
likelihood of a behavior occurring during that situation. The score is
typically between a range of 1 to 5, 1 being not very likely and 5 indicating
a high likelihood of occurrence. This type of scale is referred to as a Likert
scale. The Likert scale was invented by American social scientist Rensis
Likert. Likert scales may also contain words rather than numbers. The
individual filling in such a form chooses a number or word based on how
they feel. That last word is important to bear in mind when collating results,
as those results may appear number rich. Just because they are numbers,
they do not tell a complete story. For example, an answer to a question may
be calculated at 3.08, indicating a neutral response. That may be useful in
helping you formulate a hypothesis about a behavior or situation, but on its
own may be rather limited.
 Here is an example of a Likert scale:

Some terms you will come across when collecting quantitative data are:
frequency, rate, duration, latency, and interval. Briefly, frequency refers to
how often a behavior happens in a set period of times. How many times did
the child get out of their seat during a ten-minute period? The rate is the
number of times a behavior occurs over a period of time. Divide the count
(frequency) by the period of time and you arrive at a rate. Duration
involves how long a child engaged in a behavior. How long was the child
on task? How long was the child off task? Latency measures the amount of
time between an antecedent and when a child engages in a target behavior.
You may be watching a trigger, such as the teacher giving an instruction.
How much time passes before the child … begins the task? Refuses to
attend to the task? An interval recording strategy involves observing
whether a behavior occurs or does not occur during specified time periods.
Interval time samples require breaking a period into small intervals. This
may only provide an estimate of a behavior but may be useful for behaviors
with no clear beginning or end. A key word here is useful, and as the
professional you must decide (as with all your data) what is useful, and
what is not.
Basic frequency form:
 Some data forms may list behaviors, requiring you to tick if such a
behavior happens, or even tally the number of times it may occur. Some
items on the list might be: unresponsive, disruptive, inappropriate language,
insubordination, incomplete work, theft, vandalism, verbal harassment,
physical aggression, etc. Regarding antecedents: was the task too hard?
Task too easy? Bored w/ task? Task too long? Large group instruction?
Small group work? Such forms are best used as a preliminary data
gathering activity. They might be part of a teacher questionnaire, and the
teacher may be asked to rank the strongest triggers/predictors of problem
behavior from a list.
Every form has its use, but it is up to you to decide on the value. And a
word of caution while using such lists: Often, such a list of behaviors comes
without definitions, leaves no space for explanation, and can direct your
gaze to specific behaviors to the detriment of seeing other behaviors. This
may be putting the horse before the cart, or the behavior before your data
collection. The ultimate aim of your work, and the work you may ask others
to do (such as filling out questionnaires), is to understand a situation in
order to complete a Functional Behavior Assessment and create an effective
plan. In the following section we’ll consider giving the teacher (and use
ourselves) forms that contain empty boxes rather than lists or suggestions.
Standardized Assessments
As part of the analysis process standardized tests may be used. Two
common assessments are the Behavior and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS)
and the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). The BERS is a
self-completed questionnaire measuring student behavior and emotional
strengths. It provides an index of a child’s strengths and competencies from
the perspective of the child themselves (there is a survey for children aged
eleven to eighteen), parent and teacher. The assessment takes ten to fifteen
minutes to complete. Results can be used in the process of placing a child in
specialized services as well as measuring outcomes of a service or
intervention. The rating scale uses a Likert scale to obtain results and offers
questions requiring written response.
The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) is administered
by school psychologists and other professionals trained in administering the
test. It is used to measure the level of behavioral and emotional functioning
for pupils/students aged two to twenty-one. The assessment utilizes a four-
point frequency scale and takes roughly thirty minutes to complete. The
developers of the assessment also provide the BASC-3 Behavior and
Emotional Screening System (BESS) that can be completed quickly by
parents and teachers and also offers student forms. Results for both the
BERS and BASC are norm referenced. This means that it compares the
student’s score to a standard based on a larger population/peer group. That
larger group is referred to as the ‘norm.’
There is an obvious challenge when 'norming' individuals within diverse
cultural groups, and the resultant limitations. Here is an example: Native
Americans make up about two percent of the total US population. Will a
standardized test normed for the entire population used on a Native
American student produce valid and accurate results? And it is not even that
simple, when the cultural make-up of that two percent is considered. There
are over five hundred different tribes in the USA. When a test is presented
as 'sufficiently' normed at two percent, the norm might be based on the
Navajo of Arizona, yet used with Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, two
distinctively different cultural groups. As a result, the norming can be
flawed for many groups.
Quantitative studies rely on numerical or measurable data. There are
many ways to gather and present this data. It can appear scientific and
objective, direct in its results and often easy to collect. It offers a very
acceptable way to present findings. However, even while collecting
quantitative data, you will have an effect on that data. This is known as the
observer effect, and means that simply by observing, you cause change—
you influence the results. It happens in quantum physics, and it happens in
the playground.
But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing! While coming into a school as a
behavior specialist on invitation of a teacher and a principal at their wits'
end (a young boy climbing on the school roof and displaying violent
behavior towards other students and staff) the boy’s teacher told me he
showed up smiling that morning. “That man is coming to watch me today,
so I’m going to be good,” he told his teacher. While realizing any behavior I
might have seen that day may not be what the staff described in their
referral, I was pleased to note that (based on what he told his teacher) he
could show a degree of self-awareness and control over his behavior. I
considered the boy's comment as very valuable data, because it was.
The type of data I collected during my interaction with the teacher, and
spending time with the boy in his school, was qualitative. While
quantitative data can be extremely useful, on its own it can offer a limited
view. Where in the numbers is the individual? Where are human feelings
and perceptions? In the next chapter we will look at qualitative data, which
focusses on concepts, opinions, and experiences as it seeks in-depth insights
and a more intimate understanding of the why behind a behavior or event.

Activity/Task: This activity has three parts:

1. Watch a thirty-minute sit com on television and keep a tally for

every time the laughter machine is used. Divide your
observations into five-minute intervals. What do you notice
about usage? Was there a part of the show when it was used
more than another?
 2. Create (or use an existing) form to collect the frequency of
something you do (a target behavior) during an entire day—
like the amount of times you touch your face, or say a specific
phrase or word (‘um’, ‘look’, ‘cool’, yeah’, etc.), or smoke a
cigarette or vape, or any other repetitive behavior.
3. Find a situation where you feel angry, frustrated, sad, or another
emotion. Fill in an ABC form (antecedent, behavior,
consequence) for that emotion. Reflect on what happened prior,
what the emotional response looked like, and what happened as
a result.

THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Measures.”
Sometimes, Often, Always, Never.
Quantitative observational tools are
commonly used in special education
practice. They offer a statistical analysis of
behaviors to arrive at possible roots to
those behaviors. The normed results of the
BASC, for example, can help diagnose
ADHD, CD, OCD, and depression. But can
you make any behavior normative? Who
decides what is normal? Is it the same for
all ethnicities, socio-economic statuses,
cultures? Can quantitative measures give a
whole picture of the child, their strengths,
interests, dreams, as well as their
limitations? Explore the limitations of normative scales in quantitative data
collection/standardized approaches in special education. How can you
ensure that, when they are used as a part of the data collection process, the
individual is not lost in the Individual Education Plan/process?
 KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION
Antonio Gramsci (Italian, 1891-1937)
Antonio Gramsci spent much of his adult life in prison on the order of
Benito Mussolini’s fascist government. Gramsci was born in 1891 on the
Italian island of Sardinia. Experiencing both destitution and disability, he
developed a personal insight into exclusion and oppression. These insights
allowed him to recognize the power of education, which eventually led him
afoul of the authorities. His writings while in prison were published after
his premature death at forty-six as a collection of letters and notebooks. Of
particular interest here is what Gramsci referred to as human agency in
cultural transformation.
To Gramsci, underlying values and assumptions remain invisible and
undefined, deliberately. They are in the realm of what Gramsci called
‘common sense’, unquestionably taken as the natural way things should be
done. Here Gramsci would ask, cui bono? To whose advantage? Gramsci
saw the school as the state institution par excellence for preparing children
for their future roles in society. An important point emerges from this
observation. If education serves the dominant interest, then the school is not
a neutral institution. It benefitted the status quo. Education was related to
power, and as such, Gramsci was interested in the transformative power of
ideas.
For Gramsci, education was not only transformative, but prefigurative,
laying the groundwork for change. Gramsci held that history presents
possibilities, not certainties, and since outcomes are up for grabs, it is up to
humans to fight for the future at every level of social life, especially the
cultural level. Education provided the space in which to convert ‘common
sense’ into ‘good sense,’ or understanding based on critical reflection.
Gramsci held that the teacher or intellectual could never be neutral. The
intellectual, in Gramsci’s view, could serve the dominant groups in society
or could challenge those dominant groups. This was either-or; neutrality
was not a possibility. Gramsci wrote of ‘organic intellectuals’ who emerge
from every social class who give that class or sector of society a shared
identity and a sense of awareness in its role in economic and political
spheres. Organic intellectuals are actively involved in society as they are
constantly struggling to change minds and expand markets. A question for
these intellectuals (and every teacher) is: whose side are you on? If an
intellectual was organic to the dominant groups, then their efforts would
serve those interests. However, if the intellectual was organic to a
subordinate class, then part of their task was to embed the foundations for a
more socially just society in the popular consciousness.
 Data Collection Methods:
Qualitative Data

I ninformation
this chapter we explore collecting qualitative data. Qualitative data is
gathered that is not represented by numbers. It is information
concerned with the nature of things as perceived through human eyes or
emotions. In this chapter we will explore some qualitative data collections
methods through which you will be able to complete your FBA. The
information you gather will be descriptive, interpretative and expressed in
words. What is meant by the term data is information—the information you
will use to increase your understanding. Qualitative data can include what
you see, feel, hear, as well as what you are told. In the entire analytical
process of the FBA, the most important tool is you. That fact can often get
lost in the forms and procedures of special education.
 There are many ways to gather qualitative data. Below we will look at
observations, interviews, and the use of field notes.
 Observation
Observation is the educator’s most effective tool. To observe is to watch
somebody or something carefully, especially to learn more about them or it.
Yep—that is straight out of the Oxford Dictionary. In qualitative data
collection, the observation is based on your (the observer's) interpretation.
You are not making measurements, but noting what you see, hear, feel,
smell and taste. All your senses can provide useful data. Some of my first
notes while visiting a school or classroom are my first impression. How did
I feel walking into the building or room? Welcomed? Ostracized? Looked
after? Ignored? Even these impressions can be valuable.
There are two general types of qualitative observation: non-participant
and participant. The image that comes to mind with non-participant
observation in the person standing in the back of a room with a clip board.
Much of quantitative data collection discussed in the previous chapter is a
form of non-participant observation. You are standing back and collecting
information, be it frequency tallies or a behavior tick list. During non-
participant observation in qualitative data collecting, you are standing back,
but not collecting tallies. You are noticing what is going on around you and
recording that in your field notes or on a prepared form. That form will
predominantly consist of blank boxes you will fill in with words.
As we saw above, even with quantitative data collection the observer has
an effect on what they are observing. Think back to being a child in the
playground. Would the presence of an unknown adult with a clip board or
notebook influence that playground? Even an answer of ‘maybe’ can be
significant. With participant observation, that presence is acknowledged,
even used, to collect valuable data. Just as it is called, with participant
observation the observer becomes a part of the action. If observing a
playground, join in a game. Line up with the class and return to their room.
Sit on the carpet and enjoy a story. But notice what is happening around
you. By being a part of the action you can learn a great deal about those
around you.
I sometimes remembered to warn a teacher when I came into their
classroom to conduct observations. “It might not look like I’m observing,
but I am the entire time,” I would say. And then I spent time at a table
helping a student with literacy, under a table reading with another, sitting at
the teacher’s desk and taking in the view of the class, helping a child locate
a lost crayon … and all the time gathering a great deal of data on the class
and the people in it. With participant observation you immerse yourself in
the life of the group or community.
As you can imagine, you can collect a great deal of data during
participant observations. But how do you capture those observations if you
are busy participating? Experiment and find what works for you. I
sometimes had a notebook handy and kept it with my coat or bag. I could
go to that place and discreetly write a few lines. Or I would wait for an
opportune time to jot key words or phrases to jog my memory when I could
write more. The less time between an observation session and the writing
about it, the fuller your notes will be. These observations will be captured in
field notes, which we’ll discuss below.
Participant observation is not better than non-participant observation, nor
is it worse. It is simply a different way to observe. There will be times when
non-participant observation is more effective, or possibly the only option
available. You, as the professional, must decide what type of observations
you will make, how and when you might combine methods, and justify
why.
 Interviews
An interview is more than just having a conversation. It has a purpose,
which is collecting data about something or someone. The questions or
prompts used in an interview are designed to help us gather that data. And
as qualitative data is concerned with perceptions and feelings, interviews
are an extremely useful way to find that out. During an interview you get to
ask and really listen, and the person you are interviewing gets to share their
experiences and emotions in a safe and confidential environment. By asking
questions you allow the other person to express their thoughts, emotions,
and beliefs in their own voice. Interviews allow you to collect information
that would be unavailable through other data collection methods. We’ll
consider three types of interviews below: formal, semi-formal, and informal
(or ‘opportunistic discussions’).
Formal, or Structured interviews
The structured interview utilizes a predetermined set of questions that are
asked in the same order and style to each person. You may have been the
subject of such an interview in applying for a job. In an effort to be fair to
each applicant, and provide a way to score answers, each applicant is run
through the same set of questions. This type of approach is also favored by
surveyors or market researchers. Each question is prepared prior to the
interview, designed to extract the maximum of relevant data about the
person being asked. How could a list of predetermined questions help the
behavior specialist understand what is happening in an educational setting?
Maybe you want to look at several perspectives—the teacher, teacher aide,
mother or father, student … by asking the same questions to each you can
gain an insight into the perspectives of those involved.
Semi-formal interviews
With semi-formal interviews you do not come equipped with a complete
list of questions, but prompts, or a list of key items to keep you, the
interviewer, on task and to make sure that all the items you wanted to
discuss are not forgotten. You may start with a small list of guiding
questions, followed up with probing questions that depend on the answers
given. Questions are open, in that they encourage further discussion, giving
both the interviewer and interviewee a chance to explore something further.
Questions that require a yes or no answer don’t go very far. They are closed.
Open-ended questions invite description and exploration. What happens
when …? How does that make you feel when …? What happens if …?
Semi-structured interviews can take the form of a guided conversation,
where you encourage the participant to talk in the area of interest.
Informal interviews, or ‘Opportunistic discussions’
Other interviews are conducted in an apparently casual manner. Informal
interviews consist of discussions and explorations of personal views and
experiences. Such interviews can be opportunistic, dependent on what was
going on in the immediate area. In many situations these informal
interviews offer team members a chance to share, without the formality of a
recording device, an artificial setting, or a list of questions. Without the
formality of a structured interview, you may find team members much more
willing to speak openly. These interviews can even resemble friendly chats
that are reciprocal in nature. At these times you may find yourself assuming
the role of confidant. This is okay, because you are. As a professional your
data is confidential.
Informal interviews, or opportunistic discussions, can occur in a variety
of contexts. These contexts could be a quiet time in the staff room, a walk
with students and their teachers’ aides, or playing a game with a child. The
nature of your place in the school can afford many different opportunities to
‘opportunely discuss’ or to relate with those at the school. Opportunistic
discussions can become a way of relating with those around you, a way of
exploring their experience and add a rich layer of depth to your
understanding of the situation and environment. What is the difference
between an opportunistic discussion and simply having a chat? Your
intention. While making connections you are also finding out about a
situation. You are collecting data.
Here is an example where terminology may become blurred. Semi-formal
interviews, informal interviews, ‘opportunistic discussion’... Qualitative
research is open ended and flowing. It is concerned with personal
experience and perception. It is based on personal and reciprocal
relationships. It is based on trust. Yet it still involves craftsmanship; it is in
no way ad hoc. As a part of your data collection methods, the ‘interview’
requires reflexivity. Reflexivity involves being aware of your state of mind,
what you bring into ‘the field’, as well as being aware of the state of those
you move among.
With your observations and interviews you will need a way to organize
and keep track of what you are learning. You can do this in your filed notes.
 Field notes
Field notes can make up a major and vital portion of your data collection.
These notes can provide a rich source of data that reflected not only your
collection of information, but also the evolution of ideas, the development
of relationships, and the process of developing a behavior plan. Your field
notes can also be, in an important way, a refuge, a place to express your
evolving feelings. As such, field notes are not included in an FBA, but
rather feed the process of understanding. They are private, and as they are
private, they should be kept safe.
Field notes are a place where you could be as honest as you can allow
yourself to be about not only those you are there to support, but also about
yourself. These notes are a place to write freely and honestly about all
aspects of your work, a place to, “confess your mistakes, your inadequacies,
your prejudices, your likes and dislikes” (Biklen and Bogdan, 2007, p. 122).
As such they are written only for you, and they are seen only by you. These
field notes document your interactions as an observer, as well as your role
as behavior specialist.
How these field notes are written up will evolve through experimentation
during your practice. In my own work, for example, on some occasions I
decided to wait until I returned to my office to type up daily notes on my
computer, but I found that with this practice I spent too much time trying to
recall important events and interactions of the visit. I potentially missed
more than I captured. What became the preferred, and in my view most
effective, method was to utilize any opportunity or space before any
significant amount of time has passed to write relevant thoughts and
experiences into a notebook. A brief moment in the staff room, sitting in the
car before driving away, finding a quiet place nearby—in doing this I was
able to take home more data to reflect on and add to. As your practice with
field notes grows, you will find what works best for you.
Activity/Task:

