POST #3: How we see and study young people

YDEV 501

 

WEEK 3: HOW DO WE SEE (+STUDY) YOUNG PEOPLE?

 

Introduction

As I read through this week's reading material, I can't help but feel that the main character, Marcus, is so familiar to me as if I was reading the life story and behavior support plan of a resident/ client that resides in one of the group homes I manage. As I've mentioned during our first day of class, I work as a residential director managing group homes that cater to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This being said, I have one particular resident who resembles Marcus' behaviors and characteristics -- his longing for relationships and desire to be heard, known and celebrated. For the purpose of this blog post, I would refer to him as Danny, a 23YO male who was put in the system by his parents during his late teen years due to his behavioral challenges and their inability to care for his needs. I will be referring to Danny, my agency's rules/ codes of conduct and my own "rules" and beliefs in supporting Danny vis-à-vis Marcus' school's codes of conduct.

 

Visible

I'll start off with the list visible rules that govern Marcus' school and classroom.

1. Take-a-break table (time-out desk)

2. The buddy room (the tier-two break option)

- Early in the reading material we're introduced to the 2 break options that Emily (and the school) has for students who don't comply or necessary obey the teacher's "commands". Based on my understanding, the first level which is the take-a-break table is where students are asked to go and hang-out when they're being and feeling disruptive in the class. Here, they are given a chance to "take-a-break" and return to class/ activity once they are ready. However, if the negative behavior persists, then students are asked to go to the buddy room which is the level 2 break option and is the intermediary step between the time-out desk and the principal's office.

 

In my agency's day program (a place where most people we support go to every day from 9AM-3PM and is deemed as their school/ work space), they have a number of staff assigned to govern different sections/groups of the center. Danny, my resident, belongs to the employment group. Each day, they have activities that help them learn and develop their adult and employment skills. When one of the students are having difficulty or behavioral challenges, a staff comes up to them to bring them to a quiet place (either at the corner of the classroom or to a separate room). Here, staff then works with the individual in helping him/her arrive to that safe/calm space and identifying their level of needs. We implement the help, prompt and wait strategy of de-escalation depending on their level of stress/discomfort/ behavior.

 

a. Help strategy is utilized when the individual is responsive and is able to answer/ explain what they are feeling and how the staff can help them feel better/ okay.

b. Prompt strategy is for individuals who can be redirected in doing something different from what they are currently displaying. The aim of redirecting them to something that would help them arrive to a safe space.

c. Wait Strategy is implemented when the crisis is too high and talking will only make the situation worse. Most of the time, behavioral problems are averted by just waiting for the individual to process things and "calm" themselves on their own.

 

3. Support system (counselor, principal, school nurse, therapist)

4. Core principle of teaching (by Emily) is promoting independence

- In the reading, there was a clear classification and differentiation of the roles of the different support system that's available to Marcus. At least per Emily's teaching principle, it was understood that the others' (support system) job were to listen to Marcus, but Marcus' job was to listen to her.

 

In my 2-year experience of working with people with disabilities, all agencies (at least from what they advertise) harp on the idea that everyone who works for them are there to support all individuals -- that in everything we do, it is centered on the person's best interest, growth and development. No matter our role in the agency, we are there to support the individuals in all possible way we can. Part of our goals is to promote independence for the people we support and to see them as who they are, people (rather than their disabilities). I would say that most workers I know abide by this principle but there are some who tend to get lost and carried away by their emotions in a given situation wherein they forget their role and assert rules and consequences as they deem necessary to immediately resolve the tough situation.  For example, Danny is fixated in faking medical emergencies and needing to go to the hospital and get checked. He does this at least twice a week and everyone who works with him knows this. Sometimes, it takes a quick redirection for him to be talked out of it but there are instances wherein this would cause an aggressive behavior (verbal and/or physical) which would take hours of doing de-escalation strategies. There were events wherein when he starts displaying the said behavior/ pattern, his day program staff would automatically send him out to see the nurse just to avoid the power struggle and some would easily give in and call medical assistance in which in both cases, reinforces his negative behavior.

