Teaching students with behavioral disorders to use a negotiation procedure: Impact on classroom behavior and conflict resolution strategy

The impact of the instruction of a six-step problem solving negotiation procedure on the conflict resolution strategies and classroom behavior of six elementary students with challenging behaviors was examined. Moderately positive effects were found for the following negotiation strategies used by students: independent problem solving, problem solving requiring a teacher prompt, and avoiding. However, there were limited effects of the negotiation instruction on the students\u27 use of the negotiation strategy of forcing; and a negligible, negative effect was found on student problem solving negotiation requiring a prompt by a crisis interventionist. Similarly, there were limited effects of the instruction on students\u27 use of verbal and physical aggression. Findings indicated that the students with the most severe challenging behaviors benefited more from the instruction. All students were able to learn the problem solving negotiation procedure, though sometimes visual and verbal prompts were needed. Overall student and teacher attitudes toward the problem solving negotiation instruction were positive. These findings suggest that giving direct instruction of problem solving negotiation to students with challenging behaviors provides some pro-social benefits