1. To collect observational data is not easy. Like most things, it

takes practice to get better at it. For this task you are asked to
practice. Acting as a non-participant observer and using a field
note journal (a notebook), spend three thirty-minute sessions
 observing the same location. These thirty-minute sessions
should not be on the same day. Ensure the location you choose
is active—for example, a coffee shop, a train station, a
classroom … After each session review your observation notes.
Reflect on your effort. Did you capture the scene? Was it easy?
Hard? How will you improve your effort next time?
2. After completing these three observations, carry out three more,
this time as a participant observer. Immerse yourself in the
situation/environment—but take note of what is happening
around you. Explore ways to record your observational data.
Find what works for you. At the end of the three participant
sessions, review and reflect on your notes as you did after your
non-participant observations.

A reminder here about reflexivity. Reflexivity is being aware of yourself

in the data collection process. Even with quantitative data collection and
non-participant observation you bring with you beliefs and values. We all
do. But as professionals we must try to be aware of these prejudices (pre-
judgements). Although they make us what we are, they can sometimes get
in the way. Strive to see the world with an open mind.
 THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Machines.”
The school and the classroom have many
routines and systems that students must fit
into in the daily running of the institution.
There are rules and expectations,
frequently posted on walls. What is
expected from the student, regarding
behavior and conduct, is often made quite
explicit. These rules can range from
physical contact to how a student or class
walks down a hallway. Behavior goals and
objectives can help teach and encourage a
student to conform to the expected norms,
but is it the role of the special educator or
behavior specialist to model and teach
conformity, to ensure ‘compliance’?
Change occurs within a culture, within a society, when people step outside
and question what is considered appropriate behavior. Could it be that
disrupting some norms is exactly what is needed? Is there a responsibility to
help students articulate their behavior in a way that challenges these
‘norms’ more effectively, and also, as an educator, to challenge those
practices that, on deeper reflection, belittle or degrade your student (or
yourself)?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Paulo Freire (Brazilian, 1921-1997)
Paulo Freire referred to the process of reflection and action as praxis.
Social reality does not exist by chance and is not transformed by chance.
Transformation, Freire held, was the result of human action. When this
action is grounded in reflection, and reflection leads to action, there is
praxis. It is a thinking action; a critical thinking; a conscious engagement
with the surrounding society. Society is, after all, in flux. So too, Freire
adds, are individual humans. He was concerned with humanization—the
'inescapable concern' to be fully human (Freire, 1996). It was the people’s
vocation. In Freire’s vision of humanity, there was no need for oppression
or injustice. Indeed, the act of oppression (or exclusion) denigrated the
humanity of the oppressor. It dehumanized them. Similarly, the oppressed,
through their oppression, suffered a dehumanization that was imposed but
also, to a degree, consensual. Freire’s pedagogy was designed to help
people surmount the situation of oppression in which they must, “first
critically recognize its causes, so that through transforming action they can
create a new situation, one that makes possible the pursuit of a fuller
humanity” (Freire, 1996, p. 29). “The pedagogy of the oppressed,” wrote
Freire in his seminal work by the same title, “is an instrument for their
critical discovery that both they and their oppressors are manifestations of
dehumanization” (Freire, 1996, p. 30).
When Freire’s educators entered a village, they would initially spend time
getting to know the social reality, or ‘themes’ of the people. Freire’s
pedagogy was therefore defined by the context. His educators would
subsequently open dialogue, exploring, through problematizing that reality,
issues that were of vital interest to the villagers. These educators were also
considered as students, learning through the exchange. It was a relationship
of mutual respect where there “are only people who are attempting,
together, to learn more than they know” (Freire, 1996, p. 71). The
relationship, and the dialogue, was, “an act of creation; it must not serve as
a crafty instrument for the domination of one person by another” (Freire,
1996, p. 70). The dialogues facilitated a rising of awareness, a
conscientization, of people to the limits in their situations, individually and
collectively. It encouraged participants to explore their ‘themes’ and deepen
their awareness of their reality, so that they could take possession of it.
Action was based on these reflections.
Perhaps a testament to the effectiveness of Freire’s methods was the fact
that he was exiled firstly from his home in Brazil following the military
coup of 1964, and then by the CIA-backed Pinochet junta in Chile
following their seizure of power. He threatened the status quo. Freire
viewed education as a political act, and he knew what side he was on. What
kept him working for change for so long was that his pedagogy was based
on hope. “One of the tasks of the progressive educator,” he later wrote,
“through a serious, correct political analysis, is to unveil opportunities for
hope, no matter what the obstacles may be” (Freire, 1992, p. 3). How this
would translate to the classroom, or teaching and learning environment, is
through an educator with the responsibility to critically analyze how society
works and to challenge learners to think critically about their social
realities. Freire’s critical pedagogy, as Giroux (2010) describes, “is about
offering a way of thinking beyond the seemingly natural or inevitable state
of things, about challenging ‘common sense’” (p. 2).
 The Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA): Learning by
Doing

W hen training to be a counsellor or therapist, the candidate is

encouraged undergo therapy themselves. Whereas in the United States
this practice is standard, in much of Europe it is a requirement. This
practice ensures that before they help others, they themselves have had the
opportunity to examine their own issues. Before analyzing others, they must
be analyzed themselves. Where this is required, a therapist who has never
undergone therapy is considered with suspicion. Undergoing therapy is a
vulnerable activity. Writing in Psychology Today, Steven Reidbord observes
that, “At the most commonsense level, a therapist who knows what it is like
to be a patient may be more empathic, and may anticipate unstated feelings
more readily than a therapist without this first-hand knowledge.” The
therapist's own psychotherapy helps him or her recognize where their own
values influence their analysis. It encourages a humility, in seeing each
client as a valued human deserving of respect.
Therapy is rare in this requirement. A surgeon does not have to be cut
before becoming qualified to use their scalpel. In surgical interventions, the
medical model is more often re-enforced than challenged. Cutting is often
viewed as a fix to any perceived problem. On one consultation to a surgeon,
I was advised that an operation was desirable to ‘correct’ my daughter’s
gate. Being born with a physical disability affecting her muscles and joints,
one leg pointed slightly to the left. What was recommended was surgically
breaking the tibia, the largest bone in the leg, twisting it slightly to the right,
and then attaching the halves of the bone back together with metal rods.
Adjusting and removing the metal rods and bolts would require future
operations, and she would be rendered immobile in a large plaster cast until
the bone had fused.
Having cared for her after a hip operation which required her to wear a
body cast for weeks and having met children (and their parents) who often
went ‘under the knife,’ I was reluctant to readily agree to additional cutting.
I asked the surgeon whether this operation would substantially improve her
gait or would it be, primarily, cosmetic. My question took him aback, and I
think it was unexpected primarily because he had never had a major
operation that required months of rehabilitation, nor had he cared for a
loved one who underwent such an intervention.
Likewise, in qualifying to be a special educator, there is no requirement
to analyze your own behavior, or to be observed or analyzed by others. Nor
are special educators required to adhere to a behavior plan that may have
been entirely written by others, to achieve goals that were written by others.
In this part of the handbook, you put the information covered in the first
two chapters of this handbook into practice. This practice will be guided by
the process known as the Functional Behavior Assessment, or FBA. During
the process, you will be the subject of the intervention, an FBA designed by
you (and, ideally, your team) to address an identified behavior. Once a
behavior is identified, you will write a justification for your intervention
(the FBA). The FBA is indeed an intervention: it requires commitment and
time and will impact the student and the learning environment in ways that
you propose in your plan. Although not as intrusive as the leg operation
described above, it is, still, intrusive. An FBA requires many hours of
observation, analyzing and planning. It puts into place a plan that asks team
members to participate in a variety of ways, and it impacts a student’s
experience in the educational setting.
In understanding the FBA as an intrusive intervention, there may be times
when, in looking into the reasons for an FBA, you find that such an
intervention is not warranted. If that is ever the case, your job will then
involve addressing areas of concern in other, less intrusive, ways.
In this part of the handbook, it will be assumed that the FBA you will
carry out on yourself is warranted. You will identify a target behavior or
behavior of concern. You will then collect data on the target behavior, using
the process to explore the benefits of varied types of data collecting. And
crucially important, you will practice analyzing your data, making sense of
what you have collected and observed. The following section is divided into
five parts, each section representing a part of the FBA process.
What is an FBA?
A Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is generally considered to be a
problem-solving process for addressing an identified behavior or situation.
It is a process for collecting information. The information collected helps
the team understand why a behavior occurs. The information, or data,
gathered helps the team produce a positive behavior intervention plan. In
the United States under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), a team is required to conduct an FBA when a student with a
disability has his or her placement changed as a result of disciplinary action.
While a legal requirement in the US in those situations, it is a useful process
to employ whenever you want to better understand a behavior or situation
in order to create an effective plan to address the team’s concerns.
And while the FBA is a legal requirement under IDEA, the act does not
define how an FBA is done. There is no set model that educators are
required to followed. There are, however, several specific steps that are
always a part of such an assessment. First, the behavior(s) that may need to
change are identified. In this part of an FBA a justification for the
intervention is written. Secondly, data is collected on the target behaviors,
environment, etc. This data informs the hypothesis, which is based on the
analysis of the data. Once you are confident with your analysis you can
then write an analytical memo which concisely and clearly sums up your
hypothesis for the team. The fourth part of an FBA involves the creation of
goals and objectives. Below you will practice writing meaningful and
relevant SMART goals. Putting your analysis and goals into a plan
constitute the final part of creating an FBA. Part of that plan, of course, will
involve thinking about how you and your team will monitor progress and
success, and use that information to alter or improve the plan.
Sometimes definitions of FBAs indicate that the process is directed at
what can be referred to as ‘student problem behavior.’ Terms like ‘problem’
or ‘inappropriate’ or ‘aberrant actions’ can be tricky when approaching an
FBA, as they are assumption laden. The implicit assumption is that the
student has a problem, that their behavior is inappropriate or even aberrant.
While it may be, it is possible that it may not, or may be a surface
manifestation of something else, communicating a deeper cause or need. It
is best to undertake the FBA process without initial assumptions.
Sometimes a behavior presents itself and the reflex may be to extinguish it
—to make it stop. However, without an understanding of what is being
communicated, a behavior that is extinguished will often crop up in a
different, more problematic, form.
This can be avoided if key principals or benchmarks are embedded in the
process, posed here as a series of reflective questions. Does the
intervention/plan help develop the self-determination of the student? Do
strategies encourage the development of intrinsic motivation? Is behavior
seen as a form of communication? Is the view that the child is the problem,
or is the view that the student has a problem?
The FBA relies on a variety of techniques and strategies to identify the
purposes of specific behavior and to help IEP or school teams select
interventions to directly address the identified behavior or situation. A team
approach is an important part of the Functional Behavioral Assessment. Just
as with an IEP that is created with a wide involvement, including that of the
student in whatever capacity is possible, more participation in its creation
will result in more ownership of the plan.
 THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about ... Race.”
Demographic disparities. Why is there a
disparity in the number of boys of color
diagnosed as emotionally disturbed? Not
only has gender been identified as a factor
(boys outnumber girls in the elementary
setting 2:1), the color of the boy’s skin also
plays a part. To put it bluntly (and
accurately), the students most likely to be
placed in special education, and restrictive
environments, are black, male and poor.
African American males are more than
twice as likely to be diagnosed as seriously
emotionally disturbed. African Americans
make up only 17% of the school
population, yet their presence in special
education is far higher than that. There is another area in US society where
that disparity is mirrored: prison. Here we can stop and ask: what is wrong
with them!? OR, we can ask more critical questions: Is this disparity
intentional? Is it a manifestation of institutional racism? Is special
education a form of population control? Are civil rights being violated? Is
current practice actually a form of educational malpractice? Now that you
are aware of this disparity, what can you do about it?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Jane Addams (American, 1860-1935)
Jane Addams was a prominent reformer in late nineteenth and early
twentieth century America. She was an ardent advocate for women’s rights,
including the right to vote. She was an advocate for world peace, and
became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Although best known for her pioneering work in the field of social work,
she is also remembered as a great educator, notably for the work done with
Hull House in Chicago, which she founded with Ellen Gates Starr. Hull
House was based in a dilapidated mansion built by Charles Hull. Addams
initially used money she inherited to renovate the building, but soon
acquired funding from wealthy philanthropists, primarily wealthy women of
the day. Not long after its founding in 1889, the house became a residence
and research hub. The concern of the women who took up residence and
work at Hull House was how to address the problems facing the local
community. These problems included sanitation, health, immigrant
integration, and education. They used the developing tools of social science
and research to analytically understand the needs of society.
Hull House was an example of living educational reform. Children were
organized into clubs rather than classes. These clubs gave the children
opportunities to pursue creative activities unrestricted by dictated
curriculum, or that were even possible in crowded schools. Addams warned
of the “Snare of Preparation,” an educational system designed to train for
specific roles rather than for living a full life. She believed that education
should not be "disconnected from the ultimate test of the conduct it
inspired" (quote from Twenty Years at Hull House, p. 24).
John Dewey credits conversations with Addams as an influence in
developing his own thoughts on education and its role in producing
democratic communities. Addams believed that education went well beyond
the confines of classroom walls, that the role of knowledge was to improve
the lives of all the members of the community.
Ultimately, Addams was frustrated in her efforts to reform the educational
system—it proved a machine too large to change. However, the example of
Hull House and the educational model practiced there would survive to
influence later generations.
The FBA, Part 1: Statement of Intent

