What Do I Do When a Student Hits, Kicks, Bites or Hurts Themselves?

What do you do when a student is hitting, kicking, biting, engaging in self-injurious behavior, or when it feels like you’ve already tried everything? At that point, simply adding another consequence, token board, break, or behavior strategy may not solve the problem. In this episode of our “What Do I Do When?” series, we look at a different way of approaching serious behavior: start by asking why the behavior is happening. We discuss: • Why safety comes before teaching during dangerous behavior• Why a diagnosis doesn’t automatically explain a behavior• Looking at what happens before and after the behavior• Why seemingly good behavior plans sometimes fail• Teaching an appropriate replacement behavior• Using data instead of cycling through random strategies• When a behavior problem requires support beyond the classroom• Why teachers shouldn’t be expected to manage severe aggression or self-injury alone The goal isn’t to give you another trick to add to your toolbox. It’s to give you a framework for deciding which tool actually makes sense. ⚠️ Important: When there is an immediate risk of injury, follow your school, district, workplace, or care setting’s established emergency and crisis procedures and involve appropriately trained personnel. This video is educational and isn’t a substitute for an individualized assessment, behavior plan, crisis plan, or professional/medical evaluation. Have a situation you want us to discuss next? Finish this sentence in the comments: “What do I do when…?” Your question may become a future video. And thank you for helping our community reach 1,000 subscribers! Every view, comment, question, share, and recommendation has helped this community grow. Want more support? Don’t forget to download your FREE Behavior Function Cheat Sheet https://www.djedilearning.com/product... Chapters 00:00 What if hitting, kicking & biting won’t stop? 01:30 Safety comes first 02:25 A diagnosis doesn’t explain the behavior 03:50 Look at what happens before & after 05:15 When you’ve “tried everything” 06:30 What should the student do instead? 09:00 When this is bigger than classroom management 10:05 What I would assess first 11:20 Safety, data & getting the team involved 13:00 What do I do when…? 14:00 Thank you for 1,000 subscribers #StudentBehavior #ClassroomManagement #BehaviorManagement #SpecialEducation #Teachers #BehaviorSupport #ABA #SchoolPsychology #TeacherSupport #ChallengingBehavior #BehaviorIntervention #DjediLearning