Special Education for Beginners | Managing Paraprofessionals, Special Education Strategies, First Year Sped Teachers, Special Ed Overwhelm, Paperwork for Special Education Teachers

Easy Behavior Strategies with Abby from Mrs. Moe's Modifications

• Jennifer Hofferber - Special Education Teacher and Coach • Episode 172

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Welcome back to another insightful episode of "Special Education for Beginners"! Today, we're thrilled to host Abby from Mrs. Moe's Modifications. After much anticipation since 2021, we've finally connected to explore her extensive experience in behavior management within special education. Abby will share her revolutionary behavior roadmap and practical tips for effectively managing challenging behaviors in the classroom.

Talking Points:

  1. Understanding and Implementing Effective Behavior Management Strategies:
    • The significance of offering choices to students to empower and provide control.
    • The importance of maintaining a positive self-talk or mantra to manage stress and improve teacher-student interactions.
  2. Abby's Behavior Roadmap:
    • An introduction to Abby's unique behavior roadmap, designed to offer a structured approach to managing difficult behaviors beyond traditional plans.
    • Discussion on the increasing challenges in behavior management post-COVID and the impact of environmental factors on student behavior.
  3. Advice for Educators and Parents:
    • Practical tips that can be implemented by educators and parents alike to handle challenging behaviors.
    • Emphasizing the importance of separating the behavior from the child and maintaining a trauma-sensitive classroom environment.

Conclusion: In today's episode, Abby provided invaluable insights and strategies that can transform the way educators and parents approach behavior management. Her behavior roadmap promises to be a comprehensive guide for anyone facing behavioral challenges in educational settings. Don’t forget to check out Abby's upcoming live sessions this summer for more detailed guidance and support.

Thank you, Abby, for sharing your expertise and resources. For those interested in learning more about Abby’s work or joining her behavior management training:
Your Behavior Roadmap

Connect with Abby on social media at Mrs. Mo's Modifications for continuous tips and updates.
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Speaker 1:

Well, hey there, and welcome back to another episode of Special Education for Beginners. Today I have a special guest for you. Abby from Mrs Moe's Modifications and I have been trying to connect since 2021, and we are finally making it happen. Today, abby and I discuss her journey within the world of special education, specifically her experience with behavior management. We dive into some of the tips she recommends for significantly changing challenging behaviors in the classroom, such as the power of choice and finding your mantra. Abby also introduces us to her unique behavior roadmap, which provides a comprehensive guide to help educators, general education teachers and parents navigate and manage challenging behaviors more effectively than traditional behavior plans.

Speaker 1:

So let's get to the show. Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey there. I'm Jennifer Hopper, an award winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and, yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me. Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh, so you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher.

Speaker 1:

Well, hi, abby, welcome to the show. I'm so happy we were finally able to connect. Hi, thanks for having me. I'm so glad to be here. I looked back and I first contacted you on June of 2021. So it's pretty funny. It's taken us this long to finally be able to record the show. Yeah, oh, my gosh, long time coming. Yeah. So, before we jump into all of the questions I have for you, would you share with us your journey within the world of special education and, specifically, your experience with behavior?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, so I was a special ed teacher. I say was because I'm not technically in the classroom right now, but I always feel like I still am a special ed teacher, so it's weird to say was. I was in an inclusive setting for 10 years and in that I was fully included with my gen ed teacher and special ed students and gen ed kids all day long, and I love that. I also taught in a self contained classroom over the summer for students who had autism, which was really great learning experience, and I had some really challenging behaviors about four years in and I was like there has to be more out there there. I just need to know more. So I went back to school now I already had my master's apparently I just love going to school to become a BCBA, which is board certified behavior analyst. Most recently I moved into a behavior specialist role, which I love, and I've been helping teachers and students ever since.

Speaker 1:

That's great. I think behavior is where a lot of special education teachers get hung up because it's such a beast. There's just, you know, there's one kid that has behaviors isn't going to be the same as another kid who has behaviors. So there's just so much to learn and that's really great that you even went back to school. My daughter is just starting in special education and she is getting her master's and she's like what's next, what's after my master's? And I'm like I applaud you for wanting to continue your education, but let's just get this one done first. Oh, good for her.

Speaker 1:

But I want to read something that I took directly off of your website. It said managing difficult behaviors is no joke, especially these days. There are power struggles, disruptive behaviors and just a laundry list of behavior challenges you see day after day in your classroom. Now we know there is no magic wand to dealing with behavior, but there are some tips that you can do to significantly change the challenging behaviors in your classroom. So can you share some of the tips that you're talking about and explain how they can be implemented effectively in teachers' classrooms?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So it's always so hard for me to pick my favorite one, but I thought about two that I could give you and your listeners that are just really easy to implement and that literally anyone can implement, whether you are a special ed teacher, gen ed teacher, parent. So the first one is giving choices. It is one of the most powerful strategies and takes zero prep time. And choices are so important because, if you think about our students, they have limited control of their own lives and that's what a lot of them are seeking. They want control about their day.

