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Low-Level Aggression First Steps on the Ladder to Violence

Sheldon Braaten, Ph.D.

Behavioral Institute for Children and Adolescents

203 Little Canada Road E. Suite 200Little Canada, MN 55117

651-484-5510sbraaten@behavioralinstitute.org

www.behavioralinstitute.org

• Teaching today is harder than ever before.• Kids are wilder, ruder, and more out of control.• Their skills are worse than ever and they don’t know how to

work.• More and more children are coming from homes where there’s

violence, drug or alcohol abuse, divorce or separation.• Many of them are so anxious and insecure they’re unable to

concentrate.• To make matters worse, we teachers are being asked to fit even

more into the curriculum and to raise academic standards. The pressure is intense. If kids do poorly, they feel like failures and we feel like failures.

• With teachers and students under such stress, how can an emotional climate be created in the classroom where learning can take place?

Adele Faber and Elaine MazlishHow To Talk So Students Will Listen and Listen So Students Will Talk.

American Educator Summer 1987

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Aggression is primarily learned behavior. It is taught at home, at school, on the street, in the mass media and elsewhere....via a process no different from learning any other behaviors, positive or negative.

Arnold P. Goldstein

Aggression defined

(a) a behavior that is intended to harm another individual, (b) the behavior is expected by the perpetrator to have some chance of actually harming that individual, and (c) the perpetrator believes that the target individual is motivated to avoid the harm

Violence defined physical aggression that is so severe that the target is likely to suffer serious physical injury.

Gentile, D. A., Saleem, M., & Anderson, C. A. (2007). Public policy and the effects of media violence on children. Social Issues and Policy Review, 1, 15-61.

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Low-level aggression

...intentional physical or psychological injury to another person.

Whether the injury is “mildly’ or “moderately’ injurious depends upon whose perspective-

the perpetrator’s, the target’s oran independent observer.

Ultimately low-level aggression must be defined subjectively, must be defined by its target and is incident context specific.

A. Goldstein

Developmental Pathways... how individuals progress from innocuous to serious problem behaviors....violence as a rule emerges in middle to late adolescence, we are interested in the identification of individuals at risk for displaying violence years before this actually takes place...knowledge of pathways is highly relevant to assessment and preventive interventions.... the documentation of steps...allows the identification at an early stage of those with some significant probability of escalating to serious problem behaviors. Assessment instruments based on developmental pathways can also aid in the identification of those youth whose problem behavior is temporary vs. those whose problem behavior is likely to persist and escalate in severity

(Loeber, Keenan, & Zhang, 1997; Loeber, Slot, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2006).

Rolf Loeber and Jeffrey D. Burke

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Rank the behaviors from least to most violent

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School Bus Incident CategoriesTrina Cron 1998

Low level• Littering, eating, drinking• Excessive noise• Rules violation• Out of seat• Disturbing others

School Bus Incident CategoriesContinued

Medium level• Profanity• Refusal to obey driver• Arm/head/body out window• Smoking• Throwing objects

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School Bus Incident CategoriesContinued

High level• Destruction of property• Pushing/tripping/attacking others• Discriminatory language (including

sexual harassment)• Attack on driver• Weapons• Group attack

Verbal Maltreatment

Verbal abuse – self-concept damage Teasing – different forms targeting appearance, performance, gender, interests, group affiliation, disabilities: e.g. verbal, pointing at, making faces, taking an item, tricking one into believing something,

Cursing – begins early in life; as aggression determined by what is said, by whom and where Gossip – can be malicious, demeaning. Degrading and others ways harmful to the person not present.Ostracism – being isolated, ignored, excluded, rejected, shunned, exiled banished, cut off, frozen out, made invisible

✤ Bullying is prevalent & affects everyone - not just the target, but also the bystanders and the bully as well.

✤ Bullying is harmful. It impacts health, learning, and relationships. In some cases, bullying leads to suicidal or homicidal actions.

✤ There is no “quick fix”; bullying is a social process (not a person). Without tackling group dynamics, bullying continues.

✤ Bullying is not just a phase that kids grow out of; some countries view it as a public health epidemic in home (as domestic violence), in schools and in the work place.

