Inclusion, equality and equity are hot topics these days here in the USA and internationally. We’re becoming more aware of inequalities and the need for equity, whether it’s in relation to race, ethnicity, disability, gender and/or socio-economic differences, and you too have a role to play. 

There are many human rights treaties signed and ratified by a majority of countries around the world, some of which include the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Once these treaties are ratified, they become legally binding according to international law, and countries are required to embed them within national laws and policies. Unfortunately, the US is one of the few countries to have yet to ratify these treaties, but that’s a story for another day.

You might be thinking “ok, it’s nice that these human rights treaties exist”, you may feel a little disappointed that we haven’t yet ratified them in  the US, “but at the end of the day, I don’t work in the government or in policy-making, so what does this have to do with me?”. I invite you to consider that no matter what roles you play in your life, your contribution to the inclusion of all members of society does matter. Policies and treaties exist to address known inequalities, and inclusion and equity depends on each of us. 

Yes inclusion needs to be embedded within law and policies, but if it’s not consciously put into practice in our daily lives, and by leaders, organizations and institutions in the community and wider society, members of our community will continue to experience discrimination and exclusion. For example, at the UNESCO Chair in our training programs, we raise awareness of the global movement towards inclusive practice within physical education, physical activity and sport with a view to addressing the current participation inequalities that exist. We provide tools and techniques to facilitate inclusive practice, such as the  Inclusive Martial Arts Platform which provides resources for instructors on how to promote greater inclusion of women and girls, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups in the practice of a variety of martial arts. The unit on the inclusion of persons with disabilities features a video by a current University of Kansas (KU) student in the Special Education Doctoral Program, Nicholas Hoekstra, with  Tips for coaches to include students with visual impairments and blindness.

The most important aspect of our work, at least in my view, is that we guide learners to explore their own implicit biases in relation to people with disabilities, women and girls, and any other marginalized group in the community. This potentially takes inclusion from a concept in our minds, to an embodied value that is expressed through our words and actions.

As children, our minds are like sponges and we absorb the conversations we overhear, especially from adults we admire including parents/caregivers, grandparents, teachers, spiritual/religious figures, media, peers and so on. These become our implicit – or unconscious – biases, and they subconsciously feed into our thoughts, words, actions and behavior. Sometimes these implicit biases even conflict with our explicit biases, which include our conscious values and beliefs. 

I’ve travelled a lot around the world and, everywhere I have lived, I have had conversations with people from the majority group in the community who believe they are inclusive – except towards one particular marginalized group. This is usually followed by a list of reasons to justify or rationalize their belief of why this group is worthy of exclusion. For example, in Ireland some people have prejudice towards the Traveller community, an ethnic minority. In New Zealand I spoke to people who expressed prejudice towards the indigenous Maoris – I’m sure there are groups in your community that are coming to mind right now. The problem is that these people are not fully acknowledging their biases or the social factors that have contributed to, and often even perpetuated, inequity towards the group they have expressed prejudice towards.

Sometimes it’s a lot more subtle than this, especially when we know we shouldn’t have prejudices or discriminate against a certain group. When it comes to disability inclusion, for example, it is not popular to express negative opinions. This can make it difficult to truly acknowledge our own implicit biases, however, because we have a judgement that it is “wrong” or “bad” to express these feelings. Yes it’s not ideal, but this judgement can prevent us from working through it. What we resist persists and, in this case, can lead to feelings of exclusion, disconnection, being misunderstood, disrespect and much more. 

When I was growing up, the narrative in relation to people with disabilities was that of pity. I recall adults saying things like “oh the poor things”. Once I truly acknowledged this and began to look at how it played out in my life, and in my relationship with a sister with multiple sclerosis (MS), I was able to shift from wanting to “help” the people with disabilities in my life and, later, in my career – as if something were “wrong” with them – to a more inclusive and mutual relationship based on respect, empowerment and support – if needed. 

It takes courage, understanding and compassion to start unpacking these biases. It’s not always easy to take a good long look in the mirror, but it is necessary if you wish to live in an inclusive society because, without self-awareness, you, I, we can be unknowingly contributing to discrimination. We all have biases, in one way or another, and I believe we have a moral obligation to overcome them and choose inclusion. 