Speaker 2:

We as adults do, and it's so frustrating when we're told that we have to follow a standardized curriculum. We want to have some choice, have some control, and kids are the same way, if not more, because we can go home and make all of our choices. They might go home and be told they have to do X, y and Z, but with that there are right ways and wrong ways to give choices. So a few tips for that is you always want to give just two choices. I think when sometimes I hear teachers and kids are like no, no, no, no, then they go down a list and it turns into a little bit of a power struggle. So I would say I give two and then I walk away, and this is obviously just one tool in your toolbox, but you want to stick to just giving two and then if you need to add another tool, like using a reinforcement system or something like that, you're going to tie that in.

Speaker 1:

I feel that when I first started teaching, I didn't want to give choices. I wanted it to my way, and when you say that adults want choices within their lives, that is so true, because we don't want to be told everything that we have to do and everything we need. To see kids as having autonomy and giving them that choice, I think that's a great tip.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then I always hear people say this and I catch myself doing it. As a behavior specialist, I'm a toddler and I catch myself doing this all the time is giving a choice between something you want to happen and a threat. So you know you need to do your work right now or you're going to miss out on recess. Super common right and a lot of time. It works in the moment, but that does a few things. One, it can harm your relationship, which we're always trying to build.

Speaker 2:

And two, what happens when they say, oh, I'll do it at recess? Like, shoot, like, like, what else are you going to do? Cause disruption in the classroom. So when you're giving choices, you want them to be things that are getting you closer to your ultimate goal. So maybe it's like do you want to do two problems or three? Do you want to work on this at my table or at your table? Do you want to do this in crayon or pencil? You know just being flexible with those kind of choices. Instead of you need to do this or a threat.

Speaker 1:

So you're getting as a teacher, you're basically getting your way. You're just giving the child the choice to pick how they want to do it or when they want to do it.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. I think about my son. He was running around with a stick the other day and I probably told him three times put it down, put it down. Wasn't putting it down. So I told him oh, do you want to put it down right here or right there? Oh, he picked no problem. I was like why is I tell people this all the time and then I forget about it in the moment? So it's hard I get it.

Speaker 2:

It is hard. Yeah, definitely hard. You need to get done in the day, right, and it takes one kid to derail that and it can be so incredibly frustrating. But the second that you get upset you're not going to be able to bring that child back down. And I know when I do some positive self-talk in those situations I can help myself get through, I stay calmer and I'm way more effective. So it's going to be different for everyone. Mine is I have dealt with this before I can get through it. It's temporary.

Speaker 2:

I always remind myself I'm like you're a BCBA you know, more than a toddler, but having that positive self-talk, something that you can remind yourself, because it's so quickly to easily slip down the path of talking negatively, like, oh, here we go again, I have all this stuff to do. When is this going to be over? This is incredibly frustrating, you know, and you're just not going to respond the same way if you have that positive self-talk.

Speaker 1:

I don't know that I've ever thought of it as a mantra, but I would always remind myself that this is a child and I wonder what this child has been through in their life to be acting out like this. And so I guess it's a type of mantra where I'm just like taking the behavior away from the child and you know it's not their fault that they're acting like this. It's something that they've been through, whether it's trauma or something in their life is causing them to act out. It's not the child themselves.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I love that Separating the behavior from the child is so important.

Speaker 1:

It took me a long time to learn that, though, because, like we said in the beginning, behavior is so hard for teachers so hard. Well, we've been talking off and on about your roadmap, and I know that you're working on something to help teachers with behavior, so can you talk a little bit about what that is and who it's for?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So I have this online training that I'm offering to teachers and I am so excited to do it. I did it last summer and I'm doing it this summer and what it is is it's a really laid out roadmap to dealing with these really challenging behaviors. I think so often there's Band-Aids placed on behaviors and Band-Aid suggestions and a lot of times it's because we want that. Teachers want an easy fix, but behavior has root causes and an easy fix, even if it works in the moment, it might not fix it for the future. So I am laying it out so it's super easy to understand and it's for anyone that's dealing with problem behaviors. So special ed teachers, gen ed teachers I had some parents join and I had a lot of related service providers join, because it's it works for everyone and it's not a one size fits all, but it's going to lead you to figuring out the different things that you can do to change behavior for good.

Speaker 1:

In that quote that you that you had on your website, you mentioned that managing difficult behaviors is especially challenging these days, like behaviors have somehow gotten worse. So can you expand on that, because I am seeing that at my schools as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think it's a lot of different things. So obviously we are dealing with the impacts of COVID. Still, you know there was a lot of trauma that happened during shutdown. There's a lot of generational trauma that has happened and I think that that is having a huge impact.

