Don't Do That! And Other Counseling Strategies for the Chronically Disruptive

This monograph, designed to aid school counselors in their work with students and classroom teachers, reviews the multiple causes of school disturbance and the varied needs of students labeled chronically disruptive. The distinction between chronic disrupters and students with emotional problems is discussed; related issues of school violence, vandalism, and gang delinquency are excluded in order to concentrate on methods and techniques for identification of and intervention with the chronically disruptive. Past and current perspectives on school disruption are explored, and counseling techniques applicable to the chronic disrupter are described in detail in the areas of curriculum modification, management alternatives, and motivational differences. Strategies for counseling culturally different students and for influencing system level change are described. Preventive and anticipatory counseling for distressed students and distressed teachers is also examined. Gaps in preservice and inservice counselor training are briefly discussed, but working with the student, classmates, and classroom teachers from a systems theory view of school ecology is emphasized. A bibliography is provided at the end of each chapter. (JAC)