Question regarding mentally handicapped student that screams...?

Question

I'm a special education teacher of a student who is in the habit of screaming for attention, if he's bored, or frustrated. He cannot be reasoned with and is nonverbal--any advice? Thank you!

Answer 1

The reason he does this is because this is one way he knows he will get attention, and unfortunately it is also the parents faults, if you can try to talk with them about not giving in to running to his side each time this occurs, and also practiceing the same in the class room, is there a location he can go where it is quite? (but where you can still see him?) so as not to bother the other students, if he sees he is not going to get immediate attention each time he does this, than he may stop, and find a diffrent approch

Answer 2

Hmmm...tough situation. You might try to whisper to him...perhaps he'll quiet down to try to hear what you're saying. My ex-fiance's brother was moderately mentally challenged, autistic, schitzophrenic and who knows what else...when he would yell out, I would get on his eye level and softly ask him if he was ok and he would shake his head yes and I would ask him if I could get him something to drink and he would shake his head yes...I would return with a cup of  iced-tea and ask him to sit down and drink it cause it'll make him feel better. He would do it and then he would be fine. In a case like his, his mother would just walk into his room and ask him why he was hollering, but she was hovering over him and used a loud and agitated tone of voice with him and he would hit her...but the way she approached him probably made him feel intimidated...so get on his eye level, make eye contact and use a soft non theatening tone of voice and see if that helps.

Answer 3

Time out when he screams.  LOTS of attention when he is not screaming.  Rewards when he is quite.  Set a timer & give reward when he does not scream for 5 min.  Slowly increase time.  When he arrives pay attention to him.  Thank him for doing regular things like hanging up coat quietly.  going to desk & sitting quietly.  Have something ready for him to do that he likes to do first thing in a.m.  Take note of when he screams maybe U can figure out triggers & prevent them.  Keep frustrations to minimun.

Answer 4

bhappy's answer is about right on. If you give attention of any kind to an attention seeking behavior, it WILL continue. That means verbals, facial expression or physical contact.

My only concern is that screaming is a high level behavior that you may not be able to ignore, so any time you try ignoring and then give in, it will be reinforcing the behavior at a higher level. Using a timer is a good idea, then giving a reward. If five minutes doesn't work, start with 1 minute and move up.

My other concern is whether or not it actually is an attention seeking behavior. Children without words often scream to communicate their dislike or discomfort in a situation. They scream to communicate and to escape a non-preferred task or a task that is too difficult. They also scream when they are in pain or other physical discomfort.

My suggestion is to start recording the activity that he is doing at the time that the screaming occurs. Even though it may seem like it happens all of the time, there will be some specificity as to the environmental events that happening at the time of the screaming. Then you can really figure out what the purpose of the behavior is.

The nice thing about recording the precursors to behavior is that you can then modify the environment so that the behavior is less likely to occur.

To find out more about behavior, go to "Dr. Mac's Amazing Behavior Management" website. It has a vast array of information pertaining to behavior from a behavior analytic and very user friendly standpoint.