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Verbal bullying

Social exclusion or isolating

physical bullying

bullying through lies & false rumors

having money or other things taken or damaged

threats or being forced to do things

racial bullying

sexual bullying

cyber-bullying (via cell phone or internet)

* From Olweus Bullying Prevention Program FAQ sheet, www.olweus.org

Potential Warning Signs for Violence3American Psychological Association

Warning Signs in the Toddler and Preschool Child: • Has many temper tantrums in a single day or several lasting more than 15

minutes, and often cannot be calmed by parents, family members, or other caregivers;

• Has many aggressive outbursts, often for no reason;

• Is extremely active, impulsive, and fearless;

• Consistently refuses to follow directions and listen to adults;

• Does not seem attached to parents; for example, does not touch, look for, or return to parents in strange places;

• Frequently watches violence on television, engages in play that has violent themes, or is cruel toward other children.

Potential Warning Signs for Violence3American Psychological Association

Warning Signs in the School-Aged Child: • Has trouble paying attention & concentrating;

• Often disrupts classroom activities; • Does poorly in school; • Frequently fights with children in school; • Reacts to disappointments, criticism, or teasing with extreme and intense

anger, blame, or revenge;

• Watches many violent television shows and movies or plays a lot of violentvideo games;

• Has few friends, and is often rejected by peers because of his or her behavior; • Makes friends with other children known to be unruly or aggressive; • Consistently does not listen to adults;

• Is not sensitive to the feelings of others; • Is cruel or violent toward pets or other animals;

• Is easily frustrated.

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Potential Warning Signs for Violence3American Psychological Association

Warning Signs in the Preteen or Teenage Adolescent: • Consistently does not listen to authority figures;

• Pays no attention to the feelings or rights of others;

• Mistreats people and seems to rely on physical violence or threats of violence to

solve problems;

• Often expresses the feeling that life has treated him or her unfairly;

• Does poorly in school and often skips class;

• Misses school frequently for no identifiable reason;

• Gets suspended from or drops out of school;

• Joins a gang, gets involved in fighting, stealing, or destroying property;

• Drinks alcohol and/or uses inhalants or drugs.

About Anger5 Ways Anger is Not Like Other Emotions. Anger is not just any old emotion. It’s special. What makes anger different from other emotions?

1. It’s Motivating: Anger’s purpose is to push you to protect yourself. Anger gives you energy. It’s activating, and it drives you to engage, not withdraw, as most other emotions do.2. It Never Stands Alone: Anger is always a result of feeling something else. You feel hurt, marginalized, overlooked, targeted, mistreated or vulnerable. Anger isn’t just an emotion, it’s a constellation of emotions. There are always layers of feelings underneath it, feeding it.3. It Seeks a Target: Other emotions can simply be. Anger cannot. Like an arrow shot from the bow, it looks for a target. This is what makes anger so easy to misdirect. It may erupt at the wrong person, in the wrong way and at the wrong time so very easily.4. It Can Be Turned Inward or Outward: Sometimes directing our anger at its true target can be acutely uncomfortable, and sometimes we aren’t aware of the true target. This is when we are at risk for turning our anger inward, directing it at ourselves.5. It’s Capable of Damaging Your Health: Research has shown that anger prone individuals and people who express their anger as rage are more at risk for heart attacks and cancer.

By Jonice Webb PhD

Dealing with AngerYou know the feeling. It's that rage you get when someone cuts you off on the highway; you just want to floor it and flip the bird. Anger is a corrosive emotion that can run off with your mental and physical health. So do you hold it in? Or do you let it all out? Anger doesn't dissipate just because you unleash it. Some insight into why we have it and how it works can help you better manage this raw emotion.https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/anger

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Trauma in childhood has serious consequences for its victims and for society. Childhood trauma is defined according to the DSM IV and V as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. This includes experiences of direct trauma exposure, witnessing trauma or learning about trauma that happened to a close friend or relative.

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Secondary Wounding Secondary wounding happens when the “helper”

(teacher, parent, counselor, family member, friend)

does more harm than good. Instead of feeling

supported, it causes others to feel ashamed of having

been part of a traumatic experience. Secondary

wounding causes embarrassment about reactions

during and after the experience and symptoms since

the experience. It often makes a person regret asking

for help.

