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Thoughts on making a real difference in the lives of learners...

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Self-Regulation: Are we spinning out of control?

5/21/2017

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In recent months, the low hum of fidget spinners in action has permeated our classrooms and homes. Coincidentally with their rapid appearance in student hands, the debate erupted among educators and health professionals as to whether this new craze represented a significant tool for self-regulation, or was simply a fun and distracting toy. As it has grown in popularity, so has the number of schools in which it has been banned or at least had its use seriously curtailed. Such blanket actions however, ignore the simple fact that for some children, tools such as these can be a great help in coping with anxiety, ADHD and other mental health challenges. 
Recently, the CBC quoted Dr. Jennifer Crosbie, a clinical psychologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who recognized  the value of fidget toys  but believed that spinners were more toy than tool and weren't likely to have the desired effect on students. 

They definitely don't have the attributes that are generally associated with the kinds of fidget and sensory toys that are traditionally used with kids with a range of conditions. For one thing, a fidget toy should involve some movement or motion on the part of the child using it, which allows them to release excess energy. It actually kind of addresses that need to move around and allows them to be focusing on something else,

She sees spinners as more of a distraction rather than a means of finding focus. However, for students with high anxiety, or ASD, sometimes a distraction or this kind of repetitive outlet is exactly what the doctor ordered. As we all know, the effectiveness of a fidget, is really determined by the needs and attributes of the student using it. While the availability of fidget tools is a key part of universal design for learning, each one is not universal in its suitability for every student. As Crosbie herself observes: "For some kids it can be really helpful. But for an equal number of kids it ends up being a bit of a distraction and doesn't actually help in the way we hope it does." The result, unfortunately, is that in many cases the proliferation of spinner fidgets has seen their use restricted even for  students who might benefit from them.

I must confess, we do have a large variety of fidgets at our school, and a spin bike or two, and wiggle pads, thera-bands on chair legs, hokki stools, sit balls and even a punching bag! In addition to these physical supports, we spend a considerable amount of time in our SEL classes working on "zones of regulation" or using strategies such as MindUp to help our kids work on their understanding of self, and regulation of their emotions. These are not "life preservers" but rather pro-active interventions to help our students concentrate more effectively in the classroom and to enhance their interpersonal relationships with their peers.

In actual fact, far from being the New Age gimmick that some of its detractors claim - the importance of self-regulation has been demonstrated in a host of research studies to be a key component of effective executive functioning in students. One 2012 summary of current research states that  "the development and effective measurement of behavioural regulation, or “executive function in context,” [has established] that behavioural regulation contributes significant, unique variance to children’s academic achievement and growth trajectories between preschool years, elementary, middle school, and even to high school." In other words, it is an essential component of the student learning process.

Basically the research supports what common sense tells us, namely that strong, negative emotional reactions (often brought about by anxiety or frustration) impede a child's ability to regulate their own behaviour in a classroom setting and will often result in them being unable to concentrate and focus on essential tasks or miss key instructions or verbal cues. Consequently, strategies that help students to manage these strong feelings are bound to have a positive impact on their ability to complete tasks and develop persistence in the face of challenges.

The traditional alternative to self-regulation has been to address the behaviour and not its root cause. Strategies such as "time outs", isolation rooms, staying in at recess, or suspensions/expulsions have proven to be counter-productive. A 2008 study on the impact of dealing with behaviour challenges by the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that: 
Rather than reducing the likelihood of disruption...school suspension in general appears to predict higher future rates of misbehaviour and suspension among those students who are suspended. 


In other words, suspending or isolating a child simply reinforces the notion that she or he does not belong at school. Rather than feeling remorse about their actions, suspended students feel resentful and angry. The result, as noted above, is that they will act out these emotions at school the next time that they get a chance and become the "chronic behaviour problem" that educators love to complain about.

It is far more productive, and beneficial in the long term, to work on helping students to develop self-regulation strategies that will enable them to break this cycle and have a more productive and successful school experience. If this means a few more spinners around the school, it is a small price to pay!


