behavior chart from teacher
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Anonymous
| DC, 2nd grade, has ADHD in attentive type. We have a 504 in place for reminders, preferential seating, etc. Lately, DC's been coming home with daily behavior charts from the teacher. The teacher puts a hashmark on the sheet everyday. Looks like she marks a line every time DC is seen talking. Wondering if that's standard practice. If so, are we supposed to respond? Personally, it feels a little excessive, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. |
Anonymous
| as a parent you should have the right to say no, if you don't want it.. but there nothing wrong with a behavior chart |
Anonymous
| We used to get a behavior chart, but it was written into the IEP with behavioral goals for each item in the chart. You should talk to the teacher about your child's behavior, and if necessary, creat a BIP or an IEP to target problem behaviors. |
Anonymous
| The behavior charts should focus on positive behavior- what you are describing is an old school demerit chart. It is better for the child to work for positive reinforcement than to try to avoid negative. But it takes more teacher effort to reinforce positive behavior. |
Anonymous
Agree. The teacher may not know any better. A lot don't. |
Anonymous
If my child was talking so much during class that the teacher instituted a chart to bring home and show to me, I'd want to see it. I'd guess you're supposed to talk to your child. It might also be so you can't come back later and claim that you didn't know how bad the situation was. ADHD isn't an excuse to disrupt the class constantly - other kids are trying to learn too. It's probably easier for the teacher to check a chart throughout the day than remember at the end of the day what happened during the day. She's got a lot of other things on her mind. IMO, the remarks about positive vs negative focus mentioned above apply to you. You can choose what you focus on. Maybe you could make your own chart at home that's more positive, and she only gets a star on the days where there aren't any dings on her teacher's chart. And then whatever rewards you feel are appropriate. |
Anonymous
What are you babbling about? The marks aren't indicative that the op's kid is truly disruptive. The teacher is wasting the classes time by instituting an antiquated chart. A 504 or iep is to help kids better function in the classroom and this tactic won't help the kid, the teacher, or the class. |
Anonymous
Frankly, I already know that my child with ADHD talks constantly throughout the day. In fact, everyone does. That’s why there is an IEP with services and accommodations. don’t need a chart and my child doesn’t benefit from having the magnitude of the problem documented everyday. Instead of helping all this does is make my kid feel like a failure. As for me. Well it shows me that the teacher is ignorant and lacks understanding and skills. OP, I’ve been through similar with my child. Due to the negative effects of this sort of thing, it was written into the IEP that there was to be no behavior program or documentation without approval of the team. I would not be ok with this at all. Seriously, documenting the behavior that is caused by the disability. It’s not willful disobedience. Do teachers count how often kids make letters incorrectly while they are learning and then make them take a daily report to their parents? How about every addition error? Of course not. When kids are learning, we expect errors. Our kids with adhd are learning and should be supported, not confronted with their failures. |
Anonymous
| This is bad news. A teacher like this becomes hyper focused on one kid and effectively makes the behavior worse. It backfires every time and the child becomes convinced that he is "bad" and so act accordingly. I don't get why teacher don't realize the completely backward effect this practice has. It has never worked to teach positive behaviors, but they keep doing it. Time to retire. |
Anonymous
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I agree with PPs that this is probably a bad sign. There is probably a way to do it positively. I might try to spin it somehow like this:
Larla, you had 15 marks for talking out in class last week. For every day you have less than 3 marks, I'll give you a star on your reward chart. If you can get less than 10 in the week, I'll give you an extra 5 stars. When you have X stars, we can do X as a reward. I think this will only work if you are also implementing some system to HELP the child control the impulse to talk out during class. This may require investigation -- is she talking to her best friend? (If so, they should be separated.) If she shouting out answers? (If so, maybe she can write them down on a sheet to show you or the teacher later that day.) Is she trying to be the class clown? (If anyone has a solution for that, PLEASE SHARE.) If it's motivated by a desire to just keep busy, maybe you can give your child a fidget, or a tippy chair? Or maybe teach them to take notes of the class conversation? My child's teacher does something for ALL students where the parents all get a weekly report on 6 different aspects of classroom behavior and participation. My child shines in some areas, and struggles in others. I give stars on the reward chart for all the positive marks--I do htink it helps my child to stay motivated to improve where he needs to. He likes the teacher, thinks the teacher recognizes his strengths, and wants to NOT upset the teacher. That's really the most helpful thing. If you don't have that, maybe you can build it artificially by YOU focusing on the positive things as well, or getting the teacher to report on some things your child can be/is successful at, at the same time the teacher reports on the struggles. |
Anonymous
| NP here. Yikes - I am having my child checked for adhd based on teacher recommendation - assume I better watch out for this? It makes me nervous. |
Anonymous
This is a great program for kids who do not have ADHD. But for kids that do, these sort of plans target only those things they can’t do because of their disability. It is so demoralizing for kids who can’t meet any of the expected behaviors. |
Anonymous
I don't think it's very common. If behavior is an issue for your kid, they usually create a Behavior Improvement Plan or an IEP and you have input into how its done. |
Anonymous
| My son's teacher focuses on positive praise because she noticed immediately that he tries so hard to please his teachers. She told me that the more she praises him, the better he works, which is what I've always done at home. He's a hard worker, just disorganized and talkative because of the ADHD, but he's trying hard every day to be a good student, because he has a team of good teachers who care about him. That teacher needs to realize that no one likes to be criticized all the time, and that you get better results if you reinforce positive behavior. |
Anonymous
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Before implementing a behavior chart, the teacher should always check in with you--at the very least via e-mail or phone call to explain the chart, what it is intended to track and why, and what will be done with the data (ie is it testing interventions? Being used to track positive behaviors and a reward? etc.) Call and ask to speak with the teacher and set up a meeting to clarify.
--A teacher |