I nwhere
the first part of the FBA you will produce a Statement of Intent. This is
you say, clearly and concisely, why an FBA is required. Why are
you there? What is the perceived need? Who is involved with the student? It
is tempting at this stage to assume a specific behavioral problem or
challenge is behind the request or need for an FBA. However, in this part of
the FBA you are not doing this. You have not yet collected your data so you
cannot ‘define’ the ‘behavior’ or hypothesize as to the function of behavior.
That comes later when you know much more.
Instead, you are clearly outlining the situation in which you will be
working. You are stating the purpose of the intervention. In the Statement of
Intent, you clearly outline the situation in which you and the team will be
working and the need for an intervention. These five hundred words offer
the justification.
When teaching this part of the FBA I required my students to complete
one on themselves. And, as I had them do one, I did the same on myself. I
had just taken up a new post in a new city and had no friends or social life
outside of work. I was concerned about how I would spend my time and
what behaviors I might exhibit. Word count: 471
Christopher moved to the Twin Cities in August with his fiancé Wendy. He
proposed to her at 8000 feet in the mountains of eastern Nevada, on their
way to Minnesota. After a week in St. Paul, she had to return to New
Zealand. They had spent almost every moment together in New Zealand for
the months prior to that. After she left, they were apart for three and a half
months until Christopher joined her for December. They both decided three
and a half months was too long and they would never do that again. While
they were apart, he started teaching at university, a very busy time as he re-
created the syllabi for two courses. He then closed on a very old house and
renovated that property at a breakneck pace (more like break-health, as
after a month laboring every night until late, he finally moved in and then
got a bad cold). Christmas presents for his two grown daughters were
flights to St. Paul from their residences in London. Each came for a week,
at the beginning and the end of November. A couple weeks after that
Christopher went to New Zealand, so he never really had a great deal of
time on his own in the house.
It will take some time for Wendy to come over, as she must find a house
sitter and return frequently to check up on her ninety-three-year-old mother.
This leaves Christopher living alone in a small house in a city eight
thousand miles from the person he wants to be with. While they were
together, they had many pleasant routines, watched no TV, meditated
regularly, and ate healthy. Christopher values what Wendy offers, as when
he is alone, he does not always do this. For example, he might drink a
whiskey or three and watch a film on Netflix … and then an evening goes by
and he feels he wasted valuable living time. He has expressed a dislike for
this feeling, and a desire to sustain healthy or fulfilling routines when on his
own, even when feeling the pointlessness of his here and now without the
company of his partner.
Christopher is also carrying a shoulder injury that can limit his physical
exercise. While he loves to use his upper body, the house renovations in St.
Paul aggravated the shoulder that was re-injured during renovations to
Wendy’s house earlier in the year. This shoulder injury stems from a certain
rugby season five years ago when Christopher thought he was a six-foot tall
twenty-eight-year-old, like many of his teammates. The result, aside from
earning the respect of his neighboring community members, is a chronic
ache in his left shoulder.
Christopher feels that by monitoring his evening/free time activities he
will be encouraged to improve the quality of those times.
Hopefully this Statement of Intent leaves you with some understanding of
the situation and indicates behaviors of concern. These are not diagnosed
here, just flagged for future observation. Is there a drinking problem? Is
chronic pain involved in any ‘self-medicating’ (if that is what he is doing)?
Is solitude or boredom a factor? At this stage, we can’t answer those
questions. But we have stated the intention of conducting an intervention.
What follows is trying to find answers, or at least come up with a working
hypothesis as to what the issue(s) might be.
In contrast, the example below is a Statement of Intent that focusses on a
problem, or ‘target’ behavior. This behavior is often defined by the special
education teacher and referred to as an Operational Definition of
Challenging Behavior.
Melinda has had a hard time transitioning into a routine this year. She
walks out of the classroom. She sings loudly/makes loud noises while the
teacher is trying to give directions. She walks around the room when she is
supposed to be working at her desk, distracting the teacher and other
students. She blurts while the teacher is talking. She is also likely to refuse
to follow directions from the teacher or the para.
This behavior needs to be addressed because it is often distractive and
sometimes disruptive. Her pattern of behavior impedes her learning and the
learning of other students. Her blurting is disruptive to the teacher and the
other students, making it difficult for the teacher to get through the lesson.
Her walking around the room and walking out of the room causes her to
miss important instruction and work time. Her refusal to complete work
causes a distraction to the teacher and the other students. As a consequence
for this disruptive behavior, she is sometimes asked to leave the classroom,
which results in not competing her work and missing valuable instructing in
math and reading.
 The behavior is defined clearly, as well as the effect that behavior has on
her teacher and classmates and typical consequences. However, there is
little room to explore why she does what she is doing, and it focusses
entirely on Melinda’s actions, not her as human being and full member of
the school community. With such a focus, an intervention will inevitably
focus solely on her behaviour—not causes or underlying issues that may be
present. Strategies that the team comes up with will try to teach her to
comply. Stepping back from trying to define a behavior, the Statement of
Intent can describe the situation. Melinda ‘has a hard time transitioning.’
The Statement can indicate what she is transitioning from, and to. Her
refusal to do what the teacher or para-educator asks is a clear form of
communication. Written as it is, this Statement does not point the team
towards finding a better understanding of what she is ‘saying’ through her
behavior.
The purpose of a Functional Behavior Assessment is to help understand
the function or purpose underlying a student’s behavior. With this
understanding the team can create a plan, with appropriate goals and
objectives, to teach the child, adapt the environment, and support the
development of healthier behaviors or forms of communication.

Activity/Task:
Identify a concern in your own behavior/life and write a Statement of
Intent. Why are you there? What is the perceived need? Clearly describe the
setting/environment/culture. Who is involved in the situation? Many FBAs
assume a behavior problem or challenge. In this part of the process, you are
not doing this. You are clearly outlining the situation in which you will be
working (you have not yet collected your data so you cannot ‘define’ the
‘behavior’ or hypothesize as to the function of the behavior). When you are
done, review your Statement. Is it respectful to the person who is the
subject (you)? Are you a list of worrying behaviors, or a human in your own
right?
 THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Rewards.”
Rewards and sanctions: what are we
really teaching? As every dog trainer
knows, rewards and sanctions work.
Having a few treats in the pocket while
walking the pooch reaps quick rewards—it
comes, sits, stops jumping. Its eyes closely
watch the hand as it reaches into the
pocket. Teachers also know how effective
those treats can be. Rewards can be a
powerful incentive, a real motivator to help
students complete a task, work quietly, and
reach a goal (whether it is behavioral or
not). Some teachers keep a list of student’s
names on the board and place a tick next to
a name when that student does something
desirable.
When I taught a third-grade class I used a picture of an apple tree—when
the class performed in a way that I encouraged, I would draw an apple on
the tree. When the tree held ten apples the whole class would be rewarded
(they wanted extra time at recess). Extra time at recess was the dog treat I
used. And it worked.
Sanctions can be equally effective. The dog stays outside when it learns
that entering the house might result in a swat on the nose with a rolled-up
newspaper. Likewise, students are encouraged to show up on time or they
will be ‘swatted’ with a detention (or a verbal reprimand).
Such methods of teaching are called ‘operant conditioning’—behavior is
controlled by consequences. Describing rewards and sanctions used in a
school or classroom to that of dog training may seem a bit flippant, but is it
really that different? Alfie Kohn has described rewards and punishments as
two sides of the same coin—they both rely on external motivation.
Think about what and why you do what is required in your life. Do you
behave for a reward or to avoid a sanction, or for deeper or personal
(intrinsic) reasons? How can you create goals and objectives for your
students that focus on developing intrinsic motivation?
 KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION
Johan Pestalozzi (Swiss, 1746-1827)
Johan Pestalozzi was a Swiss educational reformer. His approach of
involving the 'head, heart and hands' of his students was revolutionary for a
time when education was primarily by recitation and reserved for the better
off. Pestalozzi sought to develop an approach that was truly child-centered,
that strengthened the students own abilities, to reach their intellectual,
moral and physical needs, as well as teach vocational and civic skills. He
further challenged the status quo in advocating for teacher training.
Pestalozzi’s methods emphasized group work rather than individual
recitation and competition. His ideas would later be developed by educators
such as John Dewey and Maria Montessori. He was a radical for his times,
insisting that allowances should be made for individual differences,
grouping of students by ability rather than age, and that teachers should be
provided with formal training. Work, Pestalozzi argued, had to have
meaning and purpose (what today would be called ‘relevance’) for the
student.
Initially, his ideas were not well received, and his writings were largely
ignored by his contemporaries. It took the French Revolution and
Napoleon’s Grand Army to allow him to put theory into practice. With the
creation of the Helvetic Republic, he was invited to organize higher
education in the cantons. He chose instead to start at the beginning,
establishing an elementary school in the town of Burgdorf where his
methods could be tried. The results attracted the attention of other
educators, and as the school grew, so too did interest. One of the
inscriptions on Pestalozzi’s grave honors him as the 'Founder of the New
Primary Education.'
 The FBA, Part 2: Data Collection

W emethods
have discussed both quantitative and qualitative data collection
above. Those methods are your tools. In this part of the FBA,
you need to decide what types of collection methods you will require for
conducting your FBA. When carrying out this assignment one of my
students, Millie, was concerned with her tendency to ignore her intake of
fluids during the day—she was conducting an FBA focused on her
proclivity to become dehydrated. So, she collected quantitative data about
each time she urinated: frequency and rate, quantity, even color. At the end
of the period, she had a lot interesting (and colorful) data, but saw how
limited it was in answering key questions, like what it was in her behavior
that led to her not taking in fluids and that would help inform her behavior
plan.
As Millie discovered, data collection methods need to be varied. There
are clear limitations of solely one approach (quantitative or qualitative). If
standard or district data collection forms are used, be aware of their
potential limitations and benefits, and how they can be adapted to suit your
situation and needs. Use several types of forms of data collection when
conducting an FBA:

Utilize an ABC chart (antecedent, behavior, consequence)

Explore latency, duration, frequency and interval in your data
collection
Experiment with a Likert scale
Review old records/incident forms
Interview a variety of people involved (including the student if
possible)
Conduct observations in varied settings and in varied researcher
positions, such as participant (being a part of the action), and non-
participant, (like a ‘fly on the wall’), and anything in between those
two
Put thought into how information is recorded in such situations (e.g.
if participant observation, how do you record what you see?)

And consider: where is the student in the data collection process? Are
they an integral part or an object of observation? Situations and possibilities
will vary for each situation—how do you work with your student in your
situation? Refer back to the chapters on data collection and plan your
approach.

Activity/Task:
Collect data for a seven-day period on your own behavior. Use diverse
methods of data collection. Describe your methods and justify your choices
(why you did it the way you did it). After the seven-day period identify
what is missing from your data and outline how you intend to fill those
gaps. Keep all your data securely for the next part of the FBA, analysis.

THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Roles.”
Advocate or mechanic? What are the
limitations and opportunities as an
educator: are we hemmed in or can we
exploit the gaps? The Leonard Cohen song,
Anthem, has a line: “There is a crack in
everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
Those are the gaps in the system. As an
educator, whether as a classroom or
special educator, there are pressures and
limitations placed upon you. The school
system is just that—a system that is run by
specific rules. In special education, for
example, there are time constraints placed
on deadlines, there are forms that need to
be signed, there are, in short, a myriad of
hoops to jump through to keep the machine running. A teacher needs to be a
mechanic in their approach and extremely efficient in their practice to make
sure the machine doesn’t break down, and that their supervisor or principal
is pleased that they are doing a competent job in their role in the school.
However, as you will be working with a vulnerable or perhaps
marginalized population, is being a mechanic enough? Although it may be
enough to keep the machine running, is it enough for you to fulfill your role
as an educator, as well as your feeling of purpose in your job? While we
need to be good mechanics to stay afloat in what can seem like a sea of
paperwork, don’t we also have a responsibility to look for the cracks of
opportunity, the gaps to exploit, in which we can advocate for those we
work with?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Friedrich Froebel (German, 1782-1852)
 Before fighting in the Napoleonic wars, Friedrich Froebel taught the
children of noble families. That teaching was in-house—tutoring the rich
and privileged of Prussia. However, in 1816 he went to Switzerland where
he developed his educational theories. He invented the modern concept of
kindergarten—a place where learning can be combined with play. One of
his students, Margarethe Schurz, founded the first Kindergarten in America.
Now, it is hard to imagine an educational system without the kindergarten.
Froebel didn’t just create the concept—he coined the word. Kindergarten
in German means 'Child Garden' or 'Garden of Children.' Returning to
Germany in 1837 Froebel concentrated on the study of preschool education,
founding the Child Nurture and Activity Institute for young children. The
Institute became known as the Kindergarten. Froebel believed, and
designed, educational settings that integrated play and activity into
education. He believed that early childhood education was a vital part of a
child’s education.
Froebel advocated 'self-activity' and insisted that play was an essential
factor in child education. The teacher’s role was to encourage the child’s
self-expression through play, both individually and in group settings. He
designed toys (known as Froebel Gifts), published songs and rhymes for
use in schools, and created many games to stimulate learning through play.
Before committing to education, he briefly studied architecture. His
building forms and games were forerunners of arthouse, inspired the
Bauhaus movement (which combined function and art), and influenced
many modern architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster
Fuller.
Froebel is remembered alongside Johann Pestalozzi as one of the most
gifted of early 19th century educators.
 The FBA, Part 3: Data Analysis

W hat do you do with all that data you collected? There is a message in
all that information. Deciphering it will make your plan relevant and
effective. But how do you make sense of it? Reading data can paint an
emerging picture, but you need to know how to read. This ‘reading’ can be
quite personal and reflect your own learning style. In this section you will
be encouraged to find what works best for you.
Analysis of quantitative data can take the form of simple descriptive
aggregations and calculations of percentages. Common quantitative
analyses range from descriptive statistics, like the mean, to inferential
statistics, like t-tests, which formally test hypotheses and estimate
likelihoods of observed differences. Whether it is simple aggregation or
complex modeling, quantitative data analysis aims to translate numbers into
meaningful insights. Careful analysis provides evidence to either support or
dispute hypotheses and reveals subtle trends not apparent when looking at
raw data alone. Where sample sizes are large, more complex statistical
analysis can tease out causal mechanisms behind group differences
observed.
When analyzing qualitative data, researchers explore words. Search your
notes for key words. Underline, circle or highlight what stands out. Use
different colored pens, highlighters, even crayons if you prefer. Write in
margins or the top and bottom of the pages. Take note of those words.
Following the completion of a period of time in the field I would print off
the week’s notes to read as a whole. As I read, I highlighted lines, I circled
words, I wrote in the margins. I employed letters to note key items: ‘CI’
what I considered to be a possible critical incident, critical in the sense that
it may play an important part in my future understanding. ‘E’ referred to
factors relating to the learning environment. Environment could have been
how the class was arranged, the amount of space afforded each child, etc.
‘A’ indicated possible antecedents. What was happening before an event?
These letters represented what are called codes. As data increases, the
amount of these ‘codes’ also increase.
While these codes were important for organizing data, the notes and
circled words can be themed. Look, for example, at your data relating to a
specific code, such as ‘E’ for the environment. What do you notice? Are any
patterns emerging? In one playground I noticed through my notes that every
time the student that was the subject of my observation lashed out and hit or
yelled at another student. Something was taking place. Asked to collect
sports balls (given a role of responsibility by his teacher) another student
gathered up some of the balls. When it was his turn to be head of the line
and lead the class, another child stood in the front. The other children, the
objects of his aggression, were not being malicious. But they were
perceived as being so. What I was beginning to see through my coded notes
was a theme. Each incident or outburst related to a perceived injustice. This
insight did not excuse his behavior, but it indicated that there was reason for
it. It gave the team something tangible to work with in developing the
behavior plan.
Themes provide the clues for interpretation. They are like pieces of a
puzzle. In sorting and sifting through these pieces they are arranged into a
coherent picture. Themes are a lens through which the apparently
independent and disconnected elements can be seen as parts of a whole,
providing a means to weave data together into a meaningful interpretation.
When you identify a possible theme, write a few sentences exploring it. Just
like characters communicating in a comic book, draw a speech bubble and
fill it in. Or write your thoughts on a flash card. Or create a spread sheet. Do
what works for you, but begin to collect your thoughts. When you are ready
to polish that collection, it is time to write an analytical memo.
An analytical memo can be referred to as a ‘think piece.’ Each analytical
memo focuses on emerging themes; they describe the picture emerging
from the themed field notes and transcripts. It is through the analytical
memo that the data is configured into an intelligible whole. While sharing
emergent themes, however, analytical memos themselves can be kept
private. They reflect your process of understanding and play a role in
helping you understand what you are finding in your data. Some memos
may later become incorporated into your final report. Others will
necessarily be re-edited to reflect a deeper understanding before
incorporation into the final FBA. The writing of analytical memos also
allows you to practice writing in a manner that both respects the student and
is sympathetic to their needs.
Here is an example of a memo written during the data analysis period of
my personal FBA. Recalling my Statement of Intent, I was creating an FBA
to guide me in resettling into a new city and life. I recognized that I had a
tendency, or a fear, that I would waste time, or slip into bad habits. While
coding my data, a student pointed out an emerging theme. His observation
caused a (proverbial) light bulb to go on above my head. So, as homework,
I wrote an analytical memo reflecting and exploring a new understanding.
This is the purpose of analytical memos—to help make sense of your data
and inform your plan. Memos are not long—about five hundred words. This
one is a little bit over (word count: 560). If incorporating into an FBA it
would need to be edited. You will notice the tone is almost conversational,
because I was conversing with myself, but in the task below you will be
asked to use a more professional voice.
Analytical Memo: Get out There
Anthony’s insight gave me something to think about—nothing I didn’t
already know, but it helped put the focus in the right place. I collected data
on drink and exercise. I found that when Wendy returned to New Zealand, I
could easily enjoy a bottle of wine as I watched a movie, or a six-pack
pottering through the evening. When she is with me, I would rather be with
her than anything that might dilute my mind. But there I was, new town new
job etc. etc. Not a good habit to make of those evenings—I know I can
easily drink water instead, but I would rather achieve a nice balance than
be a monk. So that is what I thought of as ‘balance’.
Then I finalize on the house and throw myself at it. Anthony is right—I
love to be busy, especially using my body and making shit. Making old and
worn wood look fresh. Striving for quality in what I do. Then I speak with
Dan, who I am staying with until Friday when I move into my new house.
He reminded of something else I knew by saying, "It is important also to
look at what the function of that behavior is." Judy and Dan haven’t seen
much of me these last weeks.
And here a shift takes place. The function of that behavior, behavior that
others might look at and consider manic. What did that behavior achieve
this last month? Well, Dan, let me tell you (I love our conversations—he
immediately takes it to a deeper level). My ceaseless labor allowed me to
adjust to being without Wendy. It kept my mind and body busy, rather than
without action and lonely. It gave my energy a focus—creating a nice place
to share with Wendy when she can come over permanently. It kept me
healthy—to a degree. I am feeling some old injuries, especially that left
shoulder from rugby and right hand where that thorn stabbed me and lived
in my palm for over a month. And driving home real tired last night I
noticed (more like felt) that I had missed a turn and was going the wrong
direction. Ah, I was able to think, I am on Snelling south, that was just by I-
94, I need to take a right, then in a bit take another right. Might as well
check some new streets. I am really getting to know my new city, where
things I need are, and key short cuts. These last four weeks were a
transition, done in a way that expressed me. Me being who I am, with
nobody to judge, and having no space or time or patience with judgements.
And, Dan doesn’t have to prompt, what may have been missed through
that behavior? Here I can start to answer and explore: what would I have
done were I not working all the time? I would have gotten to know my
community differently, in a more personal way. All those events at the Cedar
Riverside Community Center, the Common Table, local pubs and music,
local nature. Imagine driving one Sunday and visiting Wisconsin? Or Lake
Superior. Friends might even want to spend time with me if that didn’t
involve painting or plastering. I did have a nice session with a colleague at
the brewery before that house purchase.
It is through your analysis that you find your direction. Within the
numbers and the lines you will explore causes and effects. It helps you
identify where the team should focus their energies. With your codes,
emerging themes, and understanding reflected in analytical memo(s), your
analysis informs the goals and objectives that will be discussed below. It
informs the strategies that will be implemented in your intervention plan.
Take care and time letting your data speak to you. Listen to its truth.

Activity/Task:
Analyze your data on yourself and write a concise analytical memo of
five hundred words. This is your analysis of the function of the behavior
that you have identified. Your analysis should be written clearly and in a
professional voice that allows your team members to understand your
hypotheses and that also indicates eventual goals, objectives and strategies.
While not explicitly stating these goals/objectives/strategies, your memo
will point your team members in that direction. Write this memo with the
planning team as your audience.
 THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about … Methods.”
Your methods for data analysis. How did
you approach your data and interpret what
it told you about the situation to inform
your analysis? Are hypotheses clearly and
concisely expressed in a professional
manner? Do they reflect findings from your
data or personal opinion? Every analysis
is, ultimately, your personal interpretation,
as your intuition and ‘gut’ is the most
important tool you use. BUT how do you
ensure that that opinion is based primarily
on what the data indicates and any bias
based on your own value system or cultural
lens is understood? Some ways this can be
done are through your data collection
methods. If culture may be a factor, how have you included culturally
appropriate eyes beside your own?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Jerome Bruner (American, 1915-2016)
Jerome Butler was an American psychologist who helped launch the field
of cognitive psychology. Cognition is the process in which knowledge is
accumulated. It involves how we perceive, recognize, conceive and reason.
In The Process of Education, written in 1960, he argued that any subject
could be taught to any child at any stage of their development, if it was
presented in the proper manner—a way in which the student could grasp it.
He held that all children have a natural curiosity, that all children have a
desire to master learning tasks. However, it was the task of the teacher to
present each learning task in a manner that was geared for that child’s
developmental stage. If a task was too easy, or too difficult, the child would
grow bored or frustrated.
Bruner advocated building on what the child already knew or on
knowledge that child had acquired. He referred to this as ‘scaffolding’. He
championed the ‘spiral curriculum’, in which subjects are taught each year
of the child’s education, but in increasingly more complex ways. Children
can grasp the basic concept of science intuitively from an early age, for
example, and that scientific knowledge would increase as the child
developed through scaffolding. This would be done through emphasizing
the processes of science, rather than accounts of ‘finished science’ or the
‘demonstration experiment'.
Bruner recognized the impact of culture on learning and how it shaped
the mind, and it took place well outside the confines of the classroom.
“Culture … provides us with the toolkit by which we construct not only our
worlds but our very conception of ourselves and our powers,” he wrote in
The Culture of Education. Here, Bruner recognized the powerful role
culture, the shared beliefs, values, and symbols of the communities in
which we live, plays in how we make sense of what we learn. Bruner ended
his career much as he started it—advocating for reform to the educational
system so that children can be more equipped to understand their culture
and be prepared for the challenges they will face.
 The FBA, Part 4: Goals and
Objectives

W ith your data analyzed you have a better understanding of target

behaviors, environmental factors, cause, effect, and consequence. At
this stage you are ready to focus on goals and objectives. These goals
cannot be broad statements about what a child will accomplish in six
months or a year, but should identify the child’s needs, how the school will
meet those needs, and how the school will measure the child’s progress.
They will form the backbone of your Behavior Intervention Plan, that you
will create in the next part of the FBA.
When writing goals and objectives, we want to not only be smart, we
want our goals to be SMART. SMART, of course, is just an acronym
involving five key aspects of a goal. These are:
 S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Action Words
R: Realistic and Relevant
T: Time-limited

SMART goals include clear descriptions of the knowledge and skills that
will be taught and how the child’s progress will be measured. They are
specific.
SMART goals are measurable. Measurable means you can count or
observe it. Measurable goals allow parents and teachers to know how much
progress the child has made since the performance was last measured. With
measurable goals, you will know when the child reaches the goal.
SMART goals use action words. They include three components that
should be stated in measurable terms: Direction of behavior (increase,
decrease, maintain, etc.); Area of need (reading, writing, social skills,
transition, communication, etc.); Level of attainment (to age level, without
assistance, etc.). SMART goals use action words like: “The child will be
able to …”
SMART goals have realistic, relevant goals and objectives that address
the child’s unique needs and abilities. A realistic goal is one that is
achievable. If Melinda (from our Statement of Intent example above) had
the goal that she would never disrupt the class and always do what she was
asked, she would most likely fail. But if her goal was to sit through one
twenty-minute session on the carpet, with the support of the para-educator,
without disrupting the class, the goal would be more realistic.
I always insist on another R, for respectful. Often, goals and objectives
are written as if the child were an object, rather than the subject. That
doesn’t feel very nice. As part of an assignment, I had my students create a
SMART goal for me. I sat (or squirmed) as they tossed out ideas, that
Christopher would stop pining alone at home and go to the gym instead, or
he would drive all the way home without stopping to buy a beer. I stood up
at some point, told my group of graduate students that they were being
mean, and left the room. Usually, the child we are creating goals for cannot
simply get up and leave. And, yes, I returned to class and talked with my
students about the power of words and the need to always be respectful. I
erased the board and they started again (example below).
SMART goals and objectives are time limited. What does the child need
to know and be able to do after a period of instruction? What is the starting
point for each of the child’s needs (present level of educational
performance)? Time limited goals and objectives enable you to monitor
progress at regular intervals.
Using the data collected and analysis for my personal FBA, my students
came up with a SMART goal and three objectives to address my behavior
of concern. The objectives are steps that will guide me to achieving the
goal.
Present Level of Performance: Christopher is a hard worker and likes to
be with others. For the past month, however, Christopher has worked
intensively on his new home to the detriment of his social life. His days
consisted of working at college followed by working on his home. During
this time, he was not able to enjoy his new community, something he has a
desire to do.
Goal: Christopher will increase his community involvement from
recently moving to the community and not yet experiencing his new
community to being able to offer as options ten community-based activities
and dining experiences to a visitor by May.
Objective 1: Christopher will compile a list of five community-based
activities and dining experiences to his visiting daughter by November 10.
Objective 2: Christopher will visit/experience at least five new
community-based activities and dining places by the end of semester
December 8.
Objective 3: Christopher will experience his local community at least
twice weekly (‘experience’ meant here can range from a walk in the park, a
visit with a neighbor, or time out at any community venue) regularly by the
end of November.
This goal is specific, focusing on community involvement activities. It is
measurable, in that I will compile a list of ten opportunities. It involves
action words (Christopher will be able to offer). It is realistic, something I
can surely do. It is time-limited—a list will be compiled by May. And it is
respectful. Each objective acts as a step to help me achieve my goal, an
explicit step towards the development of an essential skill.
Having SMART goals and objectives is one thing, achieving them is
another. After setting goals, brainstorm with your team strategies to help the
child achieve success. These strategies are the how the goal will be
achieved. This is one of the many times during the FBA process where not
only ‘two brains are better than one’, but four or five brains are even better.
Brainstorming is a team activity. The strategies chosen will become integral
parts of your behavior plan. Below are the results of my team's brainstorm:

