Help for Billy: A Beyond Consequences Approaching to Helping Challenging Children in the Classroom

by Heather T. Forbes

He has a much smaller emotional range, and struggles by expending a tremendous amount of energy to navigate his way through his academic day.

Instead of asking children to make a better “choice” in their behaviors, it is time that we ask ourselves to make a better choice in the creation of their environments. We must develop stronger relationships that will increase their window of stress tolerance and hence increase their capacity to learn, thrive, and succeed.

Students are to sit in a standardized classroom, be standardized pegs that fit into standardized slots, and follow instructions and rules without questioning authority.