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

Ask Us Anything Part 11: Challenging Behaviors + Assistive Technology

• Jennifer Hofferber - Special Education Teacher and Coach • Episode 187

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In this episode of Special Education for Beginners Jennifer is joined by her co-host Paul to discuss the essential topics of de-escalation in the special education classroom and incorporating assistive technology into IEPs. Learn about how to handle extreme challenges educators face when students become overwhelmed and practical de-escalation strategies that you can implement today.

 "How do you handle very challenging behaviors in the classroom?" - Amber 

  • Consistent routines 
  • Identify and track triggers 
  • Consider a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) to guide interventions
  • Build trust through one-on-one time focused on positive activities
  • Seek additional support when needed: involve administration, behavior teams, and document incidents for safety and transparency.
  • Tip: De-Escalation Strategy Cards for Special Education can be a great tool for your team, offering strategies to defuse tension before it builds.

"What is your experience with using assistive technology to support students with disabilities?" - Hannah

  • Assistive Technology is anything that will assist the students in being successful 
  • Don't get hung up on the word "technology"
  • Assistive technology can be simple or complex: from pencil grips to speech-generating devices
  • Engage with occupational therapists, physical therapists, and district resources to explore options
  • Observe students throughout the day to identify possible areas for support
  • Balance AT use: avoid creating dependencies by gradually reducing support as students become more independent

Conclusion
Thank you for joining us for this insightful discussion on de-escalation and assistive technology in special education! Remember, tools like the De-Escalation Strategy Cards for Special Education are excellent resources to help you calmly navigate challenging moments with confidence. Special educators, you’re not alone—lean on each other and these strategies to create a supportive classroom environment. 

Writing individual impact statements based on a student’s unique disability  and needs can be a big struggle AND a big time suck.! And in case you haven't noticed...extra time is not something you have a lot of.

My IEP Impact Statements Growing Bundle will give you  the resources you need to make writing impact statements a breeze.  





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Speaker 1:

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 Hopperberg, 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.

Speaker 1:

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, 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. Well, hey there, welcome back to another episode of Special Education for Beginners. I've got my co-host, paul, with me today for the November segment of Ask Us Anything, and we've got some really good questions today that I'm excited to chat about. So how's it going, paul? What have you been up to?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's been going good and keeping busy getting to the holidays I'm looking forward to getting into that had some very, very back and forth weather. We had fall weather and then we had it was 86, and then back to fall weather. It's been very sporadic this year.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I hear that we had fall, then we had hot and then yesterday in Oklahoma we had several tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area. So kind of crazy for November.

Speaker 2:

Definitely.

Speaker 1:

And then your little kids. How'd they handle Halloween? Did you have to work the day after Halloween?

Speaker 2:

Oh, no, yeah, so we what we did is we actually did a Halloween parade, and so, yes, the day after Halloween was exciting for sure, but it was a lot of fun too.

Speaker 1:

They're so cute at that age. But yeah, that's a lot. It's a lot to deal with as a teacher. I think that should be illegal to have school the day after Halloween.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, really yeah, it'd be smart.

Speaker 1:

All right, are you ready to answer some questions?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, first up, we have a question from Amber and she says how do you handle very challenging behaviors in the classroom? I have a student who has been destroying my classroom and making other students cry and it's exhausting and scary and upsetting to everyone involved. Well, first off, I just want to acknowledge that you're not alone in this. This, I feel like, is something that every special education teacher has, that you're not alone in this. This, I feel like, is something that every special education teacher has dealt with at some point in their career or another, and your feelings are valid and understandable, and I just want you to know that it's not your fault. Some of our kiddos are experiencing many emotions that they don't really understand themselves, and acting out on that is usually their way of communicating that distress. So I know that even my daughter is dealing with this right now in her position. I've dealt with it in the past. How about you, paul?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, just before I left to become the director, that year was fraught with a specific kiddo who was just. It's like he was making it his mission to make my days harder.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and those situations are so stressful I mean, I think that when you're not in it, when you haven't ever gone through it, it's hard to comprehend. But just being in that situation is so stressful, not just for you but your entire classroom and your staff. So a few strategies that I have, I think would make sure that you're being consistent with their routines, make sure that you are following consistency. Sometimes when you get out of routines, that's when you're going to see some of those behaviors happen and, I think, trying to figure out the reason you know they might not be able to know, but you might be able to pinpoint when you think it might happen, Like something might be triggering that maybe doing like a functional behavior assessment or something just to try to figure out when it's going to happen, and then you can put in some precautionary measures to try to prevent it from ever getting to that escalation point.

