Dealing with Behavior on the Bus

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Dealing with Behavior on the Bus

• Laura A. Riffel, Ph.D.

Train the trainer
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Extremely Important Facts

• Ride at least two buses before you do the
  training
• Plan trainings between morning and afternoon
  routes
• Give the drivers time to voice their concerns
• Use humor
• Serve food

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What is Positive Behavioral Support?

• A new way of thinking about behavior
• Broadens intervention from only one approach -
  reducing challenging behavior to..
• Encompasses multiple approaches changing
  systems, altering environments, teaching skills,
  and appreciating positive behavior

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Wish you had one of these ?
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Other Myths.

• Dont Smile Until Christmas
• Let em know whos boss
• Kids should just know how to be good
• What them kids need is a good paddling...

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State Rank vs. Corporal Punishment
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Hard Facts
Page 9

• Behavior is learned and serves a specific
  purpose.
• Behavior is related to the context in which it
  occurs.
• For every year a behavior is in place it takes at
  least one month for that behavior to have a
  significant change.
• Children comply with the rules 80 of the time.
  However they are complimented for their behavior
  less than..

2 of the time
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What Problems Do You Encounter?
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What Problems Do You Encounter?
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Atlanta (Fulton County) Bus Survey Results

• Fulton County Staff

• Experience Driving

• From Spring 2003 Spring 2005
• Fulton County Bus Drivers were surveyed
• RESULTS
• Experience
• 24 had been driving for 10 or more years
• 19 had been driving for 6-10 years
• 39 had been driving for 2-5 years
• 18 had been driving 1 year or less

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Fulton County Bus Survey Results

• Frequency of Behavior Problems
• 39 of the drivers indicated behavior occurred 2
  times or less per week
• 61 of the drivers indicated that behaviors
  occurred 3 times or more per week

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Fulton County Bus Survey Results

• Frequency of Problem Behaviors Office Discipline
  Referrals
• 33 Out of Seat/ Head and arms out the window
• 24 Loud talk, cursing, name calling, talking
  back, teasing
• 14 Fighting, horse playing, pushing, biting
• 10 Disrespectful
• 10 Eating, chewing gum, throwing trash on the
  bus floor
• 06 Spitting, throwing things out the window,
  single digit sign language
• 02 Issues with parents, being late to the bus
  stop
• lt1 Weapons
• lt1 Smoking/ drinking at the bus stop
• lt1 Undressing/ sexual misconduct

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Behavior

• May be the result of problems from home
• Issues with peers at the bus stop
• Demands or problems at school
• Anxiety of the upcoming situation
• Boredom during the bus ride

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Possible Functions
Page 4

• Positive Reinforcement
• Social attention
• Adults
• Peers
• Access to materials
• Sensory Stimulation

• Negative Reinforcement
• Work
• People
• Sensory
• Pain

To Get
To Get Out of
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Behavior
Consequence
Antecedent/Setting Event
Bus driver/matron attention diverted
Terry eats candy
Gets attention from peers Access to materials
New Behavior (Replacement Behavior)
Consequence Modifications
Antecedent modifications Setting Event Changes
Ask Terry to help you choose people to give
gotchas to Terry passes out gotchas to others
Give Terry his candy bar when he gets off the bus.
Put backpack with candy bar in it at the front of
bus
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Brandon the Shoes
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Choose 3-5 Behavioral Expectations for your bus

• These need to be stated positively
• Easy to remember
• Have a symbol to remind them

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Miss Elvira Liked to Go Over a Few of her rules...

• No talking
• No running
• No sneezing
• No betting
• No looking out the window
• No dorky hairstyles
• No coughing
• No laughing
• No fighting
• No swearing
• No sleeping
• No being a dork
• No making fun of teacher
• No flipping of fingers
• No drugs
• No weapons
• No bringing animals to school
• No looking at the clock
• No looking out the window

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If a child is pushing your buttons

• You are delivering goods.

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If you say

• Quit
• Stop
• Dont
• No

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Rome, Italy (from Dr. Mark Shinn)
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Brother Dear
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3-5 BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS
RESPECT
SELF OTHERS PROPERTY
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Time to Work
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TEACHING THE Expectations

• State the Expectations positively
• Limit the number of Expectations to less than 5
  (2 or 3 are recommended)
• Do not assume that students know or understand
  the Expectations
• Teach the Expectations at the beginning of school
• Work with teachers and principals to ensure the
  Expectations are taught
• Students should actively participate
• (role play, demonstrate, explain the importance
  of the rule, etc.)

Page 42-55 Lesson plans by grade levels
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Bus Line Up Procedure
Page 46
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Keep your bumper in the seat
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Use a 6 inch voice
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Respect Relationships

• Dr. Ann Corvin says these 3 things are essential
  to building a relationship
• Eye contact
• Touching
• Talking
• Bhaerman, R.D. Kopp, K.A. (1988) says
• A student is less likely to drop out of school
  if one adult other than their teacher knows and
  uses their name.