Set two days aside (one hour each day) to take a walk and explore
his neighborhood
Ask neighbors for suggestions
Google local events
Go running as exercise in local area
Get a dog so he has to walk (there is no way I will do this, but the
idea came up in the brainstorm)
Get a bike to increase areas locally to explore
Ask friends to help him get out so they will invite him places
Look in local paper for local events
Post it notes on the fridge or goals/objectives on fridge door as
reminder
Shop at the farmers market for produce (and explore St. Paul while
there)
Sample different restaurants
Have a house warming and invite the neighbors to meet them and
learn more about neighborhood
Look at ‘map my run’ to explore others local routes
 Spend at least one hour in Como Park on foot

Here is another example of a SMART goal: Bethany was concerned with

the amount of stress that balancing graduate study and home life created.
Read through her PLoP, goals and objective, and try to note features that are
SMART.
Present Level of Performance: Bethany is a very hard worker who
holds herself to high standards. She is currently expressing that she is
having significant stress Monday through Friday while coming home from
work. She is presently unable to manage her stress with her current skills.
She is experiencing a variety of stress-related symptoms that include
increased conflict in relationship, anxiety about job and school
performance, mild symptoms of depression, trouble sleeping, and decreased
ability to concentrate. Bethany is currently experiencing one or more
symptoms of stress five to seven days a week.
Goal: Bethany will take steps to manage her present levels of stress and
decrease her symptoms of stress from present levels of experiencing
symptoms five to seven days a week to experiencing symptoms three times
per week by (insert date).
Objective 1: Bethany will mark on her calendar when she is feeling a
symptom of stress throughout the day and what happened right before.
Bringing recognition to symptoms of stress and potential antecedents will
allow her to feel more in control of her emotions and potentially assist her
in processing the events of her day in a way that does not contribute to her
symptoms of stress.
Objective 2: Bethany will write a list at the end of each workday of three
positive things that have happened and share them with a coworker or her
partner. This will allow her to bring awareness to the positive aspects of her
job rather than dwelling on the negative.
Objective 3: Bethany will exercise two times per week (on Monday and
Friday) with her partner. They will do a combination of weightlifting and
cardio as determined by a fitness plan. Bethany has found in the past that
exercise has helped her better manage her stress levels and has contributed
to an overall improved mood.
Bethany’s strategy brainstorm:

Increase social activities to include a weekly gathering with friends

Take a walk with partner right when she gets home to destress
Go to therapy to learn new coping strategies
Discuss her unhappiness at work and its causes with her line
manager. (Bethany’s manager is the teacher she works under who is
supportive of her position and is currently also unhappy, but is
working with union representatives and special education district
personnel to increase the supports for the school in order to better
support students.)
Join a union so as to feel more empowered as an employee at her
workplace (Bethany is a member of the union which is currently
working towards improving the working conditions of the school)
Spend thirty minutes each week reviewing job adverts for
alternative employment. (Bethany is committed to the students she
works with and does not want to be another teacher to give up on
educating them. They would not understand that the reason she left
was because of a lack of administrative support and not because
they are challenging.)

Activity/Task:
Write a PLoP and SMART goal with your personal FBA team addressing
the area of concern identified and analyzed (through your analytical memo)
with three meaningful objectives to help you achieve your goal. Brainstorm
possible strategies. Your strategies will play an important part in the next
step of the FBA, creating a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP).

THINKING POINT:
 “We need to talk about ... Pedagogy.”
What are you teaching? Everything we
do as educators has pedagogical value.
Everything we do teaches a lesson—even if
we are not aware of it. Examine your
practice, your school, your education
setting: the rules, the routines, the culture,
and reflect on the underlying lessons.
Monitors, passes, registers, hierarchy—
what are these teaching? This is sometimes
called the ‘hidden curriculum’, unintended
lessons about a student’s place in the
system, as well as their value. In its most
negative form, schools can be seen as
future training for a life in prison (or low-
skill jobs). In one school I briefly worked
in, students were required to walk on the third tile from the wall in absolute
silence, when moving from one room to another. Parents were required to
stand behind a yellow line when speaking to reception. Dewey saw school
as a potential way to train future citizens to be active participants in a
healthy democracy, critical and challenging members of a vibrant society.
What do you think was being taught in that school with tiles and yellow
lines? What opportunities do you see, in your institution, that fosters what
Dewey envisioned? What opportunities do the young people with whom you
work have to become advocates for a better future? What do you see that
works against that, that teaches compliance and obedience? What role do
you play in the wider pedagogy of your school?

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

Maria Montessori (Italian, 1870-1952)
Maria Montessori was a pioneer. She was the first female doctor in Italy.
While working as a doctor in a clinic offering free care to poor and
working-class children, she noticed something: intrinsic intelligence was
present in all children, regardless of their family's economic or social
position. Intrinsic intelligence is the ability to learn, to grasp, to adapt to
new situations. At that time, it took more than a pioneer to apply that to
education. It took a revolutionary.
 Montessori advanced the research of Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard and
Édouard Séguin, and began to develop her own educational theories. Itard
and Séguin worked with students with disabilities. They insisted that every
child can learn, during a time when most educators were convinced that
such children couldn’t. For Montessori, this was inspiring. She worked with
children with disabilities, and then applied her pedagogy to 'normal’
children. Through her method, Montessori took special education to the
mainstream, and made every child 'special'. By 1925 there were over one
thousand of her schools in the United States.
Her approach was to 'follow the child', to let the child’s natural interest
take the lead. The learning should be in a place that encourages creative
exploration and stimulates a sense of learning, a place where each child’s
individual strengths and interests are nurtured, where children are
encouraged to explore and understand their world, and to respect all life
forms. Montessori education is about assisting the development of the
human spirit.
Maria Montessori said that “The child is endowed with unknown powers,
which can guide us to a radiant future. If what we really want is a new
world, then education must take as its aim the development of these hidden
possibilities,” (in The Absorbent Mind, originally published in 1949).
Today, there are more than twenty-two thousand Montessori schools in over
one hundred countries.
 The FBA, Part 5: The Plan

B ya this stage in your Functional Behavior Analysis you have established

purpose, you have collected data, and you have analyzed that data.
And after completing all that, you have formulated some goals and
objectives, as well as came up with some strategies to help teach/learn new
skills. Now you are ready to put them all together in a plan. This plan is
called a BIP, or a Behavior Intervention Plan. Your FBA identified what
might be causing, maintaining or being communicated by a student’s
behavior. The BIP outlines the actions to take to address it. As you have
seen, a BIP is individualized, and it is often incorporated into an Individual
Education Plan (IEP).
 You have already completed the hard part with the FBA. Here is when
you put it together into a guide that takes you forward. What is in a
Behavior Intervention Plan? Like with the rest of special education, there
are a myriad of forms and outlines. Most contain similar features, such as: a
description of the behavior and hypothesis as to its function; goals and
objectives; and a plan for teaching new behaviors and skills (selected from
your brainstorm completed in Part 4 of the FBA). There may also be a
‘crisis plan’ to prepare for what happens if or when the strategies put in
place don’t work.
Like the Functional Behavior Assessment, a BIP is not completed by one
person. To be successful, it involves the whole team: teacher, para-educator,
behavior specialist, parent/caregiver, and, as much as possible, the child.
Team participation is important, not just because it ensures buy-in and
consistency and shows care and respect towards the child, but also because
it will not work without the team’s effort.
Some BIPs even involve goals for team members. While the child is at
the center of the process, it is not solely about changing their behavior or
training them so that they conform to a specific environment. You may have
identified behaviors taken by others that trigger or enable a behavior. One
BIP I was a team member on had goals for a student and his mother. In
order to help the student become more independent (his BIP involved
teaching ways to manage his own independence and encourage a sense of
responsibility), his mother had a role in supporting him. Objectives outlined
how she would reduce the amount that she did while dropping him off at
school in the morning. On another occasion the teacher had specific goals in
order to build rapport and trust between the student and teacher. These goals
and objectives evolved from what was learned during the FBA process.
Also included in a BIP is how you will monitor the progress of the plan.
View this phase as an ongoing process—implement, review, improve. Build
into your plan how you will do this.
A Behavior Intervention Plan has also been called a Behavior Support
Plan. This naming may look like an exercise in semantics, but it reminds us
about the purpose of the FBA process. We are there to support the child.
The final two sections of this handbook include two programs proven to do
that, the Circle of Courage and Public Achievement.
Like the rest of the FBA, I would not expect others to do what I have not
done myself. What is offered below is an example of a simple BIP (mine).
Some BIPs have sections for a description of a target behavior, followed by
a summary statement describing the function of that behavior. I have
combined both into one section. Goals and objectives developed in the team
activity in the previous part of the FBA follow. What comes next is a plan
for teaching and supporting the desired behavior. I am the person
monitoring the plan, and this is noted in the strategies, but in most plans
others will also have responsibilities for teaching and monitoring. Make
sure these are listed to encourage accountability. As the behavior being
addressed primarily concerns myself, a crisis intervention plan hasn’t been
developed. Perhaps it might have been a good idea as it is always wise to
prepare. And while the plan talks about me in the third person, as a member
of the team I was okay, and agreed to, the wording.
Description of behavior/Summary statement:
Christopher has been concerned with his use of free time. During times
for relaxation, he feels he is wasting opportunities to discover his new
community and maintain his level of fitness. He has transitioned from a
more regulated and structured routine to a situation where both needed to be
created anew. He has an increasing worry that he is not using his time
valuably and feels that by monitoring his evening/free time activities he will
be encouraged to improve the quality of those times. He has demonstrated a
tendency to throw himself into a task and can work long hours and run
himself down both emotionally and physically. He feels that each project
has to be done to a tight schedule. This has impacted detrimentally on the
building of relationships and his enjoyment of the area. Christopher enjoys
being active but can have tendency to spend time (that he deems ‘wasted’)
with alcohol or television.
Goals and objectives
Goal: Christopher will increase his community involvement from
recently moving to the community and not yet experiencing his new
community to by being able to offer as options ten community-based
activities and dining experiences to a visitor by May.
Objective 1: Christopher will compile a list of five community-based
activities and dining experiences to his visiting daughter by November 10.
Objective 2: Christopher will visit/experience at least five new
community-based activities and dining places by the end of semester
December 8.
 Objective 3: Christopher will experience his local community at least
twice weekly (‘experience’ meant here can range from a walk in the park, a
visit with a neighbor, or time out at any community venue) regularly by the
end of November.
Intervention Strategies:

Christopher will set two days aside (one hour each day) to take a
walk and explore his neighborhood
Christopher will ask friends to help him get out so they will invite
him places
Christopher will sample at least two different restaurants
Christopher will have a housewarming and invite the neighbors to
meet them and learn more about neighborhood

Monitoring and evaluation

To monitor this plan Christoher will keep notes in physical planning diary
of activities related to plan and include anecdotal material (thoughts, etc.) at
least three times a week in that diary so he can self-monitor his behavior
and state of mind. This plan will be reviewed at the end of six weeks, on
______ date.
And how did Christopher’s plan work out? I found that I liked to walk in
the direction of the big park near my house. I started to note places in the
sprawling green area that I could show Wendy. I discovered a neat gin
distillery with friends and although I didn’t like gin that much, I really
enjoyed the company. It turned out that the café two blocks away made a
mean Cuban sandwich, served good beer and was a great place to watch
football. Even though I was by myself, there was always somebody on a
nearby stool to share the game with. And the house party was a success,
timed for shortly after Wendy’s arrival. It turned out several neighbors were
interested to meet that manic man renovating the old house.
When utilizing the FBA in your practice you will deal with behaviors that
are much more severe than in the above example. This approach to learning
how to complete an FBA and BIP—by completing one on yourself—is not
meant to minimize school behaviors but prepare you for facing them. Like
an empathetic psychotherapist or counsellor, by working on yourself, by
going through the process personally, the intention is to work with humility
when you work with the humans in your care.

Activity/Task:
Create a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) from your previous efforts.
Write a summary statement that clearly and concisely describes the
behavior (that you learned about during your data collection), when it is
most likely and least likely to occur, including which settings, and the
function of the behavior (as you explained in your analytical memo).
Following your summary statement, include your goals and objectives. In
this plan use at least two forms prepared for the purpose of collecting data
to monitor your plan’s progress. These forms could reflect daily or weekly
periods. They will allow you to review and improve your plan. There is no
standard or universal form on which to complete a BIP. Research different
types and create your own template that includes essential information.

THINKING POINT:
“We need to talk about ... Motivations.”
Your motivation for being a special education teacher. “You must have
the patience of a saint!” “You must be so caring to work with those
students,” are comments you may hear. They are meant to be
complimentary, but they can wreak havoc on the ego … if you start to
believe them. But maybe being caring, helping, even saving, those students
is why you entered the field. A noble calling. Perhaps. More than likely, you
will be an able-bodied professional working with individuals with
disabilities as well as their families. They will have a lived experience that
you can hardly fathom. Wanting to help, wanting to care—these are noble
sentiments. But know yourself, examine what it is you really want to
achieve, and be honest. Then, at least, you won’t be fooling yourself, or
anybody else. This honesty is the foundation of successful relationships and
rewarding careers.

