Challenging Behavior as a Rational Response to Institutional Norms: Analyzing Students' Discourse on Behaviors Deemed Challenging. Issue 4 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Larry; Connolly, Nancy
• Is Part Of: Journal of constructivist psychology. Volume 29:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 417
• Page End: 431
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: Personal construct theory -- Periodicals; Constructivism (Psychology) -- Periodicals; 150.1985
• DOI: 10.1080/10720537.2015.1102108
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1072-0537

Abstract

Abstract : Having considered traditional learning disability practice that emphasizes practitioners managing challenging behaviors of students with learning difficulty and disabilities, we not only queried how learners make sense of behaviors deemed challenging, we also queried the extent to which learners could manage themselves. From 265 learners, 15 males, median age 19, participated in 12 weekly, 1-hour, experiential focus group discussions specific to challenging behaviors of 3 case study learners. Three case study learners also participated in 12 weekly, 1-hour, one-to-one interviews that aimed to determine if they could organize, interpret, and reorganize their sense making around challenging behaviors. Thematic analysis of experiential focus group discussions yielded five themes related to different versions of learners' responsible or irresponsible communicative patterns: I've got a problem, I told staff, I can't, I'm disabled, and I'm not normal. Discursive analysis of experiential focus group discussions and case study interviews highlighted five variable behavior patterns: inner conflicted, conditioned response, role specific, retreating, and higher order. Further analysis revealed how learners speak their identities into existence via defensive disability language, how they use characteristics of their label to engage in public performances via defensive positional stances, and how they use power plays to achieve desired outcomes when engaging with practitioners in learning and social environments. Yet, when invited to transition from a defensive identity to a nondefensive one, some learners were able to reconstruct their sense making independent of traditional learning disability discourse.