Speaker 2:

Yes, there's definitely like it's a case by case basis, so there's not really like a a one strategy fits all. It kind of depends on the kid and why they're acting out the way they are. I know that a lot of the kids that I have dealt with over the years they actually have like, um, well, emotional disturbance is kind of the, the diagnosis that a lot of them have, and there is definitely something going on that's deeper and nonsensical at times especially, you know, it's like why did you want to stab them with scissors? Like what, what did they do? Did they do anything? It's hard to, it's hard to kind of work with them when they do things like that, you know.

Speaker 2:

So, when it comes to working with that, you know one of the things that, one of the things that I have done with the students I have which again, doesn't mean it would work for anyone else but, um, one of the things that I would do is I would intentionally have one-on-one time with that student doing something fun, not asking them to do anything.

Speaker 2:

It was something that they wanted to do. For some kids it was going out and playing catch with a football. For some kids it was doing a craft project. For some kids it could have been as simple as just going on a walk in the hallway, just kind of having a routine walk, as just going on a walk, you know, in the hallway, just kind of having a routine walk, um, but as it is probably the most important to build relationship with students like that, because the only success I've had with those students is by making them not want to do like, to not want to make me upset, to not want to be, um, disappointed or disappointing to me, you know those are the, those kids. Eventually, you know, if you build enough trust, like a lot of the behaviors stem from them just being let down by adults again and again and again and again.

Speaker 2:

And my strategy has always been well, let me be an adult you can trust first, before I ask you to change.

Speaker 2:

And you know it's hard because, like you said, to be consistent with someone who is actively making life harder on you is a hard emotional toll on you and no one would blame you for giving up, but it's important for you to be at the forefront of it. Um, because, unfortunately, the only person who will have the opportunity to have that relationship with them that year is you, and if you do everything you can to get rid of them, well, well then, that's just going to prove their narrative of adults and it's going to continue the cycle another year and who knows?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think it's important to note that even when you do make that strong relationship with them, it doesn't mean that it's going to completely go away. They still might have those meltdowns and they still might not be able to control those emotions and completely destroy your room and then feel sincere remorse for doing that, because they do have that connection with you and it's just in that moment you've talked about this many times that emotional brain that takes over with your logical brain isn't in control anymore and they just totally lose control. So don't I guess my point is, don't take it personally. You know you've got to understand that they can't always control themselves. In that moment, and you know, get through it as best you can and then reestablish that relationship afterwards.

Speaker 2:

Definitely and just to like. When you have a kid like that, don't try to be the all right, let's get back down to the basics. Let's just let's be here in a room and definitely don't have anything like valuable that is going to like, because what are you doing in that, but giving that kid the opportunity to really hurt you in a way that's going to make you emotional. In return, like, remove those things so that in their lizard brain or their their emotional state, they don't do something that you won't ever forgive them for for doing. And and to use an analogy, we have, um.

Speaker 2:

We have a German shepherd rescue. He was a stray for five months before we got him. Um, he's been rough. It's been a rough transition getting him acclimated and, um, one of the things that I, I, you know we got to the point.

Speaker 2:

It was like my wife loves to decorate and I was just like let's, let's just not do it this year, let's just not do as many things this year or put up things that you don't care about, you know, because it would just make her so mad when he would break something, um, but he would just break what was, whatever was there. So we started getting things that it was okay, that is we breakable, or we had replacement for, or we didn't care about, or those kinds of things. And then, uh, it didn't trigger the emotional reaction from us which allowed us to build a relationship, specifically her, to build a relationship with um, our dog, and that's a very different situation. But there are some parallels there and and I think that you know, I think that sometimes, um, we, we do kind of put these things in front of students who don't have the emotional regulation and we kind of set them up to do something that emotionally makes us very angry and very upset at them. And we got to be careful about that because we're the adults in the situation.