I invite you to take a few minutes to explore your own biases. This exercise can be uncomfortable at times but what is on the other side of this discomfort is inclusion, humility, compassion, potential for more meaningful connections and relationships that ripple out to co-create an inclusive community. Will you find out about your own biases? https://ipepas.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Implicit-Biases-and-IAT.-A.-Clardy.pdf

References:

UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/coreinstruments.aspx

Harvard Implicit Association Tests: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

About the Author

Aisling Clardy

Aisling Clardy is passionate about co-creating a healthy and inclusive society and puts this passion into action at her role at the UNESCO Chair at IT Tralee (soon to be Munster Technological University). The UNESCO Chair at IT Tralee works through international partnerships towards fulfilling human rights in and through Physical Education, Sport, Recreation and Fitness. Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling) primarily works on developing blended training and education resources for both practitioners and training providers to build their capacity to adopt inclusive practice, with a specific focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities. 

The 2019 Cohort members were asked to provide a word(s) that summed up their experience, a few sentences and a symbolic picture!

GRATEFUL

This year was not what any of us expected, but I still find myself really grateful. I’m grateful for my cohort and the community we formed, grateful to my research team for providing me with so many new experiences, grateful to the KU Special Education Department staff for their wisdom and guidance, and grateful that I chose KU over other opportunities. In a time where I should be missing family back home in NM, I feel like I’ve found one here at KU as well. So very thankful for this experience and excited for the next three years, hopefully not in quarantine. 

BALANCE

My first year in the doctoral program taught me a lot about balance. Maintaining an equal balance between work, family, scholarship, and other life hiccups (like a global pandemic) wasn’t feasible for me. Some days I just had to be a parent and nothing more. Other days I killed it as a student. Often, there was no way to predict which version of myself I would have to be that day. My advisor and other faculty in the program really helped me accept this ambiguity, and gave me new skills for managing it; skills like setting reasonable expectations, creating milestones marking progress towards long-term goals, and prioritizing/re-prioritizing when needed. The people in this program care about you. They know you can be successful in the program, but they want you be successful in all aspects of your life.

EXCITING CHALLENGES

Starting my doctoral program at KU challenged me intellectually in ways I have never been challenged before. I am most grateful for the support from my advisor, family, cohorts, faculties, and friends who helped me get through every difficult period. My journey will be continued and I anticipate as much excitement as I have experienced in my first year.

NEVER-A-DULL MOMENT

Although the year has been full of change and unprecedented experiences and events, it has come with a lot of joy as well. From experiencing the charm of Lawrence, to making new friends and being challenged in my thinking, I am truly grateful for this experience and for the support from my peers, my instructors, and my family.

ROLLER COASTER

Stepping into a new world can make you feel like falling through a rabbit hole. But our cohorts and professors provided me the perfect support and enlarged my world view. I am counting the days until I get back to our lively campus again.

We shall not fail or falter, we shall not weaken or tire – neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long drawn trails of vigilance or exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job. 

Sir Winston Churchill

It was just about four AM on a warm August morning. I just landed in Kansas on my first visit here. My phone was discharged (dead), and I had no clue if the cab service I booked had shown up. This is because I was seven hours late. My flight which was scheduled to land at seven pm had now made it at four AM. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and a man told me he was my cab driver. That was my welcome to the Midwest and Kansas. This driver had waited for me for over seven hours because he said, he couldn’t have left me alone. He also took calls from my family and ensured them that he was there on time to help me when my flight landed. This might be surprising and different, but I have always felt that if I believed, it happened.

My experiences in coming to the University of Kansas has been a magical ride that I can only picture as being a long and beautiful story. In late September of 2017, I was unhappy that in spite of having some of the best laws on enabling people with disabilities, there was a wide gap in implementation. I had already decided to change my doctoral program and work towards building a career around disability and challenges that students face. Having lost my vision at just two, I have always been comfortable as to who I am. Speaking to Dr. Skrtic, at that time was a revelation. We spoke about violation of policy, the difference between the letter and spirit of ADA as well as the implementation challenges that still remained in the twenty first century.

