Instructional Playbook

C

Classroom Adjustment: De-escalation

Help–Prompt–Wait (HPW) is a low-intensity classroom adjustment designed to reduce frustration, increase independence, and prevent behavior escalation by providing students with the right amount of support at the right time. Rather than repeatedly prompting or completing work for students, teachers provide brief assistance, a clear prompt, and then intentionally pause to allow processing and independent responding.

Level of Teacher Effort

HPW is especially effective when students become overwhelmed, avoid tasks, or struggle to initiate work because of skill deficits or emotional dysregulation.

Many challenging behaviors can occur when students are moving through a predictable crisis cycle. The Crisis Cycle is a behavioral framework and visual tool that helps identify warning signs early and implement specific interventions tailored to each point of the cycle. Early intervention during the escalation phase often prevents a crisis from occurring.

. Low High Medium

De-escalation Goals 1. Maintain the safety of the agitated person and everyone else. 2. Avoid making the situation any worse or making the person more agitated. 3. Help the person to decrease the intensity of crisis behaviors. 4. Avoid reinforcing crisis behaviors, so they do not become more likley in the future.