Comments that lead to secondary wounding include: • You are exaggerating • It couldn’t have happened that way • You really can’t remember that kind of detail• Your imagination is running away with you • He/she would never do that • There are people who have it harder than you • Consider yourself lucky • You are still young, you will get over it • You’re overreacting • What happened, happened – you don’t need to be upset• Well maybe if you had not... • Well maybe if you had... • If only you... • You should have never... • That wasn’t very smart of you• How many times have you been told... • It wouldn’t have happened if you... • You must have wanted it to happen • You must have been looking for

People who have never been hurt or traumatized have a hard time understanding people who have been hurt. They may prefer to ignore the sadness a person is experiencing because they can’t manage the overwhelming feelings it induces.

Helping professionals who don’t take time for their own self-care may become emotionally depleted and feel burned out, resulting in comments that may cause secondary wounding.

Mostly, secondary wounding is unintentional and is a result of complete lack of knowledge about what to say.

Director Caelan Kuban Posted: TLC

Secondary wounding occurs for many reasons.

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Opening Moves in Violent Incidents among Students

• Unprovoked offensive touching: throws, pushes, grabs, shoves,

slaps, kicks, or hits

• Possessions: interferes with something owned or being used

• Request to do something

• Backbiting: someone says something bad about another person

to someone else and this gets back to the person

• Play: verbal teasing (playful “put downs”) or rough physical

play

• Insults: not meant to be playful

• Accusations of wrongdoing

continued

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Opening Moves in Violent Incidents among Students

• Defense of others

• Challenges: physical or nonverbal gestures

• Threats of physical harm

• Advances to boyfriend or girlfriend of actor

• Told authority figure about bad behavior of actor

• Crimes

• Other actions perceives as offensiveNat’l Institute of Justice. 1997

INTERVENTIONCONTEXT

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CATCH-IT-LOW-TO-PREVENT-IT HIGH

Educators must teach civility, inclusiveness

It is immediately within the purview of schools to 1) systematically model, encourage, and formally “teach” civil, safe and responsible behavior to promote and model respect for differences and diversity; 2) reject dehumanizing behavior, and 3) stand up for children and youth who are victimized by hate and discrimination. We cannot afford to wait and hope for the negative public discourse to simply go away.

Fortunately, we have teaching practices and effective models with strong evidence to guide this doubling-up effort. PBIS....our schools are in a prime position to support the academic, social, emotional and behavioral health of our children and youth and to counter the negativity so prevalent in today’s society.

Our schools must act decisively and urgently to (re)teach, model and encourage behavior that nurtures and maintains our most cherished individual and collective values of civility, diversity, equity, responsibility and freedom of expression that serve as the foundation of our democracy.

Geoff Colvin of Eugene and George Sugai, 9-6-2017

Environmental StrategiesPrevention and Intervention

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Behavioral Strategies

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Cognitive Strategies

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Teaching Cognitive Skills

INTRAPERSONAL SKILLSORGANIZATIONAL SKILLSSTUDY SKILLSPROBLEM SOLVING SKILLSGOAL SETTING SKILLSANGER CONTROL SKILLSSELF- CONTROL SKILLSSTRESS MANAGEMENT SKILLSMORAL REASONING SKILLSSELF-ACCEPTANCE

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

SOCIAL SKILL TRAININGSITUATIONAL PERCEPTION

TRAININGEMPATHY TRAININGCOOPERATION TRAININGBEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TRAININGRECRUITING SUPPORTIVE MODELSUNDERSTANDING & USING GROUPS

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The Elements of Self-control Training

Strategies for teaching:Self-Knowledge – Feelings,

Values, Strengths andWeaknesses

Motivation – GoalsBehavioral SkillsCognitive SkillsSelf-Monitoring SkillsSelf-Evaluation SkillsGeneralization

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Peer / Conflict Mediation

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Talking Circles, a core component of the restorative justice process, sometimes called a Peacemaking Circle, uses a structural framework to build relationships and to address conflict within a community. They create safe spaces, build connections and offer teachers a unique means of formative assessment.

PunishmentZERO Tolerance

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Strives to develop an environment:Characterized by warmth, positive interest,

and involvement by adults;Firm limits to unacceptable behavior;Where non-hostile, nonphysical negative

consequences are consistently applied; andWhere adults act as authorities and positive

role models. 1977

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