Aaron is a Year 10 student at a district high school. His belongings are never organised and he often asks to leave the class to look for personal items. Aaron will often become defiant and raise his voice when told he can’t do something. He has a small group of friends, who tend to encourage this behaviour. In the playground Aaron is often involved in bullying. He is verbally abusive towards other groups of students, provoking arguments, although they rarely escalate to any physical confrontations. Aaron will regularly return to class highly agitated and verbally defiant of teachers’ instructions to calm down. He can often be heard muttering swear words under his breath within adult hearing.
Aaron has a very difficult home life and based on the limited information currently available, the school believes a lot of these behaviours can be attributed to Aaron’s parents’ reactive parenting style based on physical discipline. Aaron’s parents have not reported any previous mental health or medical issues that may explain his current behaviour.
To assist Aaron to manage his behaviour the school, in conjunction with the school psychologist, has developed a documented plan targeting a range of behaviours. Aaron’s parents were not able to attend the meeting but have been sent a copy of Aaron’s documented plan and invited to give feedback.
To assist Aaron in managing his behaviour, the school:
- has implemented ‘Stop, Think, Go’ strategies
- reinforces observed positive interactions with Aaron
- has assigned seating arrangements to reduce triggers.
All teachers have been updated and advised on Aaron’s behaviour goals and current strategies for the classroom and playground. Consequences and incident reporting are undertaken as per the usual school Behaviour Management Policy. A review meeting will be held in three months time unless there is a need for an earlier review.