Behavior Coach
We began the Behavior Coach Program in 2017, in the three elementary schools and the pre-school. The Behavior Coach works through our CARE Teams where students who are having challenging behaviors get referred to the Behavior Coach. When we started the program, we knew we needed someone who could help a certain population of students whose behaviors were affecting all students in the classroom as well as the staff and others in the building. Unfortunately, their behaviors prevent the classroom from functioning at its best as well as that child from getting the most out of their day in school. Our Behavior Coach works with the students to build skills, relationships, teach problem-solving strategies, and much more so that the student can better manage their behaviors. We believe that children will do well if they can but if they do not have the skills to do so then we need to teach them those skills. Behavior management skills that we work on can be anything from working together and being flexible to relationship building and problem-solving skills.
The Behavior Coach not only helps the students, she also helps the teachers by offering ideas on how to manage behaviors in the classroom. She also works with the parents to make sure the behaviors she is working on at school can change at home as well with the support of the family. Over the years, our Behavior Coach has really developed a wonderful program where she gains the child’s trust, works independently with them on their behaviors and also works in the classrooms. Additionally, she works with the families and communicates with them to offer guidance and helps them become personally involved in the behavior changes.
Many of the students our behavior coach works with have experienced trauma or have mental health needs, so our Behavior Coach also works with mental health providers to refer the students to the appropriate resources at school. So far, we have seen marked improvement in behavior for almost every child she has worked with as well as less aggression and more order in each classroom.