All Behavior Is Communication' Is Not a Useful Statement

All behavior is communication.

I keep hearing this, but I think it's nonsense, and here's why.

Yes, it makes a certain amount of sense to say that behavior can be communication, especially if you're working with a student with autism who may be nonverbal or just may not express needs that need to be met in the classroom environment, and you may see behaviors that occur if those needs are not met.

But that's not really what's going on with most of the behavior that we're concerned with in school.

And to treat behavior as communication is to do a sleight of hand that results in blaming educators for things that they don't deserve to be blamed for, right?

If a student is misbehaving, if a student is disruptive or violent, Yes, that's a communication in the sense that you can make inferences about what's going on with that student, but those inferences might be incorrect, the communication may not be intentional, and there may just be nothing more going on than impulsivity or bad decisions or something else so like this idea that behavior is communication is not actually a useful one and when people respond to a bad behavior by saying oh it's communication what they're really doing is they're trying to blame the educator and that's what bothers me so much about this it's an attempt to shift responsibility from the student to the educator and say well it's your fault why did you not pick up on the communication why did you not adapt why did you not accommodate the student and intervene in some way and prevent the behavior.

When we put all of the burden of preventing student behavior onto the educator and we don't hold the student responsible for their own behavior, is it any wonder that students don't get their behavior under control and that educators report increasingly chaotic and unsafe work environments?

So I'm done with this.

I'm done with this idea of behaviorist communication and it's our fault if a student is not behaving well.

I saw a I posted from a principal yesterday who said that a student in fourth grade wanted to get sent home, wanted the principal to call his mom.

And when the principal didn't do that, the student punched him in the face.

Punched him in the face on purpose.

Unprovoked, just punched him in the face because he didn't do what he wanted.

And I was astounded to see at least one person...

say what you provoked it.

Why did you do that?

Why, you know, you need training in deescalation.

This was, this was your fault.

You shouldn't have, you know, like you should have seen this coming all behaviors, communication, that kind of thing.

Like this kind of thinking is so toxic and so destructive that I'm just done with it.

And the, the idea that behaviors communication, like, yes, maybe that's useful in talking about students with autism or, you But I want to push back really hard against the kind of gaslighting that is happening towards so many educators that says, like, this is your fault.

You should have seen this coming.

You should have prevented this.

No, students are responsible for their own behavior.

And as educators, behavior, it can be just behavior.

Like, it's not clever to say all behavior is communication.

So here's something you can do.

If you're tired of people saying this in situations where it doesn't make any sense, if somebody says to you, all behavior is communication, just look at them like they're stupid.

Look at them like they're stupid.

All behavior is communication.

Like, what do you want me to do with that?

Do you want me to take responsibility for the fact that the student punched me in the face?

Because I'm not going to do that.

This has to stop.

Let me know what you think.

Let me know if you're hearing this phrase being misused.

Let me know if you're hearing this kind of thing happen in regards to responsibility for student behavior.