Are you looking for strategies to help students who disregard the consequences of their behavior? If so, keep reading.
1. Connect with parents (e.g., notes home, phone calls, etc.) to disseminate information about the student’s progress. The parents may reinforce the student at home for engaging in appropriate behaviors at school.
2. Notify others who will be working with the student (e.g., teachers, principal, clerks, etc.) about the student’s tendency to ignore the consequences of their behavior.
3. Let logical consequences happen (e.g., hitting others will result in suspension, stealing will result in being fined, etc.) due to the student’s failure to consider the consequences of their behavior.
4. Intervene early and often when there is a problem to prevent a more severe problem from happening.
5. Conference with the student’s parents, a school official, a social worker, a mental health worker, etc., about the student’s failure to consider the consequences of his/her behavior.
6. Organize ·their surroundings to limit chances for unacceptable behavior (e.g., keep the student engaged in learning activities, have the student seated near the teacher, keep visibility to and from the student, etc.).
7. Teach the student about ADHD and the need to self-monitor behavior.
8. Assist the student in realizing that all behavior has negative or positive consequences. Urge the student to practice behaviors that will lead to positive consequences.
9. Take into account the student’s age and capacity and ability level before expecting them to think before acting.
10. Teach the student to “stop and think” when they begin to do something without thinking first.
11. Teach the student to stop and think about the consequences of their behavior before behaving in a specific manner.
12. Urge the student to pause and consider his/her thoughts before acting on them.
13. Teach yourself and others about ADHD to increase comprehension and accommodation of impulsive behavior.
14. Give constant, positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior. Ignore as many unacceptable behaviors as possible.
15. Praise the student for demonstrating appropriate behavior based on the duration of time the student can be successful. As the student shows success, slowly increase the duration of time required for reinforcement.
16. Assist the student in creating an understanding of the consequences of their behavior by writing down or talking through problems that may happen due to their failure to consider the consequences of their behavior.
17. Teach the student to think before acting (e.g., they should ask themselves, “What is happening?” “What am I doing?” “What should I do?” “What will be best for me?”).
18. Teach problem-solving skills: • Find the problem. • Find the goals and objectives. • Create a strategy/plan for action. • Carry out the plan. • Assess the results.
19. Talk about consequences with the student before they begin a learning experience (e.g., cheating in a game will result in the game ending and people not playing again).
20. Immediately stop the student from behaving improperly and discuss the consequences of the behavior with him/her.
21. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
22. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.
