Behavior:
Prevention of “Getting Out of Control” in School / Classroom, Program, Law-Related Interactions, Autism …
I AM A VA CERTIFIED, SERVICE DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS.
I PROVIDE:
- Assessments of programs and public-facing entities that interact with the public, directly
- Assessments of classrooms and other environments
- Assessment of training
- Consulting WITH you
- Training your staff, teachers, counselors, officers …
- Using workshops for OPTIMAL attention and retention
- Clear presentation of the strategies that work!
I assess and advise regarding behavior on multiple levels, from the individual, to the classroom, to the school or program level – the ecology.
I consult for, assess and train public-facing entities where behavior and safety must be controlled … in a safe and respectful approach, for all participants, including and especially the organization.
In my professional experiences working with parents, teachers, staff, counselors, specialists, paraprofessionals … I REPEATEDLY SEE adults who intend to be helpful with a struggling … anxious … defensive … scared person, but something just doesn’t work. This person (definitely including autistic individuals) will CONTINUE THE BEHAVIOR … ESCALATE … BECOME DESTRUCTIVE, EXPLOSIVE … and even SHUT DOWN.
- The individual’s maladaptive behavior might return, with no long-term success.
- The individual might have a treatment or behavior plan, but the progress is slow, non-existent … or the individual seems to be going backward.
- You realize your student will not be able to return or go to a mainstream classroom, graduate on-time, or will have a low likelihood of success as a functional adult.
- In the home, your child’s behavior continues with minimal or no real success.
- Your program’s staff (teachers/counselors, professionals/paraprofessionals) work, but the classroom is “out of control” and/or your subordinates see limited to no progress, get frustrated … burned out … and their performance suffers.
- Parents complain.
For public-facing entities:
- Situations might get out of control too quickly.
- The typical approach isn’t working.
- People change from talking to attempting to flee … or successfully get away.
- Someone gets hurt.
- You are aware that you’re department is having difficulty managing the increasing, verbal aggressiveness or physical posturing of individuals encountered in the community.
- Maybe you are aware of the briefly limited training in human behavior the people in your department have received.
- Maybe you notice that there are a large amount of citations/summons that go beyond the initial reason for the encounter, but do not influence better, future actions by members of the public.
- Maybe the members of the public have a negative view of your department.
- Maybe there’s negative, media or social media attention.
- Maybe this is resulting in undesirable costs and negative attention from your superiors … that you just feel that you don’t know how to manage.
- The negative medial attention ...
- Certain members of your community continue to have the same, increasingly aggressive reactions, which doesn’t help your department’s image …
- Maybe you cannot pinpoint why any of this is happening.
Does any of this sound familiar?
These situations have solutions that will work!
In my professional experiences, I have talked with these adults. I read government policies. I see common elements missing across all of it. The education and counseling degree programs do not teach these. It’s ABSENT from training for teachers, professionals and paraprofessionals, and Law Enforcement / Peace Officers. It is not INHERENT in becoming a parent. It is not INHERENT in graduating from a graduate degree program in Counseling, Teaching Criminal Justice, or from Law Enforcement Training. Policy makers DO NOT have relevant and/or recent experiences with these people.
To be honest, it’s not about blaming anyone. Society has progressed. Ecologies have become more complex. New needs have emerged. Research happens, but no one knows about it or how to apply it. Gaps widened. Relevant knowledge, understanding and skills are not being taught … or people work with “stop-gap measures” that do not help our children and people of our community improve at a rate that will help them become successful and law-abiding adults.
I earned my B.S. in Human Development & Family Studies from Penn State.
I earned my M.S. Ed. in the process of thinking and cognition, including causes of behavior, not the process to become a teacher, in Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development from University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. I took additional courses from the Statistics, Measurement, Assessment, and Research Technology program … also at University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
I’ve supervised a 108-bed juvenile facility and became the trainer and internal consultant and investigator. My focus was on managing the environment, both as prevention and for immediate safety and security – for my co-workers and the youth. My focus was also on the immediacy of the moments of escalations, crises and altercations – to establish control, in preparation for de-escalation. This was not my choice. It was my responsibility to the safety of everyone. Most staff engaged with escalations, crises and altercations in ways that tended to extend the duration of the escalation, and even create hostile and aggressive actions, including thoughts lingering in and changing the beliefs of the youth. Before leaving, my efforts began to change the tactics of the staff, resulting in more receptive youth and fewer altercations, increased staff understanding and competence, resulting in fewer negative interactions between youth and staff. At NO POINT was I willing to remove the control from the staff. I trained the staff, helping them become better at what they were there to do.
I served as a paratrooper in the US Army … worked with explosives … trained in Military Intelligence … held a TOP SECRET SCI security clearance … earned the Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM) …
In short, I have the knowledge and teachable skills that are missing. I have professional experience with helping and teaching children/adolescents, parents, teachers, co-workers, other professionals. (protected health information laws prevent me from disclosing specifics) I continue to read in academic journals.
If you genuinely want to provide not just better, but highly effective services, please contact me using the form, below. As a consultant, I will work with you to assess your needs. I will teach and train you, or/and your program, your specialists and paraprofessionals, your teachers and counselors, your public-facing officers.
Regarding Intelligence Assessment
I also provide assessments of individuals, looking for children with gifted intelligence, primarily, and pro bono in marginalized populations – my special interest. But I can assess for lower levels of cognitive ability, especially to help inform how to create or improve a plan to address the child’s needs.
I use Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Standard and Plus, the preferred assessment tools (see “Who’s IQ Is It? – Assessor Bias Variance in High-Stakes Psychological Assessment” by Paul A. McDermott, Marley W. Watkins & Anna M. Rhoad, in Psychological Assessment, 2014, Vol. 26, No. 1, 207-214).
