Widen Your Knowledge

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES PARA SA MGA BATANG MAY SPECIAL NEEDS

By: Randy N. Tallorin

Occupational Therapist

SPED Teacher

Madalas niyo bang sabihin ito sa inyong sarili?

- Binibigay ko na lamang ang gusto niya para di umiyak.

- Pag hindi mo binigay ang gusto niya, magwawala yan.

- Pag ayaw niya, ayaw niya talaga. Pag pinilit lalo lang magwawala yan.

Mga karaniwang problema na nagdudulot ng ganitong reaksyon sa mga magulang o guro ay kung:

- Mahina ang kakayahan ng bata na pigilan ang kaniyang sarili (impulse control)

- Alam ng bata na makukuha niya ang gusto niya kapag ginawa niya ang isang bagay.

- Mababa ang kakayahan ng batang tiisin o hintayin makuha ang kanyang gusto

- Maikli ang atensyon

- Maikling oras lamang nakakaupo ang bata

- Umiiyak kapag hindi nakukuha ang gusto

Ano ang dapat gawin ukol dito? May sari sariling paraan ang pagharap sa mga ganitong suliranin.

Ito ay ang mga sumusunod:

Contract Setting (Pagtatalaga ng Kontrata)

Ito ay isinasagawa sa pamamagitan ng pagpapatapos muna sa bata ang dapat gawin bago ibigay ang kanyang nais. Siguraduhin na malinaw ang inyong usapan at maging tapat sa inyong salita. Halimbawa, “ Pagbilang ko ng 5, kailangan nakaligpit na yang mga laruan mo” o “ Tatapusin mo muna yang ginagawa mo bago ka maglaro”

Positive/Negative Reinforcements (Pagbibigay ng pabuya o ng parusa)

Kapag may nagawang maganda ang bata, siya ay bibibigyan ng pabuya tulad ng stickers, kendi, laruan o ng mga paboritong bagay . Maaari ding sabihansiya ng mga papuri tulad ng “ very good!”, “good job”, o “magaling”. Ang paraang ito ay maaring magpagal ng kanyang atensyon kung palaging maibibigay angkanyang pabuya o nasasabihan ng mga bagay na kanyang gusto. Pwedi ring sabihan siya ng “bad yan” o “ di maganda yan”.

Ignoring (Di pagpasin sa mga gawaing di maganda).

Kapag may ginawang di kanais-nais o nawawala ang atensyon ang inyong students at iba na ang ginagawa, ibalik ang kanyang atensyon sa activities sa pamamagitan ng pagsabi na “mamaya na yan, tapusin muna natin ito”

Firm Kindness (Pagsaway ng malumanay na paraan)

Ito ay isinasagawa kapag may ginawang hindi maganda ang bata. Kailangan malaman niya na kayo parin ang masusunod at kailangan niyang matapos ang gawain o itigil ang kanyang ginagawa na hindi maganda kahit na ano pang mangyari. Gawin ang pagsaway sa kalmadong paraan at hanggat maaari ay huwag sawayin ng pagalit na boses dahil baka lalong ipagpatuloy ng bata ang hindi magandang gawain. Sabihin ito ng kalmado pero madiin ang tono ng boses.

Time out

Kapag ipinagpatuloy pa rin ng bata ang hinding magandang gawain, paupuin siya sa isang sulok ng ilang minuto o hanggang itigil niya ang kanyang dimagandang ginagawa. Huwag kalimutan na ipaliwanag ng malinaw sa inyong students kung bakit ginawa iyon sa kanya. Siguraduhin din na babantayan ang bata habang isinasagawa ang parusa at dapat ay wala siyang ibang pweding gawin habang nakaupo.

Environmental Modification Techniques

Ito ay ang pag – iiba o pagsasaayos ng kapaligiran ng bata upang mas maituon ang pansin sa takdang gawain. Ang layunin ay upang mabawasan ang mganakakaabala at nakaka-distract sa bata.

PAALALA: Hindi lamang isa sa mga paraang ito ang kailangan upang matulungan ang bata. Pweding pagsama-samahin o piliin kung ano ang epektibonggamitin para sa inyong student.

SENSORY-SEEKING CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

By: Randy N. Tallorin

Occupational Therapist

SPED Teacher

Just like little tornadoes unleashed into a room, these children run non-stop, climb unto furniture and break everything they touch.

They can be very withdrawn, staying in a corner, seemingly avoiding any contact with other people. They are not picky eaters. They are VERY picky eaters – choosing to eat only certain foods like crispy chicken skin, the red hotdogs or just simply burgers. They may avoid rice or meat, and surprisingly, can tease these out with their tongues if either is “sneaked” in into their food.