Speaker 1:

Right, and then, I think, just ask for help. You know, reach out to your admin. Even if you feel you're not supported, just keep asking. Ask for support from behavior teams in your district. Ask for support from other personnel, other teachers, your staff. Make sure that you're getting the other kids out of there so that they're not having to witness it, and get somebody else in there who can be a backup to you. For, for, like, um, safety reasons, you need to have somebody in there and somebody just that can document exactly what happened, because you don't want to put yourself in a position where, um, you know, apparent questions whether or not you were handling things legitimately. So you want to just make sure you have somebody in there for, for safety and for, you know, witnessing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely do that and even add onto that track it, figure out a way to track it. Um. There's a lot of different ways you can do it there can. You can even be like a, a tally list, something you could just do a real quick one tally or one dot or one check Mark based on, uh, where they're at, or circle, a number or whatever it is. And because data is very valuable in getting support, it can give a baseline. It's also like for, specifically the student that I had last year. One of the frustrating things is that the IEP had nothing about behavior and the behaviors were awful and then I talked to the previous admin. They said it was awful. That was a huge disservice to the student that a year was able to go on and and no one followed through with an FBA and got a behavior assessment and got a behavior intervention plan in place because I was able to do it and that's going to set them up next or this year. It sets them up for having a starting point. Um. So get that data, get that behavior assessment done. If you haven't done, if it hasn't been done already, um, um, and get the process started, because for these kids, like there's a lot like.

Speaker 2:

I was one of these kids. You've heard my story before on here. I was a kid that just was mad at the world, thought I was dealt a rotten hand. Old, thought I was dealt a rotten hand and I just wanted everyone to feel the same pain and struggles that I felt. And it was teachers that changed me from someone who who didn't think he was worth anything to being someone who, who is very proud of who he's become, and it's had everything to do with those teachers that gave me a chance when no one else did.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think that's a testament to what we can do as teachers. We can't change their home life. We can't change their background. We can't change anything outside of the school system. We can't change their home life. We can't change their background. We can't change anything outside of the school system, but we can change, you know, the future for a kid If you're there, if you support them, if you care about them and let them know that. Yeah, you're a testament to that for sure.

Speaker 1:

And I think the last thing that I would just say is just to take care of yourself. You know, dealing with these challenging behaviors can definitely drain your energy. It can, you know, pull on your emotional reserves. Just make sure that you have your own support system, whether it's talking to colleagues, a counselor, just finding time to relax and recharge and, again, not take it personally. You have to separate yourself from those situations. And then I do have a set of de-escalation technique cards. If you are interested in that, you can train yourself and your classroom aides in de-escalation. They can be. It can just kind of be helpful to calm down a situation before it ever escalates, and it's just another tool to have in your toolbox to help you stay calm, listen, show empathy, offer different choices. There's just a bunch of different de-escalation strategies that I've used over the years and that I sell in my TPT store, so I'll leave the link for those in the show notes. All right.

Speaker 1:

Question number two is from Hannah. What is your experience with using assistive technology to support students with disabilities? I feel like I always write the same thing on every IEP and it's funny that I got this question, because I just went to a training on assistive technology and I have been doing this job for 30 years and I learned so much that like I wasn't doing it correctly either. I mean, I wasn't doing it wrong, but I wasn't fully considering all of the assistive technology options that there were for kids. So where are you with this, paul?

Speaker 2:

Well, this is very interesting because when we think of assistive technology we think of AAC devices and things like that, but it really is anything that assists the student in having success. You know, a calculator is assistive technology. A? Uh, an abacus would be assistive technology, like whatever it is that's attributing to the success of the student. Uh is assistive technology and I think that you know we sometimes, especially as we're moving to more of a one-to-one standard in a lot of classrooms, there is so much that is available, that is free or very inexpensive, that can be hugely beneficial to people, especially young students.

Speaker 1:

I think the word technology is what hangs up a lot of people.

Speaker 1:

I think technology is so. You think of computers and you think of devices, but it can be as simple as lifting up a binder so that they can write at an angle, you know. And so I think that we've got to do a lot better job of researching what all this means and the different options that are out there. Make sure that you're talking to your occupational therapists, your physical therapists, any of your assistive technology people within the district. Make sure you're asking them what are the opportunities or options that are out there, and then, for sure, go through and watch that student throughout their school day and take note of oh, they're struggling with this, maybe this would help them. They're struggling with writing on their paper on their desk. Maybe lifting it up at an angle would help them. And just watching them all the way through their day and just, you know, taking note of those things that might be possible, then you can write those into the IEP so that you're providing them so that they can be successful.