 

Invisible
1. Structured style of class teaching (whole-group lessons) - morning circle, community game, group activities/ assignments

2. Narrow set of parameters of students response; around what kids are allowed to say

3. The idea that children automatically be subordinate to adults in school

- This type of teaching I must admit that to some extent, works really well for a lot of people with disabilities. Many of them rely heavily on structure in everything they do and deviating from their normal/ regular schedule would cause behavioral problems. Although, there are some people who gets bored by a structured way of teaching and one thing that's admirable for most people I support who are capable of advocating for themselves, they are not afraid to voice out their concerns about things and they will let everyone know what they are feeling. We are taught to be active listeners and respect each and everyone's voices and opinions. I have one 85YO female resident who would tell me her age, birthday, childhood experiences, etc. every single time I come visit the home and say hello to her. It has come to the point that I've memorized her 5minute speech. Yes, there are times that I just want her to be done talking and answer the specific questions I asked of her but I know that this is her way of making a connection with me and that it makes her happy and fulfilled. And so I sit in front of her with a full smile and my undivided attention for 5-10minutes every day.   

 

With Danny, he's the type to get bored easily and does not like to be bossed around. Just like Marcus, he wants attention -- to be heard, acknowledged and he cares about personal relationships as he is missing that from his family as they've abandoned him when they sent him under the agency's care and supervision. Emily's way of interaction and teaching would not work on Danny and would most often than not, would cause him to be behavioral. This is why with the folks we support, we construct the teaching styles and environment to cater to their needs (and wants -- the best way we could given the available resources) to help be successful and happy.

 

One major code of conduct of Emily's teaching style that made me shake my head countless times would be how she controls and limits the students response and voices to only things that she want to hear which is usually academic/ school related. It was purely a teacher-student relationship. I would say that out of all the visible and invisible rules I've read and noticed in the reading, this particular rule together with the idea that children are automatically deemed and treated as subordinates to adults are the ones that are totally the opposite with the practices we have in the agency.

 

In the field I work in, those kind of treatment and teaching can be labeled as abuse and/or neglect. At the same time, employing those practices would probably lead to hardships in doing ones job and could potentially lead to someone getting hurt/ getting behavioral. One thing that I've learned is that majority of people in this population long for real relationships. They crave for attention and demand their voices be heard because there aren't a lot of avenues for them to do so. Many were abandoned by their loved ones and they only have the workers as their friends and family. For one to be successful working in this field, you need to have the heart and passion in helping/ supporting these individuals and one best way to do this is to listen. Then everything else just follows.

 

4. Reward and Punishment

- I noticed how with Emily's style of teaching, it's a blatant display of reward and punishment basis wherein if a student doesn't meet her expectations/ rules, then that student doesn't earn his/her reward and that's the end of discussion. Students are left feeling down and "punished" for a bad behavior without the necessary support a child needs to better understand why they didn't earn, what went wrong, was there anything that the teacher could've done better to help them and/or what things they can do in the future to do better.

 

At work, a reward system is utilized in behavior support plans for specific individuals to reinforce positive behaviors. With Danny for example, he earns $1 a day for following his daily contract which includes things like no aggression (verbal and/or physical), no excessive phone calls, showering/ personal hygiene and others. He use this as a motivation for him to become a more responsible adult and working his way to bettering himself. There would be days that he will not meet the daily contract but we treat it not as a punishment but as a learning lesson. We explain to him why he didn't earn and in what ways can we help him achieve success in the future and what the next steps are for a better tomorrow.

Conclusion 

Working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities entail a lot of patience, dedication and creativity. Each person we support is unique and therefore, we continuously come up with ways to better support each one of them with the aim of providing the best service possible. Our approach is always person-centered and no matter what our role is in the organization and what the situation is, we work together with the individual being in the center of all of it.