Some personal hygiene activities can be such ordeals. They cannot tolerate, having their brushed or their nails clipped. In school, they have difficulty staying in their seats, attending to the teacher, finishing writing tasks, using playground equipment or performing physical education tasks such as doing jumping, crawling or dribbling a ball.

Because of these behaviors, these children may be erroneously labeled as being intentionally difficult, defiant, anti-social or clumsy. In tagalog term that is pasaway o malikot.

Unknown to many, these children may be suffering from a dysfunction in sensory dysfunction. Sensory dysfunction refers to inability of a person to take in, process and use different sensations from his/her body and environment in order to perform every tasks.

Person with autism are some of those who have been noted to have dysfunction in sensory integration. As a result, they have difficulty participating in certain daily activities.

WHAT IS SENSORY INTEGRATION AND HOW CAN IT HELP THE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?

Sensory Integration (SI) is a both a theory and an intervention designed by Dr. A. Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist, to help these children cope with theory sensory integration difficulties. SI is a child – centered, sensory-based and collaborative approach aimed at improving the brain’s ability to interpret and use information for participation in daily life activities.

DYSFUNCTION IN SENSORY INTEGRATION

(DSI) refers to the inability of a person to take in, process and use different sensations from his/her body and the environment in order to perform everyday tasks. There are several types and subtypes:

A. Sensory Modulation Disorder – refers to the ability of the brain to regulate sensory stimuli. SMD results when a person has difficulty responding to sensory input in a way that is graded relative to the degree, nature, or intensity of the sensory information. Subtypes:

1. Sensory Over - Responsivity (Ang Maselang Bata) – Children with SOR respond to sensory input faster, with more intensity or for longer periods of time than those with typical responses. SOR may occur in just one system or in multiple systems.

Examples of behaviors inactive of SOR include:

Ø Dislike for being touched, kissed or cuddled

Ø Inability to tolerate certain food textures (e.g. children who eat crunchy foods only and never rice or meat)

Ø Getting distressed and covering their ears when hearing typical everyday sounds (e.g. a tricycle or the buzz of an electric fan)

Ø Inability tolerating movement (e.g. they do not like getting on swing or a ride

2. Sensory Under – Responsivity (Ang Batang Dedma) – refers to inability to detect and respond to sensory stimuli in the environment. This may lead to apathy, lethargy and a seeming lack of motivation to socialize and interact with other people. Children with SUR are often described as withdrawn, difficult to motivate, inattentive or “spaced out”.

Example of behaviors include:

Ø Failure to respond to pain ( e.g. a child who falls from a height but simply gets up anc continues running as if nothing happened or not noticing when he/she gets a cut or bruise)

Ø Lack of response to verbal commands despite having normal hearing.

3. Sensory Seeking/craving ( Ang Batang Kiti-kiti) – children who have these usually be:

Ø Seen running and moving incessantly

Ø Engaging in “crash and burn” activities

Ø Engaging in unacceptable or unsafe activities (e.g. climbing a high table/cabinet then jumping)

Ø Impulsive

- These children often perceived as troublesome, dangerous or overly active. They often get into trouble in school (e.g. being given disciplinary actions) and social situations (e.g. getting embarrassed because they break something or accidentally hurt someone during a party)

B. Sensory-Based Motor Disorder – refers to difficulties with maintain posture and planning and executing movements, especially novel ones. Subtype of SBMD:

1.) Postural Disorder (Batang Bukot) – these children who have difficulty stabilizing the body during movement or at rest, resulting in failure to perform motor tasks efficiently. They often slump or slouch when standing or sitting. They also have difficulty maintain their body position during tasks.

- Example of children with PD may rest their head on the table while writing or may slowly slide off their chair after sitting for sometime (eventually falling of their chair). Because of these difficulties, they may prefer sedentary activities and avoid movement.

C.) Sensory Discrimination Disorder (Ang Batang Slow) – refers to the difficulty in interpreting the qualities of sensations and perceiving their similarities and differences. SDD can be observed in any of the sensory systems and can cause “slow” performance because the person may need more time to process the salient aspects of sensory input.

For example, a child may have difficulty differentiating “b” from “d” causing him to slow down when reading “bad” (deciding if it’s “bad” or “dad”). A child may have difficulty gauging how much force he/she is exerting on a bottle of glue causing him/her to spill the contents unto paper, consequently causing a delay.

Conversely, the same child may squeeze the bottle so lightly that it takes a long time for the glue to come out of the tube. As a result, these children may eventually develop low self-confidence, poor frustration tolerance or attention-seeking behavior.

An SSD may manifest in any of the senses (auditory, visual, touch, vestibular, proprioceptive and taste/smell)