Seven Primary Reasons for Challenging Student Behavior

Dr. Knoff has identified seven high hit reasons when trying to identify the reason behind a challenging student’s behavior. The first is a skill deficit where the student never truly learned nor mastered the behavior skill. The second is where the student is indeed learning the actual behavioral skill, but not as quickly as the other students are. In the third situation, the student knows the behavior skill and what the correct action to take is but has not learned to transfer them to real life scenarios. The fourth reason is when the student knows the skills and can apply them but is unable to apply them under conditions of emotionality, such as fear, anger or anxiety. In the fifth situation the student knows the correct behavior to display and how to display it but chooses not to because of a lack of motivation. The sixth reason could be an inconsistency somewhere in the students setting. The last reason is the influence of a Special Situation accruing in a common area of the school, with their peers, or an individual experiences. (Koff, n.d.)

References:

Knoff, H. (Lecturer). (n.d.). Identifying and Explaining Challenging Behavior. (Video recorded guest lecture number 1, part 1: Seven Primary Reasons for Challenging Student Behavior, p.pt. slide, Course CI 5523: Developing Student Self-Management Skills).  Chicago, IL: American College of Education.