Alternative schools do not solve children's behavioural problems in the long-term.

US education consultant Barbara Ludlow warned local educators that students in such schools often return to the regular classroom setting and get into trouble.

"If you take a whole bunch of kids who can't behave properly and put them together, what will they learn?'' Dr. Ludlow asked educators at Phi Delta Kappa local chapter's behavioural management forum at Berkeley Institute during the weekend.

"The only chance they have to behave properly is by being around kids who behave properly,'' she added. "A misconception about misbehaviour is that you can take the child out of the original school and place them in a special school with specialists to teach them. But when they return to the regular school setting, they do not have the same environment and therefore they do not know how to behave.

"It is more cost effective to train teachers to deal with them in the regular classroom setting and to work with their parents.'' However, Dr. Ludlow admitted that a "very dangerous'' child should be removed from the school and placed in a residential facility.

"Some children are so dangerous that you have to take them out, but that's also dangerous because you have to eventually return them to the regular school,'' she said. "If a child is very dangerous, then they probably should be in a residential facility.'' Government last April opened an alternative school, known as CADET or the Centre for Adolescent Development, Education and Training, at the Warwick Camp for 12 to 16 year olds with a history of behavioural problems.

Consultant questions role of alternative schools And it is helping to fund another alternative programme to be launched in September by Coalition for Protection of Children chairperson Sheelagh Cooper.

But Dr. Ludlow -- who has doctorate and masters degrees in special education from West Virginia University and from the University of Delaware and coordinates a graduate course in special education for West Virginia University -- said: "Most kids misbehave because they don't know the right way to behave, so you have to teach them.'' And she advised educators to remember the following when faced with behavioural challenges: establish a bond with the child -- if the child believes you really care, he or she will make an effort to do good; always look for the cause of their behaviour so you can replace that behaviour with proper behaviour; provide multiple solutions -- have a bunch of strategies ready; and apply contingencies -- simple, fair rules and logical consequences.

"The little child that is four and has temper tantrums becomes a 15 year old with behavioural problems and 90 year old with problems because the problem was not addressed at four,'' Dr. Ludlow noted.

She also suggested that teachers can help students in a class with a troubled child to adjust to that child's behaviour.

"Teach the other kids to try not to irritate the student,'' she said. "Teach them that when Johnny is exhibiting certain behaviour, they should avoid him and not irritate him.'' By ignoring some behaviours, teachers can save time and help alleviate the problem situation, she added.

Teachers' behaviour can also contribute to or exacerbate problems in the classroom.

Dr. Ludlow said this may happen when teachers do the following: complain about little things; expect kids to be better than they can be; and focus on the bad, rather than the good.

Noting that boys tend to "act out'' in class more than girls because of their natural aggressive nature and need for more activity, Dr. Ludlow said: "Obviously we need more male role models in the school system.

"But we also need to teach women teachers to not interpret the behaviour of boys into something more than it is.

"Boys need more activity. We naturally let boys be creative, wild and crazy because we value that in men in our society. But we try to stop that in the school setting when they are really exhibiting normal behaviours.'' She urged teachers to find the cause of students' behaviour and develop suitable strategies.

And while admitting that the solutions were long term, Dr. Ludlow advised teachers to "stop seeing the behaviour and see a child who needs your help to understand them''.

Dr. Ludlow's primary interests are in the development and evaluation of innovative models of teacher education.

She was the editor of a professional reference book in the field and has written numerous journal articles on a variety of topics, ranging from early childhood development to working with children with severe and multiple disabilities.

She is also the author of five Phi Delta Kappa books on topics related to special education, including "Teaching the Learning Disabled'', "Pre-school Programs for the Learning Disabled'', and "Trends Shaping the Future of Special Education''.