Nurture

Think about your current and past students. Have you ever had a student exhibit behaviors like George’s? What behaviors in your classroom are most frustrating for you? What problematic behaviors do you find yourself addressing over and over with your students? These behaviors may include being physically or verbally aggressive, bullying others, leaving a designated area, damaging property, being tardy to class, or throwing tantrums, to name a few. Challenging behaviors are defined as behaviors that are culturally or socially inappropriate (Emerson, 1995). Teachers need to address these behaviors because they can have an array of adverse consequences. Typically, in the classroom, behaviors are considered challenging when they prevent the student and his, her, or their peers from learning academically and socially (Scott, 2017).

Identifying the factors that may be contributing to students’ challenging behaviors can lead you to develop effective intervention and prevention strategies for the students. So it is helpful to think about why students behave in these challenging ways.

Many factors can directly or indirectly influence student behaviors. This chapter begins by looking at various causal factors, which can be divided into two broad categories: (1) nurture and (2) nature. While no conclusive evidence indicates one factor is directly responsible for challenging behaviors (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2019; Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2013), a student like George from the opening scenario may be predisposed to exhibit problematic behaviors based on some factors, and other factors may trigger the behaviors in him. Meanwhile, Myra, for instance, does not experience this. The chapter then examines the relationship between challenging behaviors and academic achievement. Next, it delves into common obstacles teachers may face in approaching challenging behaviors and effective approaches teachers can use to counter these obstacles. The chapter also sets the foundation for the strategies in the book by articulating how preventive measures, positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), and cultural responsiveness undergird each of the following strategies. Last, this chapter wraps up with a Concluding Thoughts section and a reproducible page that includes reflective questions to ponder. The chapter will revisit the George and Myra scenario throughout to make the concepts of the chapter visible within an imaginary school context.

Nurture pertains to environmental influences and how they affect the way a person acts (Stiles, 2011). People’s environment, upbringing, and life experiences condition them to act a specific way. In other words, people can learn behavior, and the environmental factors that affect an individual contribute to how adaptive or maladaptive that individual’s behaviors are, particularly within a social context like