KEY PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

 A. S. Neil (Scottish, 1883-1973)
A school without authority, where
the students govern themselves,
with a pluralistic variety of age,
sex, and interest, free from fear,
with a focus on living and a
practice based on love—that is the
school known as Summerhill that
A. S. Neill created. “The battle for
our youth is one with the gloves off.
None of us can be neutral,” Neill
said. “We must take one side or the
other: authority or freedom;
discipline or self-government. No
half measures will do, the situation
is too urgent.”
Neill put his rhetoric into practice
(walked his talk) with the creation
of Summerhill School in Suffolk, England. Founded in 1921, the school is
still functioning as a beacon and example of progressive and democratic
education. The boarding school became a community where residents had
to learn about themselves and about others, where students learn to become
self-confident, tolerant and considerate of others.
“All crimes, all hatreds, all wars can be reduced to unhappiness,” wrote
Neill. He viewed happiness as the right of all children, and that happiness
was the aim of life. Happiness meant finding an interest and therefore all
teaching should follow student interest. Neill considered forced instruction
a destructive waste of time. Regulation or control through rewards and
punishments stunted growth. He felt that schools should abolish the idea
that “all this rubbish you learn and never use is valuable.” At Summerhill he
wanted teachers more interested in freedom than curriculum delivery. The
best thing a teacher could do, Neill insisted, was to leave the child alone to
develop naturally.
Students at Summerhill have the option to take exams, or not to take any
at all. The most important freedom at Summerhill is the right to play.
Learning through feelings and expressing emotions is highly valued.
 Reflecting on the Process

T heteaching
Functional Behavior Assessment is an analytical tool, but it is also a
tool. It helps the adult understand what is behind a behavior,
and it helps the adult become a better teacher to meet the needs of the child
and deal appropriately with what has been determined to be difficult
behaviors. While its use is mandated in certain situations and locations, its
application can be more universal. By using the FBA on yourself you have
hopefully gained not only an introduction into the process, but an awareness
of how it feels to be the subject of an intervention. This awareness
encourages empathy and reflection.
In such a powerful role, self-awareness and reflexivity are vital.
 The thinking points along the way have addressed not only the system,
but your role in it. Often, the school is such a busy place that little time is
reserved for reflection. But reading about new ideas and theories should not
be limited to teaching college. The books cited in the references are also
suggestions for further reading. There you can find voices from an earlier
time, those whose shoulders we stand on, as well as contemporary voices
that ask us to stop and think about what we are doing, and why, and for
whom. The list of readings is by no way complete, but hopefully offers a
starting point.
In the next chapter we'll look at the Circle of Courage. The Circle of
Courage examines ways to teach and enable the child to demonstrate
competency in belonging, mastery, generosity, and independence. These are
areas that enable us all to feel competent and complete—to feel good about
ourselves. Following that, we will examine a program known as Public
Achievement, used effectively in special education in many areas. Public
Achievement teaches civic responsibility as it encourages confidence and
assertiveness. Both the Circle of Courage and Public Achievement have
played parts in many intervention plans. As an advocate for the children you
work with, look for programs that help foster qualities like those
encouraged by the Circle of Courage and Public Achievement. Regardless
of what system or culture in which you work, both programs are valuable
tools in building confident, resilient, and self-aware children.
Earlier in this handbook I used the terms ‘mechanic’ and ‘advocate’ to
describe approaches to practice. Some approaches direct student behavior to
conform to a model rather than altering the model to meet student, or
teacher, need. The advocate tries to create change. Special education can
often be a machine, with deadlines and requirements and even the threat of
due process. It can engender a sense of helplessness in the professional. But
as Skrtic has said, the profession has a great deal of power, which means the
professional has a great deal of power. How that power is wielded is
ultimately up to the professional.
I used to tell my students the background of the word ‘sabotage’. It has
quite negative and destructive connotations, but its origin is interesting.
French factory workers used to wear wooden clogs called sabots. In times
of industrial protest and labor unrest, when change was called for and
needed, a worker might take their sabot and place it in the gears of the
machine. Sometimes the approach taken in an FBA, the words selected for
goals and objectives, even who is on the team creating an BIP, can create
change. It can change attitudes, approaches, even institutions.
Sometimes you need to be the sabot.

Activity/Task:
As John Dewey said (to paraphrase), it is not just through doing that we
learn, but thinking about our doing. Reflect on the process you went
through during the FBA process and explore your experiential learning.
What worked well? What will you continue to develop? What will you do
differently? These are just some types of prompt questions that you will
need to address in this task. Write up your reflection. Try to be organized as
well as succinct in your account. This is not the place to repeat your
procedure. It is the place to reflect on your learning and discuss what you
will take from the experience as a professional.
 Knowing What Works: Creating
Circles of Courage

by Steve Van Bockern, Larry Bendtro, and Martin Broken Leg

Introduction
Those working with challenging children have encountered a cacophony
of competing theories and methodology as they try to determine what
works. Increasingly, practitioners are required to spell out the evidence
behind their programs and interventions as a response to the intuitive
approaches classified as naturalistic, primitive, or naive. Many of the
theories and methods seem to use a 'green thumb' eclecticism which
essentially consisted of spur-of-the-moment responses to individual
academic or behavioral problems. In an early study of services for
emotionally handicapped children Morse, Cutler, and Fink (1964) found
pitfalls in this green thumb eclecticism:

Doing what comes naturally with troubled and troublesome youth

often entails attacking or avoiding them. These very human
fight/flight reactions are highly counterproductive. Harsh
punishment easily escalates into hostility, and kindness often is
exploited. If a whipping or a dose of love were all that were
required, these kids would have been 'cured' long ago.
If techniques drawn from different models are mixed together in
potluck fashion, confusion sets in about what to do when theories
suggest prescriptions that run counter to one another (Quay &
Werry, 1988). For example, is planful ignoring angry behavior better
than seeing this anger as a cry for help and attention?
When various team members invent idiosyncratic models of
treatment, conflict and chaos reign. Russian youth work pioneer
Makarenko (1956) observed that five weak educators inspired by
the same principles is a better configuration than ten good educators
all working according to their own opinion.
When adults are confused or inconsistent, anxious students become
more agitated and antisocial students more manipulative. A
dysfunctional staff team that confronts a hurting child or a negative
peer group inevitably leads to more problems.

'Try-anything-eclecticism' is like choosing a potluck meal while

blindfolded. That haphazard approach rightfully led the profession to seek
answers that carry scientific weight. The researchers responded and that
spawned lists of Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) that often determines who
gets a place at the funding table. Googling these terms yields millions of
hits for programs claiming this status. Yet there is much controversy about
what qualifies as evidence based. The 'gold standard' for evidence is the
randomized control trial as used in drug studies. But a past president of the
American Psychological Association calls this 'fool’s gold' (Sternberg,
2006). Even if an EBP yields a statistically significant effect, the outcome is
often trivial or flies in the face of held values. For example, an evidence-
based medication for insomnia beat the placebo with 10 minutes more
nightly sleep (Werry, 2013). Statistical significance does not necessarily
mean practical significance.
Many practitioners, however, have been skeptical of evidence-based
practices that offer a panacea. Merely adding an off-the-shelf EBP does not
produce successful outcomes. When facing a furious student, a single
theory offers a slim shield. As the field of study matures and research from
neuroscience sheds new light, there is a movement away from simplistic
'one-size-fits-all' mindsets and evidence that only comes out of controlled
laboratories.
The challenge is to deliver what works on the front lines of practice
(Duncan, Miller, Wampold, & Hubble, 2010). While Evidence-Based
Practices are based on efficacy research in carefully controlled studies and
randomized research that could be unethical or unfeasible in measuring
outcomes of complex interventions in natural settings, Practice-Based
Evidence (PBE) requires evaluation of effectiveness in real-world situations.
Since one can never duplicate the original experimental conditions, fidelity
must be balanced with flexibility to meet the unique realities of a setting
(Kendall, Gosch, Furr, & Sood, 2008).
We argue evidence-based principles must permeate the practice. These
principles do not necessarily come from narrow comparative experimental
trials. Rather, what informs practice must tap knowledge from diverse fields
such as neuroscience, attachment, trauma, resilience, and cross-cultural
studies (van der Kolk, McFarland, & Weisaeth, 2007). Harvard
sociobiologist E. O. Wilson (1998) observed that scientific specialization
buries knowledge in silos and produces a mass of factoids that obscure core
truths. Since thousands of isolated variables have some measurable effect,
the challenge is to identify powerful simple truths that lead to lasting
change.
The highest standard for scientific evidence is consilience which
combines knowledge from diverse fields to produce strong conclusions.
Consilience draws from the natural and social sciences (Bronfenbrenner,
2005; Cory, 2000) as well as ethical values and the unique needs of the
individual. The American Psychological Association also calls for
combining evidence from multiple types of research, clinical expertise, and
the characteristics of those we serve (APA, 2006).
Evidence Based Principles
The Circle of Courage principles (often addressed as needs or values) of
Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity are the result of
consilience. These growth needs for all human beings are essential to well-
being. They are designed by DNA into the resilient human brain (Brendtro
& Mitchell, 15; Masten, 2014). The Circle of Courage is described in two
editions of Reclaiming Youth at Risk (Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern,
1990/2002) and related publications. The model integrates ideas from
cultures of respect, the practice wisdom of youth work pioneers, and
contemporary research.
Cultures of Respect
These universal needs of belonging, mastery, independence and
generosity are central to practices of indigenous communities which rear
children in cultures of respect (Bolin, 2006). Erik Erikson’s research on
Sioux and Yurok and Abraham Maslow’s experience with the Blackfoot in
Canada (James & Lunday, 2014) inspired contemporary theories that focus
on the developmental needs of humans. Philosopher Mortimer Adler
(1985) observed that universal needs are reflected in the values of all
cultures. Of course, some societies do a better job meeting these needs.
Thus, traditional societies reared children in a network of caring adults,
while many young people today grow up in a materialistic culture
disconnected from elders. The Circle of Courage provides a 'roadmap' for
rebuilding cultures of respect. Early European anthropologists described
native children as radiantly happy, courageous, and highly respectful,
noting that their elders never subjected them to harsh punishment. The
professional literature, however, shows little understanding of how tribal
cultures could rear children with prosocial values and positive self-esteem.
Long before the term 'self-esteem' and its counterpart 'low self-esteem' was
coined, European youth work pioneers used a similar concept, which they
called 'discouragement.' The counterpart to discouragement is courage.
Building courageous children was a central focus of tribal cultures.
In his definitive work, The Antecedents of Self-Esteem, Stanley
Coopersmith (1967) concluded that childhood self-esteem is based on
significance, competence, power, and virtue. Traditional native child-care
philosophy addresses each of these dimensions:

Significance is nurtured in an environment in which every child is

treated as a relative and is surrounded by love and affection. This
fosters a sense of belonging.
Competence is enhanced by nurturing each child’s success and by
celebrating the success of others. This provides all children
abundant opportunities for mastery.
Power is fostered by practicing guidance without coercion. Even the
youngest children learn to make wise decisions and thus
demonstrate responsible independence.
Virtue involves being unselfish and courageously giving of oneself
to others. Children reared in altruistic environments learn to live in a
spirit of generosity.

Practice Wisdom
The year 1900 heralded 'the century of the child' as optimistic reformers
espoused the belief that all young people have great potential (Key,
1900/1909). These reformers set out to build democratic systems in schools,
courts, and youth organizations. This era saw the creation of scouting, 4-H,
Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. A progressive
education movement set out to recast autocratic schools as laboratories of
democracy (Dewey, 1916). Across many nations, youth prisons embraced
youth self-governance (Liepmann, 1928). In Austria, August Aichhorn
(1925/1935) developed relationship-based approaches to reclaim 'wayward
youth.' Fritz Redl, mentored by Aichhorn, emigrated to America to escape
Hitler and pioneered studies of children of trauma (Redl & Wineman,
1957).
We were intrigued to find great similarity between Native concepts of
education and ideas expressed by educational reformers who challenged
traditional European concepts of obedience training. These youth work
pioneers worked at a time when democracy was replacing dictatorships in
many nations. The pioneers often attacked traditional authoritarian
pedagogy.

Maria Montessori, Italy’s first female physician, created schools for

disadvantaged youth and wrote passionately about the need to build
inner discipline.
Janusz Korczak, Polish social pedagogue, proclaimed the child’s
right to respect. He created a national children’s newspaper so the
voices of children might be heard.
John Dewey, American pioneer of progressive education, saw
schools as miniature democratic communities of students and
teachers that should pose and solve problems.
Anton Makarenko, after the Russian Revolution, brought street
delinquents into self-governing colonies where they took turns as
leaders of youth councils.
 Strength-Based, Developmental Research
The Circle of Courage principles mirror similar concepts from other
bodies of research. As seen in the table below, these include foundations of
self-worth from Coopersmith (1967), Maslow’s final revision of his
hierarchy of human needs (Koltko-Rivera, 2006), and research on universal
biosocial needs (Brendtro & Mitchell, 2015):

The ground-breaking Kauai studies of resilience by Werner and Smith

(2012) also showed that children who surmounted the odds had restorative
experiences in these four Circle of Courage areas. Further, these four
dimensions encompass the Values in Action character strengths (Ihnen &
Hoover, 2013; Peterson 2013). The Search Institute identified 40
Developmental Assets which offer a comparative, detailed expansion of the
Circle of Courage principles (Roehlkepartain, 2012). As the most
parsimonious model of youth development, the Circle of Courage was
adopted by 4-H researchers who consolidated a longer list of factors (Kress,
2014).
At first glance, the principles of belonging, mastery, independence and
generosity hardly seem debatable. Convincing youth themselves that these
are important is not difficult. Young people want to belong, succeed, have
power over their lives, and be needed in the world.
They fit with humanistic values, science, and our own experience. After
all, who would advocate the opposite of these concepts—alienation, failure,
helplessness, and egotistic selfishness? Yet, some cultures often do just that.
There are other contemporary values that are strikingly disharmonious with
these basic needs or principles. Instead of belonging, the value of hyper
individualism breeds an 'ecology of alienation' (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). In
the place of mastery, traditional schools play a competitive zero-sum game
in which enthroning winners ensures abundant losers. When one’s need for
power is expressed by dominating others, all who are subjugated are
disempowered. A culture that equates worth with wealth provides its young
a sanction for selfishness.
Once these four principles or values of the Circle of Courage are given
primacy in our communities, programs, agencies, schools, and homes we
argue our children and youth will generally do well. With remarkable
consistency, in research and practice, all roads to positive youth
development pass these four mileposts:

Belonging: building trusting, positive connections with caring adults

and peers. In simple terms, the child needs to experience love.
Mastery: gaining knowledge, competence, and the capacity to solve
problems. Through experience, the child must internalize a sense of
a capacity to succeed.
Independence: strengthening self-control and responsible decision
making. Like mastery, the child must internalize a sense of power
and the ability to exert his or her will.
Generosity: developing empathy and engaging youth in caring for
others. Children must see themselves as helpers in order to flourish
as a human.

Because it is grounded in universal needs, the Circle of Courage is

relevant across culture, age, and diverse settings.
Mending Broken Circles
Many children have experienced the principles of the Circle of Courage
in their lives. Of course, other underlying physical and psychological needs
exist (Brendtro, 2016; Van Bockern, 2018) but from the perspective of
psychosocial development, belonging, mastery, independence, and
generosity can define social and mental health. Many other children (and
adults too), however, are discouraged, with long histories of unmet needs.