I have always faced challenges at school and at work. Back home, a policy barely exists to assist or help people with identified disabilities. It is the family who is responsible for the child. My parents were well educated and very open to experiences. They brought me up to the best of their abilities. I remember my father trying to explain the meaning of a triangle early in my middle school years. The elephant in the room was however wider acceptance. Like here in America, the problem was the mindset of the wider society. While some people accepted, most others did not. What however I found different in America was the laws already enacted to protect the rights of people with disabilities.

I have found that more people who participate in creating a system, the better it works. It is people who enact and implement policy that matter. MY road to success has been paved by teachers, leaders, professionals, university faculty and friends who have had faith and believed. The biggest thing that I have been allowed to do is to participate on an even field. This has been with the objective: I can do things differently and do them well. 

Back in India when I was just one, I was diagnosed with a tumor. Over the next two years, my parents fought to cure me of Leukemia. There were many who stood with us, but many also felt that living with permanent blindness meant I had no advantages in the world. In a country where education is valued and families give up everything so that their child can study, my parents had to struggle to find schools for me. It was a challenge in explaining to teachers and school leaders that I was no different from the average five-year-old. 

Something I learned from my psychology teacher when I was 15. She said “unless I let you do things on your own, how will you understand your limits and cross them? “

“Unless I let you do things on your own, how will you understand your limits and cross them?”

When we did find the teachers who allowed me to participate , it was an experience, as it is here in Kansas. I have found that when people decide to participate to see change, we start seeing a difference. System wide change requires us to create a structure of idea of participation that influences and touches many.

Many people come up to me and ask how I live and manage so far from home. My only answer is that I am at home. I am not living away from it. My support systems are stronger here than they ever were. I have met some extraordinary people in my journey. These aren’t people whose names are in any textbook or hall of fame. They are simple folk who have removed prejudice and accepted social equity as a personal philosophy. Take the motel owner I met on my first day here. I stepped out and knocked on the door at five AM. My debit card did not work, and I was in danger of not finding an accommodation. Looking at me, he asked me to first sleep and freshen up before we decided what to do. Historically, powerful objectives have been achieved through a movement. A social movement consisting of people who have a message and then take this message into society. I feel that if we are to enrich ourselves, we need to be a part of this movement to instill belief in others. When I was looking for changing my job at the end of 2015, senior executives asked me how I could hold down a difficult position if I had a disability. These were executives from powerful fortune 500 organizations. I attended over 50 interviews with not a single successful placement. These are all multinationals with headquarters in America and the U.S.  It is more important to do something rather than just having a policy on diversity. It is important to let people participate in the process to build a system of acceptance.

Suman Rath is a second year doctoral student in the department of special education working within Policy and Systems change. Prior to this, he has worked within the corporate sector particularly  human resources, teaching and the nonprofits. His experiences include implementation, policy formulation and building systems for change. In over 5 years of experience he has created and structured change initiatives across a range of sectors including education and schools.

Challenging behavior is defined as “any repeated pattern of behavior…that interferes with or is at risk of interfering with the child’s optimal learning or engagement in prosocial interactions with peers and adults” (Smith & Fox, 2003, p. 6). 

The identification of challenging behavior is contingent on the perceptions of “expected behavior” by the adult, which can be influenced by individualbiases and beliefs.

Sometimes challenging behavior looks like a student failing to follow a task direction; other times it can appear as unsafe behaviors such as physical aggression or property destruction. The identification of challenging behavior is contingent on the perceptions of “expected behavior” by the adult, which can be influenced by individual biases and beliefs. These individual biases and beliefs can also impact how teachers perceive or identify challenging behavior based on a student’s gender identity, race/ethnicity, language status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or disability status. A teacher’s own preferences can also impact whether or not a behavior is considered challenging such as preferences about student positioning at desks (e.g., standing, sitting, kneeling). While I personally don’t mind if a student is standing, sitting, or kneeling at their desk as long as they stay in their personal space, another teacher may prefer students to stay seated in their chairs.

