The teacher and the student can come up with a system of signals so the student can communicate his moods in a more appropriate way. If the student is feeling frustrated and does not want to answer a question prompted by the teacher, he can give a hand signal. Perhaps he can hold up a "one" with his pointer finger, signaling that he "needs a minute" to cool down. The teacher may also want to give him a stress ball each time he comes into the room. If he is feeling upset or frustrated, he can squeeze the stress ball. It is important for the teacher to communicate these new strategies one-on-one, and not in front of the other students. The teacher needs to also communicate that the way this student is reacting is unacceptable for the classroom, but these new strategies may be used as often as he likes. The teacher may also develop their own signal to the student to communicate that the student's behavior is getting out of line.

I am experiencing this issue right now actually. What I do is work very closely with the student's case manager, counseling department, and administration to develop strategies for the teacher and the student. One strategy we came up with was a weekly behavior chart and checklist system. We made the student responsible for having each teacher sign and indicate how their behavior was for the entire duration of the class. At the end of the week, his home room teacher and/or case manager reviews the behavior chart. If his week was fairly good, he receives a reward such as being class helper or a positive phone call home. I would scale back on tangible rewards such as toys or candy because this can get very old, expensive, and does not promote intrinsic motivation.

I have a similar situation in my classroom. One thing that I have would effective is that the student love to play on the computer. If he is good, he earns extra computer time. If you try this, just make sure the student understands that they still have to do work during learning time.

I have encountered this in the past and there are a few things that were successful for me. One, I stopped setting the stage for them to act out. Once I figured out that he did not like answering questions aloud, I stopped calling on him. When providing whole group instructions or activities, I would give all students a white board and ask them to write/respond to the question on their white board and hold it up in the air for me to view. His response to this was better because he didn't feel like he was being singled out. Another thing I did was sit down with him to talk about his triggers and develop a behavior management and reward tool that identified 3 negative behaviors that he would display and rewards if he did not display those behaviors in class. His behavior was assessed daily and he had to manage his behavior at least 80% of the time during the week to earn one of his rewards.

I had a student like this, and I had to go to administration for help. He truly did not belong in a general ed setting. It was a disservice to him and his classmates. I did feel like I was letting him down somewhat, because I tried and tried, but nothing worked. Ask your administration for assistance in this matter. They may not realize how escalated the student's behaviors are in the classroom.

I've had a student in a similar situation. I explained to that student that this behavior is unacceptable and if this continues an alternative placement will have to be put in place.

Thats a tough situation! I think that it depends on the student on how you should handle it but i would definitely try and reach out to the student and the legal parents and try and work on his issues.