THE CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR SERIES
Basic Self-Instructional Training
Module #7 of 7
Revised November, 2006
Introduction To the Challenging Behavior Series
The Challenging Behavior Series is a set of self-instructional modules for persons who provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities and mental health problems. The Series offers a basic set of techniques for dealing with challenging behaviors. The seven modules in the Series will give you fundamental skills.
The Series is self-instructional. The responsibility for learning the concepts and skills in each module is yours. The core information you need is in the modules. Applying that information to specific clients and situations is up to you. Adapting the techniques to your own circumstances is something only you can do. Asking professionals and colleagues about the concepts and skills in the Series will broaden your skills. Challenging Behavior Series Facilitators can help you.
Your Objectives in the Relaxation Exercises Module
Emotions, such as fear, anger and anxiety, can lead to challenging behaviors. Clients may not understand that unpleasant emotional feelings are a part of their own being. They may not know how to relieve the unpleasantness. They may even blame others for how they feel. Coping with one’s own feelings is a difficult skill to learn.
You can help clients relieve some of their emotions by teaching them relaxation exercises. Two types of relaxation exercises, deep breathing and muscle tightening and relaxation, are easy to practice. If you follow the activities in the present module, you should be able to use one or the other of these techniques to help clients relax.
You should learn to do the following in the Relaxation Exercises Module:
ü Be able to demonstrate the deep breathing relaxation exercise
ü Be able to guide another person through the deep breathing relaxation exercise
ü Be able to demonstrate the muscle relaxation exercise
ü Be able to guide another person through the muscle relaxation exercise.
The exercises on the following pages will help you achieve those objectives.
A. Deep Breathing
For hundreds of years yoga masters and midwives have known a simple principle:
When you take slow, deep breaths, you will relax.
If you can help a client take slow, deep breaths, he/she will relax. Clients are less likely to escalate to challenging behaviors if they can breathe deeply and slowly before becoming agitated. When the client is agitated and already engaging in challenging behavior, you may find it difficult to get them to focus on breathing – but, you should try.
Whenever you are helping a client with deep breathing, you will find it valuable to model it. Telling clients how to do it will work in some cases, but not all the time. So, in order to help clients do it, you need to be able to effectively do it yourself. In order to complete this module, you will have to practice your own deep breathing.
Let’s start with a few basic notions:
B. Muscle Relaxation
A. The procedure of tightening muscles completely and, then, releasing the tension and letting it “flow away” works especially well because it is so concrete. Here is how it is done:
1) Say to the client: “Think about your right hand. Only your right hand. Nothing else. Make your right hand into a fist – very tight – just as tight as you can – hold it (4 to 5 seconds) – now relax – let the tension flow out of your hand – let it go limp – let the tension you just had in your fist go out thru your fingers.”
2) Pause 3 – 4 seconds
3) Say to the client: “Make your right hand into fist – very tight – just as tight as you can – now tighten your right forearm – your upper arm - your shoulder - hold it – now relax – let the tension flow out of your arm – let it go limp – let the tension you just had in your arm go out thru your fingers.”
4) Pause 3 – 4 seconds
5) Do same thing with:
6) Clients typically cannot do all these in one session at first.
a. Begin with as much as they will do.
b. Add one or two body parts in later sessions when the client can do more.
7) Clients may not know the names of body parts or right and left. Be creative. Point to each part on a doll or stuffed bear as you say it. Point to your own body part as you say it. Talk to other staff about different ways to do it.
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