The Shift That Changed How I See Challenging Behavior

When I first started teaching, it felt like a million things were coming at me every minute for seven hours a day.

What am I teaching?
What am I saying?
What’s that student doing?
What’s next?
How do I go to the bathroom?

It felt constant. I didn’t know where to begin - like many new teachers.

Should I focus on academics?

Or should I focus on challenging behavior?

It felt like I had to solve EVERYTHING all at once.

Then I went back to school to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and one concept changed my thinking and approach in the classroom.

One of the seven dimensions in Applied Behavior Analysis is Applied. It means we focus on targeting behaviors that are socially significant to the student - skills and behaviors that will meaningfully improve the individual’s quality of life.

This idea was a huge relief.

I didn’t have to “fix” everything. I didn’t have to target every behavior that frustrated me. I could just focus on what would make the biggest difference for the student.

Working with middle and high school students made this work even more meaningful because I asked them:

What would you like to be different?
What’s getting in the way?
What will make school easier?

Their answers gave focus, direction, and buy in.

Over time, something else became clear - when students received the support they needed, several of the other behaviors of concern disappeared.

Students didn’t suddenly decide to “behave.”

Instead, the need driving the behavior had been met.

This realization changed everything.

Behavior is not a problem, it’s information. It’s communication.

The clearest example is a baby crying. We don’t assume the baby is crying to manipulate us. Instead, we understand that when the baby is crying (behavior) - they are communicating a need - food, sleep, comfort, or a diaper change.

Older students do the same thing but their communication looks different.

A student puts their head down - maybe saying, “this is too hard.”
A student argues with you - maybe saying, “I don’t feel safe.”
A student leaves the classroom - maybe saying, “I need a break.”

The behavior is telling us what they need.

This doesn’t mean all behaviors are appropriate and rules must be followed.

But maybe, we can see that the behavior is helping us to understand the student better, their needs, and teach replacement skills.

When we understand what the behavior is saying, we stop fighting the behavior itself and start helping the student.

This is what I got wrong when I first started teaching. I thought my job was to stop challenging behavior.

Now I see my job is to understand what the behavior is communicating so I can teach the skills and provide the support the student actually needs.

Because when the need is met, the behavior often changes too.

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