Learning in Context

After looking over the chapter on learning in context, there is one problem from this last year that stands out above all of the rest. It's a problem that deals entirely with behavior, and how to use reinforcements/punishments/behavior shaping etc. effectively.

I had one little sixth grader, an adorable little boy who could knock you over with his charm and affection. However, once we got to know him better, we began to realize that he had some significant behavior issues. We had extensive problems throughout the school year with temper tantrums, refusals to participate, and disruptive behavior such as talking, singing, and randomly running around the classroom, climbing on his desk, or moving furniture around. We tried EVERYTHING with this kiddo. I worked extensively with the behavior specialist, playing around with ideas and trying just about anything that sounded workable. Our first challenge was to find activities or things that were reinforcing to him. This was really difficult, as we would stumble across things that would work for a day, and then his desired behavior would stop. This little guy would completely throw the good behavior out the window, and ask us to give us his reward, because it's HIS. So, hmm...we didn't give up on this immediately, but after repeated failures (note: weeks upon weeks), we decided to try something different. As a matter of fact, we tried about 10 different somethings before we landed upon our last attempt. This involved a very complex system in which he could earn up to three stars for each period of the school day, and for each period, he could earn up to five cents worth of school store coupons. If he earned so many stars for each half of the day, he could earn additional coupons. This seemed to work, sort of. Unfortunately, we only had this system to utilize for about a month before the school year was up. We definitely had our ups and downs, but even as I type this, I'm at a loss for how to teach this student how to use appropriate behavior. It's such a mystery with this one! I wish I knew how to tap into what would really motivate him and reinforce him.