Rethinking about misbehaviours - what is Plan B?

Taken from Pixabay

5 important facts about behaviour:

1. All behaviour is communication.

2. There is always a reason for misbehaviour.

3. There can be many reasons behind one behaviour.

4. Teachers can learn to understand and interpret students’ challenging behaviour.

5. Challenging behaviour can be reduced with support.

Examining our own assumptions of behaviour might help us tackle misbehaviours differently.

1) Behaviour is a form of communication. We might respond emotionally to misbehaviour as a challenge to our authority. Misbehaviours could be due to unmet needs, delayed development, lagging skills (see point 2) or simply a ’cry for help’.

2) Kids do well if they can. According to Dr Ross Greene, kids do well if they can. Their failure to do so arises from skills that they have NOT mastered. This is a marked difference from always thinking that they misbehave because they choose to.

The CPS Model (by Dr Ross Greene)

Greene’s model of ‘Collaborative and Proactive Solutions’ (CPS) has been used in psychiatric hospitals and juvenile detention centres to deal with challenging behaviours.

He also provides tools to identify lagging skills and using Plan B on his website: https://www.livesinthebalance.org/about-cps

He proposes 3 plans of which Plan B is recommended. We summarise ‘Plan B’ it in 3 steps:

1) Connect —listen, empathise and not prejudge 2) Concern— restate their concern and share our concerns

3) Collaborate— make joint goals and solutions

The CPS model challenged me to rethink my assumptions about behaviour. The 3Cs is my summary of Dr Ross Greene's Plan B. I really enjoyed the "The Explosive Child" by Dr Greene too - a great read if you have time.

If you would like to get more information on behaviour management, check out this 1h webinar on the topic "Behaviour is communication" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=IP0SQIIErMg

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