Behavior Support Strategies for Education Paraprofessionals

Education paraprofessionals are often tasked with handling a variety of challenging behaviors. Paraprofessionals provide inclusion supports to students with special needs, and act as extra staff in classrooms for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Paraprofessionals are often asked to monitor hallways, buses and playgrounds and perform a variety of other important duties that require skill in preventing and managing behavior. This book is designed to teach paraprofessionals important concepts and best practices for handling behaviors. This book covers the following:

The book begins with a discussion of how to understand challenging behavior. This book takes the perspective that behaviors are a result of critical skill deficits in social and emotional skills and can be understood from a perspective of their function for the student.

Next, this book covers the importance of positive, proactive and collaborative methods for addressing behavior. A central theme of this book is for staff members to move away from reactive, disciplinary methods that stress consequences and contingencies to methods that help students address the underlying needs evidenced by their behavior.

A complete review of many different types of behavior management skills, when to use them, how to use them (along with sample dialogue) is provided. This chapter helps the paraprofessional develop a variety of interventions for different students and situations.

De-escalation skills with sample dialogue are also provided to help paraprofessionals learn how to work with students who are emotionally escalated and potentially violent.

The book provides an in-depth discussion of personal/professional boundary dilemmas when working with students. This includes a definition of six types of professional boundaries, and ways to respond to student boundary violations.

The last chapter is devoted to helping paraprofessionals understand common disability categories and psychological diagnoses and debunk some of the myths associated with them.

This book is written especially for education paraprofessionals (often called paraeductors, teacher's aides, educational assistants, or para pros.) The book is also appropriate for anyone who works directly with children in the school district including teachers, volunteers, counselors, bus drivers and other staff who may need to manage difficult behavior.