Anger Management

Source conflict and anger management programs and make these available to hostile aggressive students. Talk to your Assistant Principal, Deputy Principal or Principal for recommendations and guidance. Parents must be approached about this first if the program is not provided as a whole class program.

The following is a five step anger management process, you could also teacher the explicit Zones of Regulation Program and/or The Behaviour Car Program:

Step 1

Teach students about anger so that they can understand it. Anger is a normal emotion that all people have. Describe situations where people have responded both appropriately and inappropriately to feeling angry (don't get personal, keep these generic). Ask students to share times when they dealt both appropriately and inappropriately when they were angry.

Step 2

Discuss body signals and have students recognise their personal signals that indicate they are feeling anger e.g. situations that typically make them feel angry and physical and physiological reactions associated with anger e.g. flushed face, tensed muscles, change in breathing, increased heart rate etc.

Step 3

Teach students self-talk techniques i.e. things they should say to themselves when working through a situation or conflict when they might feel angry. Initially you may have to suggest and/or model what to say. Later a simple prompt may be all that is required for the student to use the strategy. Many aggressive and defiant students haven’t acquired this skill so it may need to be modelled for them. The same process of self-talk is applicable to working through challenging academic tasks, and this too is an opportunity to practice and reinforce the strategy.

Step 4

Teach problem solving skills.

(1) define the problem

(2) brainstorm solutions

(3) choose the best solution i.e. the one that works for all involved

(4) implement the solution

(5) how effective was the solution

(6) choose a different solution if the first one didn’t work

Model this process, possibly multiple times. Model this process for social and work based situations.

Step 5

Teach techniques for relaxation.

• slow, deep breathing

• progressive muscle relaxation

• going for a walk

Encourage students to recognise strategies that work for them and employ them when they notice they are beginning to feel agitated or angry.

Progressive muscle relaxation - best done lying down, begin with the toes and work our way up the body. With each muscle tense, then release the tension. This is done several times with each muscle until the muscle becomes more relaxed. Where muscle tension is more localised such as in clinched fists or in neck and shoulder tightness, the procedure can focus on these areas and the whole body procedure does not need to be followed.

Resources

Reference links.

Managing Challenging and Antisocial Behaviour