Instead of belonging, they are guarded, untrusting, hostile,

withdrawn or they seek attention through compensatory attachments
such as gang involvement.
In place of mastery, they have encountered perpetual failure leading
to frustration, fear of failure, and a sense of futility.
Not having learned independence, they feel like helpless pawns, are
easily misled, or seek pseudo power by bullying or defiance.
Without a spirit of generosity, they are inconsiderate of others, self-
indulgent, and devoid of real purpose for living.

How can broken circles be mended? The Circle of Courage provides the
big picture but it is in the experiences we give and make possible for
children that healing and growth happens. What follows are ideas—
certainly not comprehensive or all inclusive—of the kinds of experiences
that foster belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.
Fostering Belonging
Some of the teachers think they are too cool to talk to us. If you’re
walking down the hall, the teachers will put their heads down and look at
the floor and keep walking. (Helen, high school student)
Research shows that the quality of human relationships in schools and
youth service programs may be more influential than the specific
techniques or interventions employed (Brophy, 1986). Teachers with widely
divergent instructional styles can be successful if they develop positive
classroom relationships. But building successful relationships, especially
with adult-wary children (Seita, 2010) isn’t necessarily easy.
A good place to begin relationship building is with an attitude that Native
American educator and anthropologist Ella Deloria described as the central
value of belonging in traditional Indian culture: “Be related, somehow, to
everyone you know.” From the earliest days of life, all children experienced
a network of acceptance, where every older member in the tribe felt
responsible for their well-being. Treating others as kin forges powerful
social bonds of community.
The following ideas may provide a sense of the kinds of experiences and
mindsets that foster belonging. The ideas come from various theoretical
traditions:

Train staff to begin all corrective teaching interactions with a

positive or empathy statement.
Use peer relationships as a possible foundation for treatment. Adults
must model caring relationships and monitor confrontations
carefully so students don’t become targets of counter aggression.
Break down the barrier of distrust by being someone the child can
trust. Create trust by being respectful, putting children at ease in
your presence, see them as your social equal and understand there is
more to the child than meets your eyes.
Create environments that lead to connections. Middle school
schedules are often designed so frequent and sustained contact
between students and teachers is possible.
Create welcoming ceremonies for new students. Honor students that
leave your school or agency.
Create a strong advising system anchored in a small cadre of peers
and a teacher-counselor.
Attach teachers to students rather than a grade level and have the
teacher follow the students throughout their years in school.

Positive attachments between adults and youth are the foundation of

effective education. These individual bonds, however, must be part of a
synergistic network of relationships that permeate the school culture. These
include positive peer relationships among students, cooperative teamwork
relationships among school staff, and genuine partnerships with parents.
Administrators must also see their roles as co-workers in support of their
staff, not as superiors trying to dominate. In the final analysis, only adults
who are themselves connected and attached will be free to build
empowering relationships with youth.
 Fostering Mastery
I was walking down the hall and said “hi” to Mr. Nilson. He looked at me
and said, “Oh, you’re still here. You haven’t dropped out yet, huh?” I know
people have this in their head and think of me as being less than them. I
would like to put Mr. Nilson in the situation I’ve had in my life, and I’ll bet
any amount of money he’d fold his cards. (Lincoln, high school student)
In traditional Native American culture, children were taught to celebrate
the achievement of others, and a person who received honor accepted this
without arrogance. Someone more skilled than oneself was seen as a model
for learning, not as an adversary. The striving was for personal mastery, not
to become superior to one’s opponent. Recognizing that all must experience
competency, success became a possession of the many, not of the privileged
few.
Maria Montessori, Italy’s first female physician, decried the obedience
tradition of schooling in which children sit silently in rows like “beautiful
butterflies pinned to their desks.” She tried to revolutionize learning with
the belief that curiosity and the desire to learn come naturally to children.
The desire to master and achieve is seen in all cultures from childhood
onward, a phenomenon that Harvard psychologist Robert White called
'competence motivation.' People explore, acquire language, construct
things, and attempt to cope with their environments. It is a mark of
humanness that children and adults alike desire to do things well and, in so
doing, gain the joy of achievement. Tragically, though, something often
happens to the child’s quest for learning in school, the very place where
mastery is supposed to be nourished and expanded.
A sampling of promising methods for helping children achieve mastery
follows:

Encourage creativity and self- expression in the curriculum to create

a sense of mastery. Art, drama, music, poetry, and literature can help
youth connect with their feelings and surmount their problems.
Use systematic social skills instruction to develop social
competence.
Teach adaptive skills like asking for help and making friends,
accepting criticism, using role playing and other realistic methods.
Use cognitive behavioral techniques to replace irrational thinking or
destructive self-talk with more accurate and adaptive thinking.
Train youth to assume problem-solving roles. The peer group
provides feedback about hurtful or inconsiderate behavior of
members and encourages positive alternatives.
Academic success itself is seen as a powerful therapy. Success
impacts a person’s self-worth and motivation.
Use adventure and outdoor education activities to reach students
who don’t respond to typical school structures. Wilderness
education programs build on this spirit of adventure.
Teach the idea that failure is 'more data.'
 Fostering Independence
This is probably the biggest part of school that I don’t like. All through
school, kids are herded around like sheep and are left with almost nothing
to decide upon. (Travis, high school student)
Traditional Native culture placed a high value on individual freedom. In
contrast to obedience models of discipline, Native education was designed
to build respect by teaching inner discipline. Children were encouraged to
make decisions, solve problems, and show personal responsibility. Adults
modeled, taught values, and provided feedback and guidance, but children
were given abundant opportunities to make choices without coercion.
Horace Mann once declared schooling in a democracy to be 'an
apprenticeship in responsibility.' Early in the century Janusz Korczak of
Poland founded a system of student self- governance in his orphanage for
Warsaw street children. “Fifty years from now, every school in a democracy
will have student self-governance,” he declared.
Strategies for teaching independence and self-control:

Offer behavior management strategies for providing external

controls temporarily while using problems as learning opportunities.
Teach youth self-regulation. Emotional dysregulation is a core
outcome of relational trauma and adults must be calm while setting
secure limits (Bath & Seita, 2018).
Use peer-helping groups to undertake problem solving.
Challenge the common practice of employing punishment-based
codes of conduct to manage behavior. Although these rule books
make some adults feel secure, they are likely to be ignored or
outmaneuvered if they are not owned by front-line staff and youth.
Effective schools shift the emphasis from pursuing rule violators to
teaching values that foster inner control.
Rely on simple statements of values, for example, “Respect people,
respect property.”
Treat students with respect.
 Fostering Generosity
I would have liked to tutor something or been a peer counselor. I could
have helped someone and benefited from it myself if I had been given the
chance to participate. (Sondra, high school student)
A central goal in Native American child rearing is to teach the importance
of being generous and unselfish. Children were instructed that human
relationships were more important than physical possessions. Describing
practices from a century ago, Native American writer Charles Eastman tells
of his grandmother teaching him to give away what he cherished the most
—his puppy—so he would become strong and courageous.
Pioneering German educator Kurt Hahn once observed that all young
people desperately need some sense of purpose for their lives. Youth in
modern society, however, do not have roles in which they can serve, and
thus they suffer from the 'misery of unimportance.' Hahn advocated
volunteer activities that tap the need of every youth to have some 'grande
passion.' During the Hitler years he went to England, where he developed
the basis of the Outward Bound movement.
Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Korczak, and many others also wrote of the
importance of teaching youth the values of compassion and service to
others. A century ago, William James noted that war always has fulfilled
young men’s need to be valuable to their community. He proposed a “moral
equivalent to war” by involving youth in volunteer civic service. Although
we seem to have lost sight of these basic truths for a time, there is now a
healthy revival of the concept that we must offer opportunities to develop
altruism, empathy, and generosity in modern youth.
The following ideas highlight the increasing emphasis being placed on
developing prosocial values and behavior as an antidote to hedonistic,
antisocial, and bullying lifestyles:

With support, encourage the bully to talk to the victims to help

foster internalization of caring values.
Teach social skills as a way of fostering moral development. The
goal is to create empathy in once self-centered youth. Now
empowered with prosocial skills, youth have new options to act in
caring ways.
Make caring fashionable and to make youth uncomfortable with
selfish, hurting behavior and thinking patterns.
Create service-learning projects to contribute to the community.
Examples include helping the elderly and distributing food and toys
to families.
Service learning opens unusual programming possibilities with
troubled children and youth who have seen themselves as 'damaged
goods.' As they reach out to help others, they create their own proof
of worthiness.
 Summary
Indigenous education always involved important truths, sacred principles
or virtues that had to be learned by experience. While knowledge or the
education of a person’s mind (i.e., facts, rules, definitions of words) is
crucial to be successful in a complex world, there is another kind of
learning that is more valued among Indigenous peoples. This deep, holistic
learning that takes place when all aspects of a person’s five perceptions
work together, is talked about as knowing 'in the heart.' Indigenous peoples
have always valued this learning more than intellectual learning. In the
Lakȟóta language, wowiyúkčhaŋ, is thinking with all of one's human
abilities. The mind is used but this kind of thinking is not limited to logic.
Emotions are involved but this kind of thinking is not sentimentality. The
body is involved but the physical is not separated from the spirit. The soul
and spirit of the person are involved but grounded in an intense reality.
When all of these human aspects work together, a Lakȟóta will say, “this I
know in my heart” (Brokenleg, 2018).
What do we know—in our hearts—works for children? When they can
stand in the center of the Circle of Courage and know—in their hearts—
they are loved (belonging), can solve problems (mastery) and exert their
will (independence) and help others' (generosity) they will do just fine. Our
work is to help them experience those things. So that you don’t think we are
resorting to naturalism, primitive thinking or green thumb eclecticism, there
is plenty of contemporary research which validates these core principles.
Or may we suggest, the Circle of Courage principles validates some
research.
Activity/Task: Create and fill in a circle of courage on yourself. Discuss
with your group/classmates.
How do you show mastery in your life? How is independence expressed?
Where and with whom do you feel belonging? How do you demonstrate
generosity in your life? To be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of
belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. These are known as four
universal growth needs. Examine elements in your own life where you feel
belonging—what communities do you feel part of, where you can just be
yourself and be accepted as yourself; where you show mastery—showing
and developing your competence, striving for personal goals; where you
demonstrate independence—making your own decisions and being
responsible for your own success or failure; and where you demonstrate
generosity—contributing to others wellbeing and giving freely (whether it is
your time or something more tangible). Fill in a Circle of Courage
template: create a circle divided into four quarters and label each quarter
(belonging, mastery, independence, generosity). Reflect on how you
developed these elements. When and where in your life were they
encouraged? Discuss how you might enable your students to develop these
areas within your classroom or within your planning and programming.

About the authors

Larry K. Brendtro, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at Augustana University in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is the founder and former president of
Reclaiming Youth International, and co-author of Reclaiming Youth at Risk.
He is a Senior Training Consultant and writer for the non-profit
organization Reclaiming Youth at Risk. He may be contacted by email at
larrybrendtro@gmail.com
Martin Brokenleg, EdD, is a Professor Emeritus at Augustana University.
Martin, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe holds a doctorate
in psychology and is a graduate of the Episcopal Divinity School. Retired
and living in Victoria British Columbia, Martin enjoys his time writing,
reading and watching his children and grandchildren grow.
Steve Van Bockern, EdD, is a Professor of Education at Augustana
University. Steve primarily teaches but continues to research, write and
publish. His most recent book is Schools That Matter: Teaching the Mind,
Reaching the Heart. He speaks internationally. He can be reached at
vanbock@augie.edu.
Acknowledgement: This chapter was originally published in the
International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity (IJTDC), 2022,
Vol 10, Issue 1/2, pp 231-240.
 Fostering Engaged Citizenship
through Public Achievement

