BOOKS A selection of books, including the latest release; Neuroscience and Teaching Very Difficult Kids by John R Frew (Author), available now;
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RESOURCES A selection of blogs, essays, videos of presentations and connections to existing resources. We will provide updates frequently, so check back soon for more.
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Dealing with Difficult People
PDF DOWNLOAD. An outline of a workshop delivered to assist staff to deal with parents who can cause substantial levels of stress in an educator’s working life.
The Second Chance: The Teenage Brain
PDF DOWNLOAD. It is now accepted that the brain develops from the back to the frontal lobes. This process has two beginnings: the first at birth and the second at the onset of puberty. It is this second period that has importance for teachers and parents, as the awkward behaviour of teenagers is not their fault but part of them becoming independent adults.
Mirror Neurons
PDF DOWNLOAD Mirror neurons have recently been discovered, and the significance of this discovery is profound for educators. Their existance explains how we are equipped to learn not only through experience but also by observation. The implication for teachers and parents is that what we do is as important as what we say.
Shame Powerpoint
PDF POWER POINT. The Power Point is to be used in conjunction with information in the Article about the development of shame. Use this as a template to develop your own version to share with colleagues
Dealing With Students Who Have Severe dysfunctioning Behaviours
PDF DOWNLOAD: The problem for schools that have students with behaviours that are so extreme is there is little policy support from education departments. At best the bureaucrats will conduct reviews into this issue and present their findings however, the next step – what to do about it is lacking. This essay examines the next step.
Equity Matters Disability Symposium - Presentation Notes
PDF DOWNLOAD There is a significant group of students, concentrated in low SES, public schools whose disability has a devastating impact on their learning outcomes, the learning outcomes of their peers and the effectiveness of their teacher’s efforts. These students suffer from early childhood abuse and/or neglect and the resulting dysfunctional behaviours create a chaotic environment in their classes and schools.
Human Needs and Drives
PDF DOWNLOAD: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has remained unchallenged in the psychological literature. However, his approach lacks reference to the evolutionary structure of the brain. This paper presents a new model of human needs and drives that explains behaviour and clarifies the need for satiation of survival needs before cognitive learning can take place.
Creativity
PDF DOWNLOAD. Creativity is recognised as the essential quality our students should have when they graduate from all of our tertiary institutions. So, it follows that schools should be ‘teaching’ this characteristic.
Children of the Lie
PDF DOWNLOAD Some of the most curious conversations I have with parents include this phrase: ‘My child would not lie to me.’ Lying, as much as it is ethically a conundrum, is practised in any community, and this essay examines the types and motives that used in our day-to-day exchanges.
Public Education and the new Student Behaviour Strategy
There is a sense of deja-vu with the release of the new Student Behaviour Strategy that again demonstrates the disconnect between public schools, where teaching takes place and the accepted authorities; the education bureaucracy and academia. This current ‘policy’ is one of successive attempts to deal with severely disruptive student behaviour in schools.
Interventions Chapter 4 'Neuroscience and Teaching Very Difficult Kids'
The goal of intervention should never be to change the child but to empower them and then let the child understand they have the power to change if they want to.
Acting To Protect Yourself
Children who have a sense of toxic shame about their sense of self will act to protect this feeling of disgrace from others. This essay outlines the motives and techniques of protecting a sense of shame and healthy ways of acting to learn to live with imperfection. This essay offers an alternative explanation of addiction. |
Disability Symposium
PDF DOWNLOAD This is a presentation about a disability that is the result of abuse and neglect
The Impact of Trauma
PDF DOWNLOAD. The impact of emotion on learning is at the heart of the position taken throughout this work. This essay examines the evolution of the sense of self through feelings and the impact abuse has on that sense.
Locus of Control
PDF DOWNLOAD. Often, when there is a disagreement between individuals there will be some fault. The hallmark of being an adult is that you own the things you did wrong. This essay traces a real issue I had with a student who took no responsibility for his actions and how, through the use of the concept of ‘locus of control’ I had some success at making a small change.
Challenging Behaviours
PDF DOWNLOAD. This essay critiques the existing approaches to challenging behaviours and concludes that much of the ‘commercial’ programs are little more than well-packaged common sense. Common sense works for the vast majority of students’ misbehaviour but there is a small core of very damaged children that require much more than feel good programs. This article examines this problem and offers some suggestions.
The Development of a Sense of Shame
PDF DOWNLOAD Shame is a powerful emotion that protects us from acting contrary to our set of beliefs. When we do so, we feel ashamed about what we did. Children from abused backgrounds have a sense of shame, not about what they do but what they believe they are. This has a profound effect on these students’ ability to learn.
Independent Behaviour Programs - Contracting for Behaviour Gains
The use of a structured program that is especially designed to deal with these behaviours can assist with managing the behaviour in the short term and moulding permanent functional behaviours in the long term. This structure takes the form of independent behaviour program (IBP) that the teacher can construct preferably with the child, his/her parents and the teachers supervisor. However, if the child and/or their parents do not want to participate it is important that they know the process and the consequences for behaviour.
Meditation
PDF DOWNLOAD For students with backgrounds of abuse and neglect the process for relaxation can be very threatening. To relax, you need to focus on your internal world, limiting your attention on the stimulus that flows in from the external world. The following provides some techniques to help educators guide their students into relaxation.
The Use of Time Out
PDF Download: The use of Time Out can be beneficial, but it must be done properly to avoid abusimg the students.
Stress and its impact on Brain Development
We have to acquire behaviours so we can meet our basic needs but we do more than just follow our genes, our nature, than any other species we learn from the way we are nurtured.
The Impact of early Trauma and Abuse - Chapter 3
Students who experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from early childhood abuse suffer in at least two ways in controlling their behaviour in school and in their later life. The first is the significant brain damage to critical areas of the brain that regulate the child’s ability to contain dysfunctional behaviours. The second is the belief systems around how they should behave given a set circumstances presented by the environment. Tragically these disabilities have most often been ‘put-on’ them by their primary care-givers.
Relaxation Script
There are many excellent books that will teach you how to relax. The one I like best is Wayne Dwyer’s Relaxation Response. He outlines techniques that are fairly advanced; however, you only need to develop enough proficiency to survive the initial feelings associated with stressful situations. |
Resources for Managing Severe Behaviours in Children and Adolescents |