Final Paper for my Guidance Strategy Class.

After all the discussions, research and reading the entire book “challenging Behavior in Young Children”, what stood out to me the most, is that children with challenging behavior are human beings, who did not get up with the decision to make your day miserable. They could have various causes for their behavior starting at illnesses from irresponsible mothers, hereditary ailments, and exposure to factors beyond their control that influence them towards challenging behavior. I learned a lot from, and absolutely love the WEVAS (Working effectively with violent and aggressive states) program.

First children exhibit the anxious state, which is the early warning system. One needs to use heart to heart strategies, by providing comfort, caring, calibrating and correcting. More importantly by using the following techniques will help a child return to a competent state:

• Using door openers to get the child to sit down with you.
• Asking open-ended question – This is must not just for challenging behavior children.
• Validating and paraphrasing is critical, so that the child knows you understand him or her.
• Reframing the child’s statement will let the child see the event in a more positive light.
• Responding to the need within the child’s message.
• Paying attention to your tone of voice, and body language!!! Children pick up immediately how you are feeling towards them by the tone and body language you bring forth.

When a teacher does not respond to the signs of anxiety, a child’s behavior can escalate to agitation. The teacher should let the child know that the behavior is unacceptable and then teach him or her, what is acceptable. By showing respect, care, and support towards the child, he or she will know what is expected from him. The I-message will tell the child how her behavior affects you and they allow you to take ownership of your feelings instead of hiding them. At the second level of agitation, the issue becomes power. Do the unexpected, and it will help the child think about what they are doing and it could stop the cycle. Redirecting them is a great tool! On the other hand providing children with options will make them stop and think. One has to always be clear, concise and concrete!

The next sage is referred to the aggressive state in which the child is out of control, and they do not hear or understand anything you say to them. First of all you need to distance yourself psychologically, and take an L-stance to not seem threatening. The program taught me that eye-contact should be avoided as it can ignite the situation, or reinforce a child whose goal is to get your attention. Sometimes children can also move from aggressive to assaultive behavior, at which point you do not move the child and use all verbal and nonverbal skills you used to deal with a child the aggressive state, and in addition you must think of everyone’s safety.

There will always be children that exhibit challenging behavior, from the whiney two year old, to the kicking bully in the class. To me the fear that one child’s behavior will trigger an emotion deep inside my own being, is the reason I wanted to know what to do in order to correctly understand and handle all challenging behavioral situations. The one “tool” that stood out the most is to notice and comment good things kids do, especially if they are prone to showing signs of challenging behavior. Telling the child in question immediately that their behavior was good, lets them know that you love, notice, as well as care for their well being. From my experience the ultimate goal in this life is to have a child grow up resilient (able to recover quickly from setbacks). One of the ways to do this is by not telling a child “good job” or something in that line, when they achieve something, but instead asking them how they feel when they accomplished it, or even when they did a good deed. By having a child love themselves for doing something nice, they end up with a greater self-worth.

In the end creating a positive behavior support plan, is priority on my list. Once you understand where a child’s challenging behavior could have started, and then using strategies that appropriately deal with each situation, the end result can only be win-win. One needs to ask a few questions and asses the situations at hand by examining the following:

• What are the setting events (Noise, hunger, Fatigue), and what antecedents (a difficult task, waiting or no attention) are present?
• What is the behavior the child is expressing (kicking, hitting or screaming)?
• What are the potential functions for the behavior? Is the child trying to avoid or escape from doing something, Is she trying to get attention or an object, do they need an increase or decrease in sensory stimulation?
• One the function is recognized, the next step is to intervene and let a consequence play out.
• One can change the environment, replace the challenging behavior with appropriate behavior or ignore the inappropriate behavior as much as possible.
• The above will get the desired behavior, and life can continue on.

Empathy (the ability to identify with and understand somebody else's feelings or difficulties), is what sets apart good from bad. In addition I have always believed in respect as a very powerful instrument, especially towards children. Inappropriate behavior is an opportunity to teach and make a difference in a child’s life. I truly learned a lot from this class and the textbook. In the end I could not have summarized it any better than Sue Bredekamp Ph.D. from the foreword in the textbook: “Preventing challenging behavior, addressing it effectively when it occurs, and teaching appropriate alternatives in preschool are the responsibilities of every early childhood educator.” This is my credo!