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Behavior Supports for School and Home

through Literacy Practices Based on

Social-Emotional Learning

By Jill Tussey, Amy Clark, and Leslie Haas

The authors provide strategies for educators to promote and protect the social and emotional well-
being of students. They explain the particular needs of students with challenging behaviors and,
focusing on literacy efforts, provide resources to help educators and families meet those needs.

s K–5 elementary schools face a myriad of challenges, safeguarding the social-
Aemotional well-being of students has become an area of focus for academic
stakeholders. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional
Learning (CASEL, 2021), social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process in which
“children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and
skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals,
feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and
make responsible decisions” (para. 1). SEL can be affected by many factors often seen
within families, such as poverty, violence, and health challenges (Chen, 2021). One
way to mitigate such factors that negatively affect SEL is through communication
inherent in literacy education. Literacy resources paired with SEL games are tools
that may support students’ activities and discussions around social-emotional issues
both in and out of school.

Reasons for Challenging Behaviors
Challenging behaviors are those that repeat and interfere with learning (Chai &
Lieberman-Betz, 2016). Deficits in executive function and emotional regulation can
lead to challenging behaviors as these areas affect decision-making, impulse control,
reactivity, and anxiety (Maddox et al., 2018). When addressing behaviors, educators
often seek to identify the function. The function of a behavior, or the reason the
behavior occurs, can be attributed to a child’s need to gain attention or avoid an
undesirable task. After determining the function of a behavior, the educator can next
identify specific skills the student may be lacking. This information may, in turn,
help the educator design an effective intervention.
Maddox et al. (2018) described a challenging behavior as an incompatibility
between the student and the environment. The design and make-up of the classroom
environment and procedures could have triggers for the student. This description
helps remove negative judgement associated with the child, educator, and/or family.
It also may help educators think in terms of what a student cannot do, rather than
what a student will not do. Although adopting this mindset may seem negative,
understanding incompatibility and identifying lagging skills provide important
information that informs the creation of specific interventions to target individual
student’s needs. When needs are met and skills gained, the classroom environment
for all students is more positive. The increase of skills is important as challenging
behaviors decrease well-being not only for the students acting out but also for those
around them (Turgeon et al., 2020).

Educators’ Choice 57