The topography (form-what it looks like), frequency (how often), and intensity (degree of escalation or likelihood of injury or harm) also define challenging behaviors. For example, a student may rip books (topography) when given a math book to read if it is provided at the introduction of a new math concept. New math concepts are introduced less frequently than a daily activity and ripping books, although likely to become costly for the teacher, is a low intensity behavior that does not result in harm to the student or others. 

Regardless of the topography, frequency, or intensity of challenging behavior, there are a few key things to remember when supporting a student engaging in challenging behavior. 

1. Stay calm; your reactions influence those around you. 

Students will rely on you to stay calm and support them as they (or others in the class) engage in challenging behavior. Staying calm will also support you in keeping a clear head to make decisions in your classroom that support all individuals present in the environment.

2. Define and label the behavior, rather than the child. 

Children and students are humans first, regardless of the behaviors they may present in the classroom. Rather than defining a child or student as aggressive, angry, noncompliant, or lazy, consider only descriptively defining the behaviors you see. For example, you could state a child balls their fists at their sides when asked to share materials with others at the table and screams “I don’t want to” when prompted to provide a material to a peer. Descriptions of what the challenging behavior looks like and the contexts under which it occurs will provide more information for you and your team/caretaker(s) as you plan to support a student. Furthermore, challenging behavior is not part of an individual’s identity, so avoiding describing it as such will support us in remembering students are humans deserving of dignity and respect, regardless of the behaviors they may or may not exhibit at school.

3. We’re not all perfect and making mistakes is a part of life.

We all screw up and make choices or engage in behaviors that others perceive as challenging. Students and children deserve the grace to not be perfect all the time. Teaching students strategies for taking space, de-escalating, recovering, and returning to work or social situations will be critical for their success as humans. Identify when you are feeling frustrated or angry and model those strategies for students, as well as explicitly teaching them, and reinforce and praise students for displaying strategies or recovering after a frustrating event in the classroom. 

4. Everyone’s doing the best they can with what they have. 

If a student is engaging in frequent or intense challenging behavior, remind yourself they’d be displaying different behaviors if they had the skills to use them in that situation. No one wants to be in crisis all day long; empathy and compassion are important things to remember, even when a student is running from work tasks in the classroom. Although these traits won’t end up teaching the student new skills or behaviors to use instead of the challenging behavior, it will help decrease the likelihood of you burning out or responding to the student in an escalated tone of voice or aggressive manner which would likely only make the situation worse. 

If it’s difficult to remember tips 3 and 4, our own personal beliefs or biases may be impacting our assessment of or reactions to a student’s challenging behavior. Teaming and collaboration are excellent ways to assess if our own personal biases or beliefs may be contributing to identifying or supporting a student with challenging behavior so others can evaluate the child’s needs and strengths, classroom environment, and our needs and strengths as a teacher. 

5. Challenging behavior is communication. 

Ask yourself what the student may be communicating—all behavior is communication. Perhaps a student calls a peer names only when a student is asked to share materials during a group activity such as a science experiment. Name calling then results in the student getting to work alone as they are removed from peers. If calling peers names consistently results in the student getting to complete tasks independently, the student may be engaging in the challenging behavior to work alone. Teaching the student to ask to work alone, providing choices (e.g., choosing partners), or providing opportunities to work in groups or alone, may eliminate this challenging behavior. Collecting data on the environmental and situational contexts before and after challenging behavior can provide you further information about what the student may be communicating via challenging behavior. This information can guide you to feasible strategies to decrease the likelihood of challenging behavior and provide the student access to what they were communicating they wanted or preferred in a particular context. 

6. Environmental changes can be easily made.

Sometimes the classroom environment or activity arrangement can be the trigger for challenging behavior to occur. As mentioned previously, collecting data on the contexts and environmental variables under which challenging behavior is likely to occur, as well as the events that occur after challenging behavior, can provide information about easy environmental changes that may decrease the likelihood of challenging behavior and increase the likelihood of prosocial behaviors. Low effort strategies such as providing a student a schedule for the day or a checklist of steps of an activity, or even attending more to prosocial and expected behaviors than challenging behaviors, may be enough to decrease the frequency or intensity of challenging behaviors. 

