Case Study: Designing a Multilevel Aggressive Behavior Intervention in Childhood

Case study: Jason, 5 years old

Scenario: Jason, who is an only child in his family and goes to school. Recently, due to his mother’s overwork, Jason lately attends the extended school program, until the afternoon. He is smart, participates enjoying the activities and usually completes them soon. He likes to organize and manage a game and he likes to play with one or two children. When the other children do not do what he tells them, he threatens them, hits them, chases them away and tells them that he does not allow them to play with his toy. Lately, this behavior is becoming more and more frequent.

Teacher Management Strategies: When he exhibits aggressive behavior, he removes him from the team and gives him an individual task (a worksheet) or deprives him of free time.

Axes of Thought and Reflection

1. What could be leading Jason to the wrong place?
2. Are the teacher’s management and methods effective?
3. What goals could be set (academic, behavioral, emotional)?
4. Does Jason have positives? If so, what are its strengths?
5. Proposed strategies for managing unwanted behavior?

Answers 1.
a. May not be able to share things with other children. The possible finding is probably verified by the fact that he is an only child and has not learned in such methods.
b. It may hurt, because he finds the teacher’s educational activities very easy and simplistic. This view is verified by the fact that he is an intelligent child, as mentioned above.
c. Possibly, to be noticed by others.
d. Possibly tired due to his long stay at school.

2. Teacher Management Methods Prove Ineffective

Behavioral and Emotional and Academic Goals

a. Stop hitting, threatening and behaving aggressively.
b. Sharing things and games.
c. Participate in group activities, games.
d. Follow the rules.
e. Find what he really likes.
f. To develop empathy, interest in others and compassion.
g. Τo develop his academic and cognitive abilities.

Jason’s Strength’s Point

a. He is intelligent and concentration with cognitive abilities, possibly higher than the average normal level.
b. He deals with the educational tasks (given to him by the teacher) and obviously solves them successfully.
c. He has leadership skills.

Internentions

1. Collaboration with parents is essential
2. In individual level with child the following

Emotional intervention

With Counselling and Psychotherapeutic dimension:
a. Supportive, Counseling discussion with psychotherapeutic dimensions: Search for difficulties that drive the unwanted behavior.
b. The quality of the relationship with the person, that will be in the role of counselor, is crucial for the success of the intervention. A good counselor restores the fundamental elements in the counseling process: trust, authenticity, boundaries and rules [1]. It therapeutically utilizes «transfer and counter-transfer» [2,3].
c. Verbal counseling skills are used in combination with other strategies appropriate for the developmental stage, such as the following [3].
d. Techniques/Methods: Role-playing with puppets, that reduces stressful conditions [4], Double ego technique [5], Mirror technique, in order to become self-aware in different situations [6].
e. The most important technique among all is the telling of his story. Through storytelling, the child expressed, discharges and the counselor directs the cognitive, moral, social development of the child.

Αxes of discussion a. ‘‘How do others (children who accept aggression) feel?
b. ‘’If he were to take the place of a child who accepted the aggressive behavior, how would you feel? What would you think’’?
c. ‘’Could we think of them’’?
d. ‘’What does he think, after a while, about them’’?
e. ‘’Do we care about others’’?
f. ‘’What are the Rules’’?
g. ‘’What are rights?
h. ‘’Could something change, from now on? If so, which one?
How; Since when; Do you need any help’’?

Behavioral intervention a. Behavior Analysis Program, through which to find the behavioral elements that precede and trigger aggressive behavior
b. Through careful observation to identify interests and as motivation, can be used to create:
c. Applied Behavioral Analysis [6,7]-(Control for: prosocial skills, anger control, moral reasoning).

Academic intervention a. Academic performance and progress are directly related to behavior [8].
b. Emphasize his participation in group activities and less in individual ones.
c. To identify the islets of his academic interests and to plan activities of escalating difficulty, so that he does not suffer and his abilities and academic performance evolve.
d. Differentiated teaching focuses on the special needs of students [9,10].
e. List of individual motivations and interests.
f. Enhancement Program, in which internal motivations and interests are utilized. Rewards are associated with emotion and affect learning [11,12].

References

1. Carkhuff RR (1969) Helping and human relations: A primer for lay and professional helpers. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, USA.
2. Geldard K, Geldard D, Foo RY (2017) Counselling children: A practical introduction. Sage Publications, USA.
3. Tokar DM, Withrow GR, Hall RJ, Moradi B (2003) Psychological separation, attachment security, vocational self-concept crystallization, and career indecision: A structural equation analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology 50(1): 3-19.
4. Ochberg F (2012) How do you use Role Playing in therapy?
5. Cruz A, Sales C, Alves P, Moita G (2018) The core techniques of morenian psychodrama: A systematic review of literature. Frontiers in psychology 9: 1263.
6. Cooper JO, Heron TE, Heward WL (2020) Applied behavior analysis. Pearson, United Kingdom.
7. Cooper JO, Heron TE, Heward WL (2007) Applied behavior analysis.
8. Malecki CK, Elliott SN (2002) Children’s social behaviors as predictors of academic achievement: A longitudinal analysis. School Psychology Quarterly 17(1): 1-23.
9. Tomlinson CA (2001) How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. ASCD
10. Gardner HE (2000) Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21^st
11. Moreno JL (1946) Psychodrama and group psychotherapy. Sociometry 9(2/3): 249-253.
12. Wuensch L, Pool ER, Sander D (2021) Individual differences in learning positive affective value. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 39: 19-26.