Creating the Conditions for Students to Fix Problems

On Thursday and Friday last week, seven of our staff were able to participate in a session on "Control Theory" led by Diane Gossen.  Control Theory comes from the work of William Glasser, a noted psychiatrist who has been working on the concepts of behaviour for more than 40 years.  Control Theory forms the basis for Restitution, a way of working with students to help them fix behavioural mistakes.

At the center of Control Theory is the notion that humans have different realities and experiences (pictures in our minds).  It is through these realities that we understand the world.  If we have different pictures then we experience events differently.  Students that have limited pictures or options see only a few behaviours as choices for themselves and when their choice doesn't match the situation, we have a behaviour problem. Control Theory also focuses on the notion that all behaviour serves a purpose - we behave in certain ways for a reason.  We cannot control others, we can only control ourselves.  As a result, the way in which we work with students is to create an abundance of new options so that they can choose alternative pathways to get their needs met.

When individuals perceive a mismatch between what they hoped to get and the end result, they behave in certain ways to close the gap between their need and the reality.  For example if someone orders a cup of coffee with a particular picture of what that coffee will look and taste like, and the actual coffee does not match our expectation, we have a mismatch.  This is where behaviour comes in, we can make a variety of choices to adjust our expectations down ("it's okay I can manage with this cup") or we can adjust to get what we want (send it back to be re-done).  In short, we have a variety of socially acceptable ways to get our need for a good cup of coffee met.  Students who struggle with behaviour issues have these same mismatches with everything from school work to relationships.  The difference is that they don't have enough strategies to adjust so that they can get their needs met, the only options they have are to show alternate behaviours.

The day and a half session with Diane has opened our eyes to working with students to figure out what needs they are trying to meet through their behaviours and to provide them with alternate pathways to get those needs met.  Control Theory is more supportive and learning is enhanced through this view of behaviour.