PART A UNIT ONE
WHY DO PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY DO?
Key Points
Some outside factors that affect behavior are: cultural background, health,
education, work experience, environment and finances.
Some inside factors that affect behavior are personality traits, how one thinks,
and one’s ability to communicate.
What a person thinks is happening is more important than what is actually
happening.
Health issues affect behavior. Stress affects behavior.
Anger is a natural emotion. It’s what a person does when angry that can cause
problems.
Ways to learn more about the individual with disabilities
PART A UNIT TWO
BUILDING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Key Points
Friendships are different from the therapeutic relationships of staff caring for
or supporting people with disabilities.
Strategies for therapeutic relationships include providing safety, privacy, respect,
and meaningful things to do; including people in decisions; and helping people
learn how to make decisions.
Most communication is through non-verbal body language.
Non-verbal communication that promotes positive interactions includes looking
at the person, smiling, facing the person, relaxed posture, medium voice tone
and listening.
Verbal communication that promotes positive interactions include using active
listening – reflecting back what the person says; asking who, what, where and
when questions.
Behavioral ways that people communicate wants and needs.
Respect is communicated by paying attention to people’s feelings, giving feed
back without judging, using positive verbal, body language and active listening
skills,
making time to be with another person,and by finding out how the
person defines respect.
PART A UNIT 3
DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
Key Points
Loss of control over decisions can cause feelings of fear, panic,
frustration and insecurity. These feelings can lead to aggression, withdrawal,
negative attention-seeking, manipulations and lack of cooperation.
You can encourage decision making by offering hope and choices,
avoiding confrontation, helping people make decisions, avoiding “orders” and giving positive feedback.
You can empower people by teaching decision making and problem solving
PART A UNIT FOUR
ASSESSING RISK FOR ESCALATING BEHAVIOR
Key Points
Staff attitudes are important. It is important to look for behavioral cues
that may indicate staff distress.
You have a responsibility to do something if you see a co-worker contributing
to a problem.
Some people do well in life in spite of hardships or risk factors. Safeguards
that protect people from the effects of risk factors are called protective
factors.
Attitudes, environmental and organizatinal factors can lead to aggressive
behavior.
Personal factors such as health and emotional problems can affect behavior.
The more you know about the people you are working with, the more you
can learn what to expect in a given situation.
People often give cues when their feelings are escalating
PART A UNIT 5
EARLY CRISIS INTERVENTION
Key Points
Use of a non-threatening stance and personal space are ways your body
language can help calm another person
Voice tone and volume, giving reassurance, getting the facts and being clear
are verbal ways to help calm another person
Monitoring yourself, cued responses, on-the-spot problem solving, positive
reinforcement, scheduling, arranging the environment, re-direction and
facing natural consequences can help reduce aggression
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