We recently discussed the “Way to A”, and the effectiveness of working with children on making positive choices in a home and classroom environment. This time we are going to look at another book, which has become one of our favourites for teachers and support staff supporting children in class.
‘Behaviour Solutions for the Inclusive Classroom’ looks at ways to assist children requiring extra support within the classroom setting, and emphasise that the classroom is not a ‘one size fits all’ environment! The book combines the brains of three experts in the field of educating and supporting children; an OT (Beth Aune), A Special Education Coordinator (Peter Gennaro), and most importantly a mum of two kids with disabilities (Beth Burt)! The book has been written in a very simple, easy to understand and easy to navigate fashion.
The book is designed to be a mini ‘encyclopaedia’ of a number of common behavioural presentations in a classroom environment, possible reasons for the behaviour and some simple and effective strategies to support the behaviour. It is divided into sections, and the contents and index allow quick and easy access to search for a possible behaviour and find a bit more information about it.
For teachers and support staff, this can be an invaluable addition to your resources, and provide further starting points on how to increase engagement for all children within your class. For example, you notice a child in your class is constantly fidgeting, moving around, or having difficulty sitting on the mat? Why? What can be done? The book will break down this behaviour into possible sensory explanations, and then provide a few dot points of ways to address the difficulties. While the book is not a solution for all difficulties children may experience in a classroom, it provides the first steps in addressing difficulties a child may be experiencing, and can also help reframe thoughts that a child is just ‘misbehaving’.
Although it is an American based book, many of the ideas can be transferred to an Australian classroom setting. A cheap and easy way to find the book is via the Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Behavior-Solutions-for-Inclusive-Classroom-Beth-Aune-Nelson/9781935274087