discipline in school

Hi Lady Valkyrie

Thank you very much for your reply, the system you used for the boy you taught is something similiar to what i now have got the school to put in place.  He started it properly this past Friday and it worked very well.  We seem to maybe be makin head way there.  This 1:1 keyworker, do the school employ that person or is it something that i would have to look in to?  I do feel my son needs someone 1:1 to rebuild his confidence again.  He has support teachers to help him with certain aspects of his work and can work quite happily with minimal help but i feel it is the reassurance he needs to say "u can do it" sort of idea.

Shonagh

Hello Shonagh

We have a reward chart at home at the moment for my 4-year-old with ASD to encourage him to sleep in his own bed (he's had a thing recently for wanting to sleep with me or his nanna). He has really loved it, after earning 20 stickers for sleeping in his own bed he was given a TV in his bedroom to watch his DVDs on (something he had been asking for and we already had the TV aside for him for an appropriate time). He is now working towards getting a pet. So the reward doesn't always have to be immediate.

More generally, if he behaves well at school (no hitting, smacking, biting or refusing tasks) we take him out on Sunday. Only simple places like the park, local car boot sale, garden centre, country park with duck pond, McDonalds, or out for lunch at the local pub restaurant - free/cheap places. This is a bit shorter term and does work.

My son's school has a house point system and weekly merit awards for individuals (which my son has achieved before now and was really proud of himself). However he is also given heaps of praise and stickers for good work done on a day-to-day basis, and we also have a home to school book so we get to hear about all the good things he does and praise him too. These are very simple rewards that other children probably wouldn't notice too much - my son gets 1:1 support so his key worker does the individual rewards and it's not so visible to his peers. If the school is doing this sort of thing as well, the other system probably won't affect your child so much: if it isn't, then maybe it's something you could suggest.

Speaking as a teacher now, I once taught an 8-9 year old boy with ASD, and what worked for him was having "free time" at the end of the day as a reward for participating and doing tasks I set him. He had a clock chart where for every task done a little block of time was added, and he could get up to about 45 mins' free time instead of assembly and handwriting. This only worked because he too had 1:1 support for supervising the free time. He loved D&T so spent most of his free time making amazing models with school resources: he once made us a fantastic cardboard skeleton when we were doing the topic "moving and growing" in Science. A weekly reward would have been meaningless: it was the fact that he could look forward to something nice at the end of each day that made it work for him; however this of course does tip the balance in terms of the other children seeing that separate system in action. I will say though that those other children were not put out by it, completely understood that the system matched his needs, and were interested in the things he made during that time. Never caused a problem in my class.

Good luck getting things sorted out.

Hi Nicky

Thank you for your input.  Yes i agree their system is a bit upside down, we have talked about him earning stars but they suggested he earn so many per day for completing work and if he earns enough he gets so many minutes to put to their golden time.  I said it wouldn't work as he needed the reward there and then as if he didn't gain enough stars he wouldn't see the point in it by the thursday.  It is all too long winded for my son.  

He is in mainstream and they are trying not to isolate him by making him too different from the rest of his class.  

Thanks, Shonagh

Hello Shonagh

You are right about the punishment having to be immediate - my son is the same, he will forget if you leave it too long.

I'm wondering if the school's system is a bit 'upside-down'. It seems very negative. Would it be better to earn stars for good behaviour rather than take them away for bad? My son attends a special school, and they earn stars for good work and behaviour, and then when they have 5 stars, they get a prize. Only something small like a bouncy ball, but it really works. He's so proud when he comes home with a prize!

For the times when a punishment has to be given, it needs to be consistent and immediate. Is there something in particular he likes to play with at school - perhaps they could remove that for a set time. It doesn't have to be long - even just a couple of hours. It just needs to be enough to make him understand the consequences. My son's teacher used to put a sad face on the wall if he was naughty, which he really hated. She would only leave it there for a short while, and once he'd shown good behaviour or done some good work she would take it down again.

Hopefully some of that was of use to you!

Nicky x