First day of Whole Brain Teaching went great!!! The students for the most part loved it, all were engaged, some were thinking I had lost my mind but had fun and learned something. However I had one student that just couldn't handle it. He was overwhelmed, couldn't concentrate because the motions and chatter were too much. I seriously thought he was going to vomit, he was that distraught. He told me he was going to have nightmares, and was going to talk to the vice principal over it. The students were even trying to explain that it was just 45 minutes, not all day and that it would be ok but he just wouldn't listen. He is intelligent and not open to change. Help!

oh my - I have one like that. He went straight to momma, and momma told him to get over it.(thankfully)

I hated to make him feel uncomfortable everyday, especially if he was doing well in my class without Whole Brain Teaching. Being an intelligent student, I appealed to that side of him and showed him how Whole Brain Teaching uses multiple parts of the the brain and encourages him to use parts of his brain that he doesn't usually.

I also explained that if he did not want to particpate in Whole Brain Teaching that we would set up another assignment from the textbook for him to work on. He could go to a desk away from everyone else and opt out of particpating that day. I always made the assignment pretty long and boring, like read and outline the notes for section 1 and work problems 1-25. The first day he picked the alternate assignment, and moved to another seat and got to work. The rest of the class won and got to take 2 problems off of their homework - but he was not particpating so he had to do the whole assignment. He has particpated everyday since!!

If the noise level is a problem you can use the volume-o-meter, and calibrate the kids to Teach-OK every so often at Scale 1- whisper level. The kids actually think that is fun, at least mine have when we have done that when there was testing across the hall.

Just one more possibility.

Jeff

I don't think it was the level of noise, he was just too stimulated with the hand gestures. He felt he couldn't take in the content and follow along with the gestures. He did not like the unison response with the class yes and class rules. I really was shocked at his reaction and he was really upset it wasn't an attention getting act.

Is this student by chance an Asperger's student? The reason I'm asking is because our school has several Asperger students, and I've learned a lot about their qualities over the last 3 years. The overstimulation does seem to bother them. I currently have one now who I let determine just how much he is involved. I don't force it on him, but let him set the pace. These students are typically very smart. I let my current Asperger student set the pace for himself. I will say he does like the clear cut rules and consequences. At the beginning of the year, he was one who would just yell out at anytime. Now, he is extremely good about raising his hand to speak. It only took a few times of him breaking rule 2 for him to realize the consequence.

Joni

Joni, your post makes me wonder what is the consequence that you use for breaking rule #2 in your class?

The same as breaking any rule...a frownie point!

Joni is right,
it is all about how these spectrum children cope with the changes. They are basically regulating themselves and it manifests itself in various behaviors like hand flapping or head shaking. But in the end, they usually will comply once the changes are accepted. With our son, we sometimes have to let him get in a chair and either squeeze him or spin him. When he gets older he will have to figure out a way to regulate himself without our help. If you are not familiar with DIR/Floortime(Dr. Stanley Greenspan), it is basically the same elements of WBT with the total physical response. It is to help a child thru very aggressive physical therapy to bridge those missing learning steps before language acquisition. I remember the first time I saw Floortime performed and just thought it was pure craziness just like when I first saw Chris's college lecture videos for the first time..pure craziness. But is now so obvious that the two achieve the same thing thru total physical response. Every child in a classroom is dealing with a spectrum of missing learning steps and TPR bridges those missing steps. Whole Brain Teaching is a great leveler for all children.

One thing I would always keep in mind with all children, especially spectrum children, that when they act out, it is really about helping them to complete the circle. And what I mean by this is a child must make the connections just like when teaching a new concept. A child who is not able to regulate themselves emotionally must have a way to complete the circle in their emotional response to a change. Which means you let them do what they must to regulate themselves but in the end you are turning them back to the original problem that started it in the first place. This is done over and over again until the circles get smaller and smaller. For most folks, they quickly do this internally each time we face a new change but these children literally have to do it physically. Same challenge, different response. But the end game is the same.

If you ever had to herd sheep you will know what I am saying that it is either the long way around the barn or the short way around the barn. But in the end, hopefully your in the barn.

The Negotiation Stick 
 
Occasionally we need a way to negotiate behavior changes, one on one, with challenging students. The Negotiation Stick is a game that solves this problem in an entertaining way. 
 
Materials 
A ruler, two board erasers, four 3 x 5 cards. The first card is labeled “Hello,” the second card is labeled “Apology,” the third card is labeled “Swap”, “the fourth card is labeled “Change.” 
 
Procedure 
You and your student sit on opposite sides of a table; place the ruler on the table, with one end pointing at you and the other end pointing at your student. You each have an eraser. Say, “We’re going to play a game to see if we can solve any of the problems that we have. Your eraser is you. My eraser is me. We’ll start at opposite ends of the ruler.” 
  Stand your eraser at your end of the ruler. Your student stands her eraser at her end of the ruler. 
 
Say, “Now, here are four cards. You can pick whichever one you want, in any order, you want. If you pick the ‘Hello!’ card, then we’ll pretend like our erasers are talking to each other. They should only talk about pleasant things, not any school problems. If you pick the ‘Apology’ card, then I’ll give you an apology for anything I’ve done, or any difficulties you’re having. I’ll tell you right now that I am genuinely sorry for the problems you’re having. If you pick the ‘Swap’ card, then each of us will switch erasers and I’ll try to see the problem from your point of view and you try see the problem from my point of view. If you pick ‘Change’ then I’ll say something that I can change between us, and I’ll move my eraser closer to you. You say something you can change between us and you move your eraser closer to me. The goal of the game is for us to agree on what each of us is going to change. We’ll write it down and then shake hands. Or, if you like, our erasers can hug in the middle of the ruler!” 
 
Allow the student to pick the cards in any order she wishes. Any card can be picked as many times as the student wishes in the course of your discussion. If, at any time, you feel the “distance” between you and your student is decreasing, say, “I feel like we’re getting a little closer together. I’ll move my eraser forward. How about you? Do you feel like we’re decreasing the distance between us?” If the student agrees, then she moves her eraser closer.

To defuse a tense situation, you can “accidentally” tip your eraser over and say, “oops! I tripped.  Sorry!” Or, “Oh, I fell down. Help me up!” Or any other shennigans that occur to you, like “Gosh, I really love the furry face on your eraser!” 
 
Keep playing the game until you believe the two of you have drawn as close together as possible during one session. The entire game might only take a few minutes. Write down what you and your student have agreed to. The next day, have a short review of how each of you has done on keeping his or her side of the bargain. Replay the game as necessary.