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Taking Ownership: Being part of the solution for the "problem" student

5/6/2017

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Twenty years ago, when I was Head of a school for students with learning differences in Montreal, I was sitting in a Board meeting when one of my Governors raised issue with the challenges posed by a student in her son's class. As far as she was concerned, the young boy in question should never have been admitted to the school, and that it was time that we "cracked down" in our admissions process.​ It was a telling moment. As the Board looked to me for a response, I reminded her that her own son, a few years earlier, had had the unfortunate habit of running up and down the main hall naked whenever he was changing for phys-ed. Had we imposed the draconian standards for which she was advocating, he never would have been admitted and had the opportunity to grow into the charming and productive Grade 5 student that he was today. The matter was dropped, but it remained fixed in my mind as a warning that, as educators, we can never stop advocating for the student who needs that extra support, that second and third and fourth chance, that grit your teeth patience and perseverance to work with them until they finally are able to turn the corner and develop into that more productive and happy child that they always had the potential to be,

You see, schools like Weston in Montreal, or my current school, KGMS in North Vancouver are not populated with what society or the system would call "ideal students". These schools were, and are, filled with children who have been unsuccessful somewhere else. They arrive carrying a burden and have usually not found school to be an inviting place for them. Some arrive incredibly frustrated or feeling defeated by barriers to their learning that have stood in their way; others come through the doors with more life experience and emotional baggage than I could ever bear. But all of them are there for the same reason - not to be difficult, but to be successful. Over the past forty years of working with a wide variety of students, parents, and teachers, there are two basic understandings that have guided me on my personal journey.

1. Kids are not deliberately or inherently "bad". When students are feeling unsuccessful at school, they develop coping mechanisms to help them to survive what feels like daily torture. They can become distracted and unfocused; or, disruptive and resistant to redirection; or, prone to taking long breaks - "hall walking" or visiting a counsellor or enjoying prolonged bathroom visits - anything to get them out of the classroom. They are not being intentionally disrespectful or defiant. They are just surviving. If our response as educators is to isolate, or punish, or berate, it is akin to sending a patient home from the hospital because they are too sick to treat! Sometimes we can clinically identify what is going on (ADHD, OCD, ODD, etc.) but more often then not it is more a reflection of past failures and frustrations, rather than current diagnoses that tell the story.

​2. Most interventions are band-aids, real change takes time and planning. As schools we often tend to be more reactive than proactive. If things are going well with a student on a given day, we hold our collective breath and hope for the best. If things fall apart, we leap in and react. We send in extra staff, provide a safe haven, visit the farm - calm everyone down and then try again. In that way, most schools and educators are constantly playing catch-up. Far too frequently, the only proactive action that a school chooses to take is to "demit" a student, asking her or him to leave before the next "problem" arises. My own hands are not clean on this score, over the years there has always been the occasional student whose needs are just too great for us to handle. We try our best to support the family in finding the appropriate alternative placement, but at the end of the day, it is an admission of defeat.  Without question, our real success stories are the students that we didn't give up on. They are the long term lights at the end of the tunnel, and new faculty coming the school are invariably stunned to hear their colleagues' "war stories" about someone that they have found to be delightful in their own class.

When a child is having difficulty in coping with the day to day routines and expectations in class. and is reacting in an anti-social fashion, everyone (teachers, classmates, administrators) wants a "quick fix". In some systems it is the assignment of a Special Education Assistant; in others it is putting the student into an intensive "intervention" programme to get them on track; and, in ours it tends to be a combination of counselling, SLP and BI support to implement a plan of attack. While all of these strategies can have a positive impact on the classroom environment, they tend to err more on the side of managing the problem rather than solving it.

In my next post, we'll take the long view on how we can help students to learn to self-regulate and overcome the barriers that prevent them from being happy and successful at school.

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    Dr. Jim Christopher is recently retired Head of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School in North Vancouver. A parent, author and long-time teacher, and educational administrator across Canada, he has been actively involved in the drive to differentiate learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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