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High Fives

• Eye contact
• Touch
• Talking
• Name

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TEACH-MODEL-PRACTICE-REWARD
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Discuss a Plan

• Weve got a situation where kids are having
  behaviors on the bus that cause bus referrals.
• We know this isnt a good way for anyone to start
  the day.
• This year, I dont want this to be a problem for
  us.
• Heres how we can work together..

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Discuss a Plan

• Heres what Id like to do
• Bring a bus out to the school
• Have the teachers bring the students out to the
  bus one group at a time
• Teach, Model, Practice and Praise appropriate
  behavior while the students are practicing.
• Discuss how students will be recognized at
  school.

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Catching Children Being Good

• Improves behavior by 80.

Shores, R.E., Gunter, P.L., Jack, S.L. (1993).
Classroom management strategies Are they setting
events for coercion? Behavioral Disorders, 18,
92-102.
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Trade-in tokens
Pot Holder Loops
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Positive Feedback Ratio

• 4 1
• Minimum ratio of positive feedback statements to
  negative statements or corrections
• Directives are neutral

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Give kids attention for

• Being good..

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TIME TO WORK
Pages 58-62 ways to reward students
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How do we reward the people who participate?

• We need participation from the school and the
  transportation department
• The following slides are ways to reward adults

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Transportation

• Adult transportation winners
• Special parking in front of the school
• Valet parking
• Coupon for one of the following
• Free snack from vending machine
• Goody bag with pens, pencils, sticky notes etc.
• Get out of a meeting day

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Special Parking Privileges
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Rewards for all the staff
Just Batty about the way you handle working
with students!
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Thanks for doing your part to help kids to Be
Good
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Juan Valdez Award

• Have a special cup of coffee ready for the
  transportation employee who gave out the most
  gotchas the day before.

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I shouldnt have to do anything. Kids know what
they are supposed to do, why should I have to
compliment them, give them rewards, or offer
incentives of any sort?
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The quickest way to change behavior.in anyone.
Research indicates that you can improve behavior
by 80 just by pointing out what someone is
doing correctly.
Point out what they are doing right..........
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Hierarchy of Responsive Options
Page 27-29
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In your group, think of one example of each that
you have used or could use
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Specific Disabilities What to Expect

• ADHD
• Autism
• Asperger
• Communication Impairment
• Developmental Delay
• Emotional Impairment
• Health Impairment
• Intellectual Impairment
• Neurological Impairment
• Physical Impairment
• Sensory Impairment
• Specific Learning Disabilities

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Students with ADHD
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• Sit N Fit Disk and Ikea Seat Cushions

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Two different seats on bus
Permission to move with parameters- When the bus
stops for a drop off or pick-up, this child has
permission to move.
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Giving them a job to do.
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5 Way too loud!
AHHH!!
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4 Loud
I said
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3 Talking
Today at school
3-6
2 Whispering
Today, I was walking down the hall and I saw..
1-3
1 No Talking
0
zzzzzzz
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Teacher chair earned for class time with tokens
earned from bus time.
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1-2500
1-1000
1-166

• Autism
• Asperger Syndrome

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Autism
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Good Books
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
By mark haddon Insight into the mind of a young
man with asperger syndrome Written from the view
of a 15 year old.
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Good Books

• Born on a Blue Day
• by Daniel Tammet
• Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic
  Savant

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Look me in the eye
John Elder Robison- brother of Augusten Burroughs
(Running with scissors)
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Asperger Syndrome

• Flexibility of Thoughts
• Difficulty with
• Coping with changes in routine
• Empathy
• generalizing

• Social Emotional
• Difficulties with
• Friendships
• Managing unstructured time
• Working cooperatively

• Language and Communication
• Difficulty understanding
• Jokes sarcasm
• Social use of language
• Literal interpretation
• Body language, facial expression gesture

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Sowe now have a good idea what it iswhat do we
do about it?
IDEA 2004
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Best Practices

• Use relationship narratives for transitional
  times, try to keep transitions minimal.
• Provide a predictable and consistent activity
  schedule.
• Provide a quiet area and frequent relaxation
  time.
• Use visual pictorial prompts.
• Encourage choice making.
• Provide immediate and consistent feedback.
• Be patient and allow extended response time.
• Provide alternate modes of communication
  (pictorial boards).
• Avoid over stimulating activities.
• Utilize technology and appropriate software.
• Provide instruction in small sequential steps.
• Maintain communication between school and home
  for consistent expectations.

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What you need to know

• They may
• Be wearing a depends
• Make sure the parents school took them to the
  restroom right before they got on the bus
• If they defecate or urinate, it is not their
  fault.
• Need sensory integration strategies
• Ask the school to talk to the Occupational
  Therapist
• Being able to rock in a rocker for 15 minutes
  before the bus ride may make the bus ride
  fabulous for you
• They may need a stim to make it through the bus
  ride.

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If having this meant the child was quietwouldnt
you want one?
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Over stimulation

• Provide noise reduction headphones
• Dollar Stores have headphones that work
• Koosh Ball
• Allows student to de-stress
• School occupational therapist
• What activities will help regulate childs
  sensory processing?