Speaker 2:

You know, we're seeing that students are easily dysregulated. We are seeing that students don't have the social skills. They're not being taught the social skills. Millennial structure is changing a bit where people might not place as much value on teaching those, or they weren't taught them themselves so they don't know how to pass on those skills.

Speaker 2:

So it's almost like the perfect storm where all of this is coming together and I hear so often like, oh, parents don't have follow through, you know, and that is a bigger issue. But when I'm working with teachers and teens I always say you know, we can focus on that or we can focus on what we can control, because we're just gonna get super frustrated because we can't control what parents are going to do. Right, but we can control what happens in our classroom. So I've had kids that have just excelled in my classroom but then go home to a traumatic environment and have behaviors there or as soon as they leave my classroom, they might have these behaviors just because I've created a trauma sensitive place where they can thrive, and I always like to remind teachers that we can do that and it's not going to completely eliminate behaviors, but it can drastically decrease them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I've had parents who say what are you doing at school that they're acting so well behaved? Because at home they're not. And so sometimes it's not even that the parents don't follow through, it's that they don't know how and they don't. They don't have all those tools and those tricks. So how does your behavior roadmap address these issues differently than say you're just your regular old behavior plan?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So we're going to talk about, you know, baby steps. So I think something you know we'll be like oh, we want this student to. They don't do any work right now. They just sit in the classroom and they don't do any work. And you know, they're in fourth grade. They need to be doing everything. Four hours of work straight. I mean that's exaggerated, but in fourth grade you have to do a lot of work.

Speaker 2:

So that's our end goal, right, but that would be a huge step to go from doing zero work to doing even 20 minutes of work. So we're going to start talking about how we can do those baby steps to get there. We're going to talk about interventions that you can do beforehand to impact it, interventions that you can do after to impact it and just really look at the behavior as a whole instead of in silos. I think sometimes people will think, oh, if I could just prevent the trigger, or oh, if I just respond differently. But really, this looks at it as a whole and we're also going to set big goals. Right, we're going to set a goal that they're going to complete 30 minutes worth of work, even if we're at zero right now. But we're going to make a plan on how to get there.

Speaker 1:

Well, I like that you're not expecting teachers to just solve miracles right off the bat, that you're breaking it up into those steps. Will that roadmap be available?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I am doing. I think it's five different live sessions this summer, which I'm very excited about. I love doing live stuff just because you get really good questions and answers and the first one is going to be actually two on July 16th, one in the morning and one at the night, so you can pick which works for you and I look forward to you know answering any questions and answering all of them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that's coming up next week and so if they, they can go and get signed up to on a waitlist. Is that right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so if you go to mrsmozmodificationscom backslash training right now, it'll say sign up for a waitlist. So you can sign up and you'll be the first to hear about it. Or if you listen to this closer to the training, then you can just sign up for whatever time works best for you.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. So, before we go, I just want to ask what's the biggest or most important piece of advice that you would give a new special education teacher when it comes to addressing behavior?

Speaker 2:

Yes, and I wish someone told me this a little bit earlier but don't take it personally. I think that that's really important. You know, these are kids, they are not doing things, they don't wake up and like, I'm going to make that day hard, I'm just going to go in there and I'm going to do a difficult, make a difficult day. You know, there's something that's preventing that and whether it's skill based, motivation based, you know something that had happened on the bus or trauma, whatever it could be, there's something happening and we just can't take it personally.

Speaker 2:

I was at a training once that I heard that a principal would hand out Q tips when he they saw teachers getting frustrated and they stood for quit taking it personally, which I thought was interesting. Yeah, I'm sure that not everyone loved that, but I thought that that was a funny I always think about it visually of a Q-tip. So stop taking it personally and you can, even if you're working with a team, you can be like Q-tip. You know as like a funny way to maybe break some of the tension and to remind them to stop taking it personally.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I think that's a great piece of advice and, because my daughter is a brand new special education teacher, I think, having me as her mom, she learned that very early where, like I, like you, did not learn that very early. So, great, great piece of advice. Well, abby, this has been a great conversation and I'm so excited for the listeners to learn more from you and to go through your roadmap. I think that's a great tool for any special education teacher and, like you said, even parents and related service providers. So, thank you so much for being a guest and sharing this information with us. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

I enjoyed it. I'm glad it took only three years to get here, but here we are.

Speaker 1:

Well, if someone wanted to learn more from you, where can they find you out? In social media land, yeah?

Speaker 2:

On all social media. I'm Mrs Mo's Modifications with underscores in the middle, and I have a blog that's filled with behavior tips that you can go and find exactly what you need, mrsmosemodificationscom.

Speaker 1:

Great and I'll share those links and the link to the roadmap in the show notes. Thank you so much. Thanks, have a great day.