7. It’s possible the student does not have the skill required to be successful.

It’s a great idea to always explicitly teach (and re-teach) expected behaviors in the classroom rather than assuming all students know what to do during an activity or routine—even if you know you’ve taught the behaviors earlier in the school year. Sometimes students engage in challenging behavior because it’s been the only successful way to interact and gain desired outcomes, or they do not know the expected behaviors.

It’s best to always teach and re-teach the expected behaviors so students gain the skills required to be successful. Then, if the student is not displaying the skill you have data to indicate they have mastered, you can have a conversation about the presence of a performance deficit. If a student has a performance deficit (you have data to support the student has the skill, but they’re just not using it), then strategies from #6 should be implemented.

8. We are experts in teaching—that includes teaching expected behaviors.

We are teachers. We know how to teach social studies or music or reading. We teach expected behaviors the same way: explicitly name them, describe the conditions under which they should occur, model the behavior, provide examples and non-examples, create opportunities for guided practice with explicit feedback and more modeling if needed, and create opportunities for independent practice, with explicit feedback on what’s going well using behavior specific praise and providing redirection or reteaching when necessary. It doesn’t take a special degree or certification to explicitly teach expected behaviors in a classroom. 

9. Students can give us a wealth of information about themselves.

If a student begins engaging in challenging behaviors that are new or there is a sudden sharp contrast in their behavior, talk to the student. Students are humans with lives outside of school that impact their day to day performance just like our lives as teacher humans impact our job performance. If there are unmet needs for the student, partner with school and community staff (e.g., social workers) to support the student and their caretaker(s)/family in meeting those needs. Sometimes it’s this small critical conversation that can help us support and empower a student and their caretaker(s)/family. If you think another adult may be a better choice for that student, then have any trusted adult reach out and check in with the student to better understand the possible reasons why challenging behavior may be occurring. 

Note: if a student reports your lessons or activities are boring, be willing to accept that feedback and solicit ways in which the student may be more engaged. The consumers of our instruction can provide some very meaningful feedback on our performance as teachers, just as we provide feedback to students on their performance in the classroom.  

10. Caretaker(s) and families are valuable stakeholders.

Forming relationships with the caretaker(s)/family members of students are critical to our success as educators. Students spend a large portion of their time with caretaker(s)/family members who are experts on their student. When addressing challenging behavior in the classroom and creating plans to support students, be sure to ALWAYS include caretaker(s)/families as equitable members of the team rather than just individuals who are on the sidelines. Many great ideas and suggestions for supporting students may come from strategies caretaker(s)/families implement at home. Furthermore, partnership with caretaker(s)/families will also create a unified, wrap-around network of support for students to enhance their success in school, community, and home environments.

Remembering these statements may not automatically lead to decreases in challenging behavior is also important. Some students may require individualized supports you can collaboratively create with your school team and caretaker(s)/families. However, it’s important to remember students are growing, changing, learning, and interacting in novel situations on a daily basis. It’s our job to support them and work with their networks of support to ensure they can access all of the engaging instructional activities we provide in today’s innovative and effective classrooms.

Additional freely-accessible resources to support students with challenging behavior can be found at the following research-based websites:

• https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/
• http://ebip.vkcsites.org/
• http://www.education.uw.edu/ibestt/intervention/
• http://www.ci3t.org/
• https://www.pbis.org/
• https://ksdetasn.org/search/resources
• https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/chart/behavioral-intervention-chart
• http://ebi.missouri.edu/
• https://practicalfunctionalassessment.com/for-parents/

References

Smith, B., & Fox, L. (2003). Systems of service delivery: A synthesis of evidence relevant to young children at risk of or who have challenging behavior. Center for Evidence-based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior. Available: http://www.challengingbehavior.org.

Kathleen Zimmerman is an assistant professor in the department of special education. She is a former public school teacher for elementary students with and at-risk for disabilities in self-contained and inclusive classrooms. Kathleen’s research focuses on the identification of evidence-based instructional practices to improve classroom engagement for students exhibiting challenging behavior in inclusive, general education settings.