Dr. Amy McCart

I think all of us at the Governor’s Institute, enjoyed hearing from Dr. Amy McCart, a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. She took research theory and put it in everyday practical terms, adding lots of humor and real life examples in her presentation.
Dr. McCart urged us to approach behavior issues in the same manner as we do academic issues. When a child has problems learning an academic skill, good teachers analyze what the problem might be and they re-teach the skill. If we take time to reflect on behavior issues, and then teach the skill the child needs to be successful, many behavior problems should be reduced.
One way we can reflect on behavior problems is to use the ABCs. First, look at what happened before the behavior, the A, or antecedent. This might be Billy walked in the room and saw Sally playing with his favorite toy. Next, look at what happened, or the (B) behavior. This might be that Billy went in the corner and cried. Then, look at the (C) consequence. This might be that Billy gets attention from adults or it might be that Sally feels sorry from him and gives him the toy. The consequence is sometimes hard to determine, but it is not necessarily a "punishment" handed down by a teacher. Dr. McCart also suggested there might be a setting event, which possibly happened earlier in the day. This could be that Billy was tired or hungry or maybe he had a fight with his brother before coming to school. If it is possible to address the setting event, the negative behavior may be eliminated or reduced. After gathering the above information, try to determine the goal of the behavior. The goal is something the child wanted to obtain or escape. At times a behavior may have more than one function. In this case, we may decide that Billy wanted the toy, but maybe he also wanted our attention or wanted help in getting the toy. Without additional information, it appears that Billy does not have the language, self confidence, and/or social skills, to obtain his goal of adult attention/help or having a turn with the toy. If we look at this as an academic issue, we can see that Billy needs to be taught what to do when he wants something. Teaching him how to get help or how to ask for a turn will decrease the behavior and build his pro-social skills.

Dr. McCart made many other excellent points:

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  If a teacher is has more than 3-5 children with problems, the teacher should look at changing what she is doing. As we all know, each group of children is different. Possibly the current class needs more movement or more structure.
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  Teachers should look at their most hectic time and work to teach the children what to do at that time. For me this is right before lunch. Staff are busy trying to get lunches ready, some children are passing out tableware, others need to have an activity to do while waiting, and still others may be washing hands to get ready for lunch. I need to think through exactly how things should happen and then teach that procedure to the children.
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  Teachers should model more and talk less. In my lunch scenario above, I can tell the children to place one plate at every chair, but taking time to show them is more effective.