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PowerPoints

• Using PowerPoint
• Create a Relationship Narrative with
• Pictures of the child
• Sound effects
• Graphics

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Mickey McFadden Rides the Bus
Example of a PowerPoint Relationship Narrative to
Introduce to Student
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This will be my new school.
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I will ride a bus to school.
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I will ride the lift up into the bus. My Mom
will kiss me goodbye.
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This is Mr. Bob. He will drive my bus. This is
his truck.
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Mr. Bob will drive me to school.
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I will enter the school through these doors.
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Billy will push me in the building. Hes my
friend.
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I will look for the frog flag and turn down the
hallway.
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I will go to my classroom.
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Inside my classroom, I will hang up my coat and
backpack.
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I will find my seat.
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I will keep my supplies in a bin with my name on
it.
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My class will have center time.
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My class will go to the playground.
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There is a special playground area for me and my
friends.
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My class will go to the library.
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My class will go to the cafeteria for breakfast
and lunch.
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We will have calendar time.
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I will help with the calendar.
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We will write board stories.
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We will do math.
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We will learn new words and put them on the word
wall.
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Here are some of the people I will see at Bethel
Elementary.
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Dr. Drew Barrymore is one of the assistant
principals.
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This is Mr. Fiddle. He helps us keep things
clean and tidy.
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This is Ms. Shay. She will be our counselor.
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Ms. Stithem is the principal.
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This is the Mrs. Humes. She sits at the front
window.
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These are the Second Grade teachers.
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This is Ms. Warford.
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This is Ms. Pennington.
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This is Ms. Aiken.
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Mr. Bob will drive me home.
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My mom will be waiting to give me a kiss.
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It will be fun to be a Bethel Elementary Bear.
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Communication Impairment
Give time to process verbal prompts Seat child
directly behind the bus driver so the driver can
hear the device and observe for bullying.
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Developmental Delay

• Speak clearly
• Give one verbal prompt at a time
• Dont chain prompts
• Count back 3 seats
• Look for your picture
• Sit next to window

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Emotional Behavior Disorders
Oppositional Defiant Disorder Emotional Behavior
Disorder Conduct Disorder Severe Emotional
Behavior Disorders
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Heart Rate

• Normal resting heart rate is 60 beats per
  minute.
• Research shows increase in heart beat up to 45
  seconds before the aggressive act
• Gary Lambs music is 60 beats per minute- link in
  back of book

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5 Way too loud!
AHHH!!
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4 Loud
I said
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3 Talking
Today at school
3-6
2 Whispering
Today, I was walking down the hall and I saw..
1-3
1 No Talking
0
zzzzzzz
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Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Social Autopsy
Lavoie (1994)
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Other Health Impaired
Work with the school to find out what you need to
know.this child is going to be on your bus and
therefore you are responsible for their safety.
This is Need to Know information
Asthma Diabetes Epilepsy Heart conditions Hemophil
ia HIV Lead Poisoning Leukemia Nephritis Rheumatic
Fever Severe Allergies Sickle Cell anemia
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Students with Intellectual Impairments
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What you need to know

• May not understand simple directions
• May need more time to process
• PowerPoint relationship narrative
• Picture cues
• Talk softly

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They love to pleasetoken economy gotchas work
really well.
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Traumatic Brain InjuryNeurological Impairment
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Lightning..

• Its like their hard drive gets erased every day
• They have to go to their back-up files and reload
  everything
• No short term memory and loss of some long term
  memory
• May not remember where they sat on the bus
  yesterday.
• Use
• Visual schedule that they check off (if possible)

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http//www.ablelinktech.com/_handhelds/visualassis
tant.asp
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Physical Impairments
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Things to discuss with school personnel

• The school may not know the child is on the bus
  for 1.5 hours after school
• The last time the child got out of their
  wheelchair was an hour before school dismissed.
• Children in wheelchairs need to stretch at least
  once per hour.
• Now they have gone 2.5 hours without a stretch.
• And we wonder why they are screaming all the way
  home.

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WRAP UP

• How will you post your 3-5 behavioral
  expectations?
• Poster
• Coloring book
• Notes home
• How will you teach your 3-5 behavioral
  expectations?
• Video
• Songs
• Taking bus to school and role playing
• How will you do your gotchas?
• Principal and teacher buy in?

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Sources of information

• Alderman, Terry, c. 1997. Discipline on the
  Bus A Driving Concern, Resources for
  Professionals. (video and workbook)
• McAllister, Bob, c.1995. Strategies Dealing
  with Young Riders, Strategies Training Systems.
• (videos and training manual)
• Sprick, Randall Colvin, Geoff. c. 1992. Bus
  Discipline A Positive Approach, Teaching
  Strategies, Inc. (videos and training manual
  also sold by Sopris West Educational Services)

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Websites

• www.pbis.org
• www.behaviordoctor.org

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E-mail

• Laura Riffel
• caughtyoubeinggood_at_gmail.com