Speaker 2:

Definitely, and I think that there's a lot of training that could be done for helping teachers learn those things and have, like I had a bank of different, uh, assistive technologies that I would, I would have and I would like create and I would just be like, all right, let's see what this is, chat, what would this child benefit from? Based on what I've seen, you know, um, there's so many things that can be used for assistive technology and I think that one of the honestly and you know, we're going into like a lot of me as a student today, but, um, I don't know is if I would have made it as far as I. I don't know is if I would have made it as far as I did if I wasn't given the opportunity to use technology. I don't think I would. I genuinely like spell check. If that didn't exist, I wouldn't have graduated college. Like there's no way, because I can't spell. You know it's just for some reason, I just cannot spell, and so spell check is has been what's gotten me to that point and it became like you know, something that was huge for me because I could present my writing and be proud of it.

Speaker 2:

Um, and that was, you know, my biggest growth is is in writing, because writing, you know, when I write on a piece of paper, I'm still sub, you know, subconsciously, and sometimes very consciously um, ashamed of my writing skill. You know, as there's times when I'm just like man that looks like, you know, a toddler wrote it. You know is is just rough. Um, and I, you know, have forced myself to practice and and keep going and keep trying and keep getting better because you know there's, you know it's. My hurdles and challenges have never been an excuse to give up. They've always been a reason to keep going. Um, but with typing and being able to pick fonts and format it and and use spell check, I can present myself at the same echelon as my peers. Um, regardless.

Speaker 2:

You know it does take longer for me to get there but, um, like, I just finished a couple months ago I finished, I took uh three uh master's classes at once.

Speaker 2:

Months ago I finished, I took uh three uh master's classes at once, and there's a lot of writing involved in and my, I could just see how I was able to get to where I was and use the tools that I had and created a, a way to submit my. You know what I've learned in a way that I'm proud of and people listen to and people got something from. You know, and so I think that it's very important for us as a society to to look at that. You know, equality versus fairness. Look and like let's find the, the apple crate that you know someone can stand on this. That's the analogy looking over the fences, let's find the apple crate for those to stand on that need the apple crate. And that doesn't, in my mind, doesn't make it any less of an accomplishment when you're working against what I worked against and still work against every day with my dyslexia.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think everybody needs something different. You know I have two daughters and one. They have strengths in completely different areas and so I think, using a system of trial and error of you know, would this work for this kid or would this be better for this student? Just looking at that trial and error and finding different technologies and different things that work better for each student. I think that's important because you don't want to put everything on an IEP thinking that maybe this would work for them. You want to find actually what does work for that kid and what's going to make them successful.

Speaker 2:

Right and what you don't want to give kids, and this is also from personal experience. You don't want to give kids a crutch, something that won't allow them to grow in their own ability. I think that that's important too. I think that there's a moderation with everything, and giving them too many resources can lead to a crutch, and a crutch is good, like the crutches are good temporarily, but even doctors say like no one should be on crutches for long because it actually can mess up your back and your, your shoulders and and like it's. It's meant to be a temporary way to get around when you're healing, but they're always meant to be eventually abandoned so that they can continue to grow.

Speaker 1:

And I think that with the IEP from year to year, when you see something on an IEP that's been there for years, make sure that it's still needed by that student and make sure that it's not something that is kind of holding them back. Evaluate, adjust, get feedback from staff members, from parents and the student. I know sometimes a lot of the students that I talk to at the high school are like I don't use that, I don't need that anymore, and so don't just keep putting something on an IEP just because it's been there before. So definitely get that feedback and adjust.

Speaker 2:

And you don't know is if the person before you just put everything on there, so it's, it's really a. The individual part of IEP, I believe is, is the biggest thing overlooked at times. There's a lot of of bulking and, like you know, bulk editing that is done. That, um, you know shouldn't be, but also the workload on special ed teachers shouldn't be as demanding as it is. So you know it's like you know what you know can't have both. You know both worlds.

Speaker 2:

But, yeah, I definitely think that it's very important to approach it with, you know, strategic thinking. Maybe even put a time limit on the crutch, you know, say, hey, we'll use this from you know this to this from until this month, and then it'll be re-evaluated and that way it gives us a structure for the next person you know working with that student.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I completely agree. All right, well, paul, that wraps up another great episode. I feel so lucky to have you join me each month to share our experiences and our insights. It's truly rewarding for me to try to help others who are struggling. You're not alone in this journey, so keep reaching out and keep learning. So thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on Special Education for Beginners. Talk to you next month, paul.

Speaker 2:

All right, talk to you then.