by Susan O’Connor and Donna Patterson

Introduction
Students in special education are often placed in programs because they
are identified with a disability under one of 13 state-defined categories.
These characteristics are assigned to individuals by the schools because the
disabilities are deemed to interfere with their educational experience.
Students, depending on the nature and severity of the perceived disability,
may be segregated from the mainstream educational community and rarely
experience empowering and self-determined opportunities. The academic
and social skills of students labeled with a disability often fall far below that
of their peers throughout their school careers. The consequences of poor
academic and social skills are far-reaching. For many, they lead to a lifetime
of mental illness, unemployment, and/or involvement with the criminal
justice system.
This chapter will look at an initiative that encourages and teaches self-
empowerment through civic agency. Public Achievement (PA) is based on
the philosophy of democracy as a way of life, and that citizenship is the
ongoing work of all people in their public lives. Public Achievement is used
in schools and communities across the United States and around the world,
including special education. It gives students a hands-on experience in
community engagement and involvement. PA not only teaches the student
what it means to be a proactive member of the community, but that they, as
an individual, can make a difference in those communities.
This civic agency-based initiative aligns with a paradigm (a model of
how the world is viewed) of self-determination, and includes relatedness,
competence and autonomy as key components (Ryan & Decci, 2000). PA
has been shown to develop participants’ skills in taking self-directed
initiatives, working with others, understanding the impact of their actions,
and improving participants’ knowledge of communities (RMC, 2006).
Bringing these values to special education (such as relatedness,
competence, self-determination) are a key feature of disability studies.
Disability studies refers to the examination of disability as a social, cultural,
and political phenomenon, in contrast to clinical, medical, or therapeutic
perspectives on disability. It focuses on how disability is defined and
represented in society, rejecting the perception of disability as a functional
impairment that limits a person’s activities, a characteristic that exists ‘in’
the person, or a problem of the person to be ‘fixed’ or ‘cured’ (Valle &
Connor, 2011). Instead, disability is a construct within social and cultural
contexts (Ashby, 2012). Rather than segregation, disability studies
researchers advocate for the inclusion of students with disabilities into the
broader school community (Danforth, 2014). Yet, as education researcher
Michael Gerber observes, many teachers are unprepared to deliver inclusive
practices. He asks whether the meaningful and productive inclusion of
students with disabilities might require a “wholly different kind of
expertise” (Gerber, 2012, p.81).
This means that pre-service teachers are asked to question the very
system they are being prepared to practice in. Why are so many students
with disabilities still excluded from general education? What type of
education do students who are labeled receive? What are teachers doing to
successfully include their students in the general education setting? Though
these questions are discussed throughout the coursework and through
readings there remained a disconnect between theory and practice. Many
teacher training programs fall short of providing the kind experience that
would engage pre-service teachers in making these connections.
What is Public Achievement (PA)?
Public Achievement (PA) is an initiative of the Sabo Center for
Democracy and Citizenship. It is based on three core principles: that
everybody can do citizen work, regardless of income, sex, education,
nationality, religion or income; that citizenship isn’t easy—it is sometimes
messy, frustrating, and hard, but through hard work and working with
others you can achieve amazing results; and that we learn by doing. Solving
problems together allows us to learn together.
Public Achievement was first implemented in schools. It evolved from
workshops where young people were asked about the problems in the
schools and communities. While being able to identify problems, they felt
that they were outside solutions and politics. Public Achievement gave
young people an opportunity to be creators of change in their communities,
as well as an opportunity to learn about their own power. Since the 1990s,
PA has been introduced throughout the United States, and internationally, to
places that include Northern Ireland, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank,
Eastern Europe and South Africa.
The PA Process
PA is a process in which young people are guided through the process of
civic engagement. The group is facilitated by a coach, a term created by
students during the early days of the initiative to describe the role of the
teacher/older student/adult working with them. The coach doesn’t just
facilitate the learning of new skills, they model it. The role of the coach is
to be just that. Just as the coach of a sports team is not on the field playing,
they help their team be equipped with the skills and training needed to
succeed. The coach is not confined to the sidelines though—their passion
and energy add to the project.
Some of the skills students learn are as straightforward as how to hold a
meeting. Roles are assigned, such as chair, minute taker and time keeper.
Throughout the process, students learn how to identify an issue, or select
one from the many that they have brainstormed. Once their problem or
issue has been identified, they learn to research (by doing just that). What is
the best way to find out about an issue? Every situation will present itself in
a unique way. Specific skills students will learn is power mapping, outlining
who key players will be in their project, who may be allies, and who may
have the power to effect change. Power Mapping is a form of mind
mapping, an organized brainstorming that continues to grow the more that
is learned. Another skill is active listening through a one-on-one
interviewing, where students approach potential allies and find out more
about them.
The Public Achievement process can be broken down into six stages. The
first stage, Exploration and Discovery, involves introducing PA to the
students, discussing their interests, their community, the nature of power
and their responsibility. This is where students can start to see not only the
communities they belong to, but to identify the needs, issues and problems
of their communities. During this initial stage students will create the rules
that govern their group (such as only one person talking at a time, that
everyone should participate, etc.), and identify goals and purposes. It is the
time to establish high expectations of the students. They bond as a team,
through the creation of a democratic space and team building exercises. It is
during this initial stage that the question, why are we here? is asked and
answered.
The second stage, Issue Development, allows the group to brainstorm
issues, interests and concerns, to explore what they already know about the
issues, explore the issues from different perspectives, research the issues,
and hold a convention to select an issue of focus. This stage is the process
of researching and learning about an issue. An issue is a matter of public
concern that affects society. A problem is a negative consequence or matter
that relates to that issue. While issue development continues throughout the
PA process as ideas and strategies are refined, this earlier time allows the
team to narrow issues into problems that the group can devise a project
around. The project is the planned actions designed to positively impact
identified problems.
The third stage is Problem Research. Once a problem has been selected,
students explore the fact and background of the issue. They identify, Power
Map and interview key stakeholders. This research is guided by the coach,
as he or she facilitates the learning of new skills and consideration of other
perspectives.
During the fourth stage, students Design a Project. Here they brainstorm
possible solutions, identifying the most promising. They identify the focus
of their action, develop, research and support tentative solutions, and
develop a project proposal and action plan. The fifth stage is Implementing
the Action Plan. They gather the resources and participants they will need,
implement their plan and evaluate their results. In the final stage of PA,
students Reflect, Communicate, and Celebrate. Students ask if their goals
were met, what the impact was, who benefitted, and they share this
reflection with their community. This review is a final celebration. Each of
these stages can be explored in more detailed by following the link at the
end of this chapter.
Shifting Teacher’s Perception of the Education System
Civic agency developed through initiatives such as Public Achievement
can positively impact teachers' sense of self-efficacy (your belief in your
ability to succeed) (Anderson & Root, 2010). Low levels of self-efficacy
are associated with teacher burnout (Cherniss, 1993). Quite simply, if you
feel like you have little power in your teaching, whether with your students
or administrators, the chances of you quitting the teaching profession are
high.
To better equip their students to face the challenges of today’s educational
system, the Augsburg University Special Education program in Minneapolis
Minnesota adopted Public Achievement as an integral part of their teacher
preparedness program. Every student enrolled on the program at Augsburg
is required to act as a coach, working in a school setting, as part of their
teacher placements. One morning a week, for the duration of a school year,
they bring PA to life with a group of students on the special education
register.
Their professors collected data to research the requirement during the
program, which is presented below in their students’ own words. One pre-
service teacher shared,
"I think it can change the system and push those boundaries, you don’t
have to sit in a desk, you can be up and moving around and working your
still doing academic and meeting standard and doing all you need to do."
With PA, students find that they actually experience a way of making
change within the confines of existing school structures. The classroom can
extend into the community within which they and their students live.
The broader vision toward educational change was articulated by
Courtney, a pre-service teacher who believed that PA challenges the status
quo. She shares:
"If we don’t start teaching students that they are citizens of this
democracy, it’s here for you, it’s your right, your heritage, it’s up to you to
better it. It’s in a lot of danger right now. That’s why we need PA so much.
It really challenges the status quo."
She goes on to reflect on how education has historically kept traditional
power structures in place and how that needs to change including the role of
the teacher:
"I think historically education has been to uphold the power structure. To
keep the people who have power in power... You start rocking the boat by
being able to say I don’t like this, it’s not working for me, let’s try to change
that. All the power comes from the teacher who says this is what we’re
going to learn, and you’re going to do it my way. Some students are going
to be successful, which are usually students who are middle class and white
and don’t have disabilities. And some students are not going to do well at
that ... If you’re a teacher who says what are we going to learn, and how am
I going to learn from you and how are you going to learn from me? It can
go both ways."
Pre-service special education teachers often enter the field with a focus
on deficit rather than ability—the disability that led to the student
qualifying for special education services. This focus can reinforce the
existing special education system where those ‘special needs’, the child’s
condition or category, needs be ‘fixed’ before students are allowed to be
part of the broader general education classroom. These existing structures
require pre-service teachers to fit into the existing system that reinforces
traditional attitudes toward students who are labeled, and the low
expectations that come with each label. Through PA, attitudinal shifts occur
as they begin to see that student engagement increases when they use PA.
Oftentimes, students in special education programs, and all students at
times, become disengaged in the educational experience in part because of
an irrelevant curriculum; in many cases otherwise disengaged students
begin to want to come to school when PA is happening. For some students,
this is the only opportunity of engagement.
 Many understand that their students are viewed differently, that they are
unprepared by the adults around them to be citizens, and are actually being
prepared to be dependent. According to Courtney:
"For me, I can’t get away from the fact that the students I’m going to
work with, society is not including them right now, and I want society to
include them. In order for school and society to include my students I need
to teach my students so they can advocate for their inclusion."
Seeing capacity rather than deficit is a shift for teachers who are often
trained to support students within the existing special education system that
often isolates them and teaches them to comply with norms as best as they
can, but not to exceed within the system. Pre-service teachers see PA as
providing an opportunity to think of potential rather than survival, and as
the conduit where students can become actors in their own learning versus
being acted upon, often evidenced in traditional special education
programming and in society.
Shifting perception about teaching and the type of student they could
work with was also challenged through PA. In the PA model, teacher-
student relationship is no longer unidirectional or unilateral but rather
collaborative, mutual and reciprocal. Students surpass the role of needy
clients, rising to one of problem-solver and contributor to a greater purpose
beyond
One student who began his PA experience with students with a wide
range of ability and who were on the autism spectrum wondered after
working with the students just a few times, “How can I really do anything
with them?” Initially, he didn’t think he could do anything with the kids;
over time that had changed, and he saw the capacity in the students. It was a
shift of attitude where he saw otherwise stereotypic attitudes shift from
students who did not share eye contact, did not engage to students who,
when given the opportunity to develop agency, were able to engage in
projects where they felt some ownership.
Involvement in PA delivers a different type of education, and helps
support staff see capacity in students, ultimately shifting identity (both self-
identity and external perceptions of identity) of students within the school.
Seeing their role as special education teachers in the larger school culture
and understanding where their kids fit or do not fit within that system is
something that pre-service candidates articulated. Below are a few
snapshots of PA in practice, some of the problems students identified and
solutions they came up with.
 Examples of PA in action
James’ teaching placement took him to a middle school in a rural setting.
He worked with a group of seven boys from the special education program
every Wednesday afternoon. The boys identified an issue they wanted to
address: there was no skate park in the town. The old skate park had been
removed and replaced with a parking lot for local retailers. During their
year working with PA the young activists located a suitable area for a new
park, and came up with designs. Through power mapping they found an ally
in the Parks and Recreation Department, who in turn introduced them to a
city council member. By the end of the school year the students attended a
city council meeting, where they presented their proposal for a skate park to
their elected representatives. All the boys were fired up to continue their
campaign after the summer break.
Annie and Lorna worked with a small group of students, along with their
teacher Lindsay, in a POHI classroom (Physical and Otherwise Health
Impaired). All of the students that were in this classroom were involved in
adapted sports and were disappointed with both the lack of options and the
lack of participation. The students decided to create a campaign that
included branding, a website, merchandise, and a mission statement. They
called themselves The Game Changers and their mission was bringing
awareness, interest, and participation to adapted sports in Minneapolis.
They took any opportunity to speak publicly and to athletic directors about
their hopes of improving adapted sports in Minneapolis. “The students that
we worked with had so much passion and drive that Annie and I really were
just their cheerleaders,” Lorna remembers.
Dave and Lisa initiated a PA group at an inner-city charter school for
teens that are homeless. Although their first few meetings were well
attended, attendance continued to drop until only one student, Ahmed, was
left in the group. Dave and Lisa did not know what to do and wondered if
they should be placed elsewhere. However, the determination and
enthusiasm of Ahmed was too strong to let go. They were advised to do
something with that energy. Ahmed worked with his coaches and organized
a public forum at his school around a topic he was passionate about: gun
violence in the neighborhood. Inviting a panel consisting of a retired local
policeman, a former gang member, a recently paroled community member
and a civil rights activist, the whole school attended the session. The
students were so engaged with the free-flowing question and answer session
that school leaders decided to make Ahmed's forums and regular feature of
the learning program.
Implications for Special Education
Involvement in PA offers benefits on many levels: for the student, for the
teacher (both professionally and personally), and for long-term systemic
change. One of the hopes in embedding PA into the special education
licensure program at Augsburg is to train a different type of teacher who
will have the skills and confidence to not only be an effective special
education teacher, but also to be an effective change agent within the large
education system.
PA principles in the classroom can be an encouragement tool, help
achieve goals and create better environment, facilitate choice-making skills,
allow for organic learning and development in the classroom, provide
leadership opportunities, use community members as resources, co-create
an agenda, assign roles to foster ownership of the learning environment, and
support student led initiatives.
Where To Go to Learn More
To learn more about the process, skills, history and implementation of
Public Achievement, go to: https://inside.augsburg.edu/publicachievement/
This website will take you to many valuable resources on Public
Achievement, including the role of the coach, guides for teachers,
implementing and evaluating programs, as well as overviews of PA
currently in practice.
The Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship believes that democracy
is the everyday work of people innovating together to solve problems and
make change. The Sabo Center works with students, educators, and
community members to build the skills necessary to turn their passion for
change into practice. Visit them at: https://www.augsburg.edu/sabo/
Researching Public Achievement
In 2010, Public Achievement was introduced as a pilot project with five
pre-service teachers and two alums who were teaching in a Federal Level
III setting for students labeled with emotional and behavioral disabilities
(EBD). Federal level III is a setting where a teacher or speech therapist
delivers special education services primarily within a special class, and
students are in a separate classroom more than 60 percent of the school day.
The majority of these students were educated in one segregated classroom
for most of the day.
Pre-service teachers paired with classroom teachers over the course of the
year and worked with two groups of students on PA projects. The outcomes
led us as a program to see the benefits for the K-12 students, the pre-service
teachers, the general education population as well as how we as faculty
engaged with our pre-service teachers. It provided us an opportunity to
understand that while we espoused a disability studies model, something
more was needed to provide a deeper understanding allowing for pre-
service teachers to put these changes into practice.
Since inception, we found transformation shifts on a number of levels:
How perceptions of school and special education shifted, a change in
attitudes toward students receiving special education services, and pre-
service teacher’s self-perception. Based on these outcomes, we created a
course that is required of all special education pre-service teachers that not
only provides the basis for understanding PA, but provides a deeper
understanding of civic engagement paired with practical opportunities to
apply what they learn in class to a real-world setting.

Activity/Task: The interview in Public Achievement

Use this exercise to practice active listening, discussion, and debate
without getting personal. Get into groups of three. One person states his or
her views on a controversial subject for about three minutes. Subjects can
be about religion, politics, etc. The second person listens, takes notes, and
then summarizes what was said. The third person evaluates the second
person’s listening skills to see how close the summary came to what was
originally said. Switch roles so that everyone in the group has a chance to
discuss, listen/recap, and to evaluate. Use a new question for each round.
Follow-up questions: Did stories that people told from their own
experience give them more authority, or did they weaken people’s
arguments? Did it depend on how they told they story? Can someone who
did not actually put the ideas together say what 'actually' got said? Are
people’s own interpretations the only thing that can come from a summary?
Activity used with permission, Sabo Center for Democracy and
Citizenship, adapted from: A Coach’s Guide to Public Achievement:
PublicAchievementDigitalManual.pdf (augsburg.edu)
 About the authors
Susan O’Connor, PhD is Professor Emeritus at Augsburg University,
Minneapolis. She is responsible for starting the Special Education
Department and major at Augsburg.
Donna Patterson, PhD taught special education to aspiring teacher
candidates at Augsburg University, Minneapolis. She has worked
extensively with Ojibwe academics to help build cultural awareness in
educational practice.
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About the Author

Christopher McMaster is a writer and

educator. He completed his PhD from the
University of Canterbury, New Zealand,
focusing on the development of an
inclusive school culture and the process of
change in educational establishments.
Christopher has lived and taught in the
USA, UK and New Zealand. He is the
author and editor of ten academic works
and over a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles. He is the founding editor
of the international Survive and Succeed series on graduate study, and the
co-editor of Disability and the University: A Students’ Manifesto (now
being expanded in a second edition). Christopher is also the author of eight
science fiction novels and two short story collections. Find him at:
www.christophermcmaster.com.