I have been working with a 17 year veteran special education teacher who works in an elementary ED room.
One of the amazing things I get to witness on a daily basis is little guys with emotional disturbance issues escalating in class to the point they need to be removed, they come to her classroom and within 10 minutes have de-escalated and can go back to their general education classroom. Here is how the scenario works: Student is frustrated in class, unable to self-regulate, yet Student begins to scream, throw themselves on the floor or cry loudly Para or ED teacher removes student to the ED resource room Student must follow their particular de-escalation plan One student's plan (must be in this order): 1. 5 sets of 10 jumps on a personal trampoline, between each set the student stops jumping and the teacher throws the ball to the student, student throws the ball back to the teacher, student does another set of jumps, cycle is repeated until all 5 sets are done. 2. Wall pushes, student pushes on the wall with all their might each time counting to 5, do this 5 times 3. Hulk Jumps, student jumps as high with both feet and stomps the ground 4. Sensory bin, student gets to choose a sensory bin of beans mixed with toys or sand with animals Student gets 3 minutes with the sensory bin. After the sensory bin I would say 98% of the time the student is ready to go back to class. How and why does this work??! First, all the activities go from big, active physical things to smaller more controlled, which is why the sensory bin cannot be first. Second, the teacher controls the students behavior from the get-go. The student jumps on the trampoline and the student must stop after 10 jumps, mandatory, student cannot do 11 or 12. The student must also throw the ball back to the teacher and this might seem easy but at the beginning a few students will sometimes side-arm throw the ball on purpose, not towards the teacher, the activity is repeated for the student to do it correctly. Lastly, by the time the student gets to the sensory bin they are tired, they got lots of energy out. Playing in the bin is a preferred activity for all the kids. Before they go back to the non-preferred activity of class they get the feeling of doing a preferred activity which really helps. If the student asks for one more minute at the sensory bins, the para or teacher will allow this to support the students control and politeness. After that, time is up and student is brought back to class. Each student has their own routine based on needs, but it must be written on a white board and followed by anyone who is administering this de-escalation process for the student. Do not deviate. Other students have other items incorporated into the de-escalation like a huge peanut ball with knobs. This can be rolled by the para or teacher on the student's back to compress and provide sensory input in a healthy way. A set number of times it will be used to compress is necessary. Another items is a body scooter. An older student is allowed to go up and down the hall a set number of times while on his stomach. He must use his hands and feet to push himself, no coasting, again a set number of times up and down.
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AuthorSpecial Education major in a university teaching program. Substitute teacher, previous homeschool mom, wife. Archives
September 2019
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