Challenging Behaviors In The Preschool Classroom
IDS 101 Cornerstone Seminar
Professor Jessica York
May 8, 2014
Challenging Behaviors in the Preschool Classroom
Challenging behaviors come in many shapes and sizes. Some children have tantrums, others may go hide in a corner and some may even get extremely aggressive. The underdeveloped or emerging language and social/emotional skills of preschool children can lead to challenging behaviors in the classroom when they cannot communicate their needs. Finding strategies that will enhance the development of their language and social/emotional skills will help to deter the challenging behaviors. Smith and Fox (2003) (qtd. In Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 26) define challenging …show more content…
Room arrangement, routines, schedules and teacher-child interactions are an important part to managing these behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29). The classroom schedule should include time for small and large group activities, teacher directed and child directed activities. Having a consistent schedule will allow the children to anticipate what is coming next, and with properly signaled transitions such as ringing a bell, singing a song or even flashing the lights, the need for the behaviors to erupt are drastically cut down. Most children who are truly involved throughout the classroom are not likely to engage in challenging behaviors. Also the activities that are planned in the classroom need to be planned to fit the developmental needs of each child in the classroom. As a teacher you must always remember that not all children develop at the same rate and each child is an individual. (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29). One of the best tools a teacher can use is to always focus on the positive behaviors and not the negative. If you always react to the negative behaviors the child will believe that this is the only way he/she will be able to get your attention. Therefore the challenging behaviors will become more frequent and aggressive. …show more content…
Observation is a key tool, when a teacher has a child with challenging behaviors the teacher needs to observe the child to see if they can pin point what triggers these behaviors. Once the observations have been made and the triggers have been identified to what causes the child’s behavior a behavior support plan can be created. “This plan will teach the child how to get what he or she wants by using the appropriate means and lays out what you and the other adults must do to sustain that behavior” (qtd. In Kaiser and Rasminsky
Professor Jessica York
May 8, 2014
Challenging Behaviors in the Preschool Classroom
Challenging behaviors come in many shapes and sizes. Some children have tantrums, others may go hide in a corner and some may even get extremely aggressive. The underdeveloped or emerging language and social/emotional skills of preschool children can lead to challenging behaviors in the classroom when they cannot communicate their needs. Finding strategies that will enhance the development of their language and social/emotional skills will help to deter the challenging behaviors. Smith and Fox (2003) (qtd. In Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 26) define challenging …show more content…
Room arrangement, routines, schedules and teacher-child interactions are an important part to managing these behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29). The classroom schedule should include time for small and large group activities, teacher directed and child directed activities. Having a consistent schedule will allow the children to anticipate what is coming next, and with properly signaled transitions such as ringing a bell, singing a song or even flashing the lights, the need for the behaviors to erupt are drastically cut down. Most children who are truly involved throughout the classroom are not likely to engage in challenging behaviors. Also the activities that are planned in the classroom need to be planned to fit the developmental needs of each child in the classroom. As a teacher you must always remember that not all children develop at the same rate and each child is an individual. (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29). One of the best tools a teacher can use is to always focus on the positive behaviors and not the negative. If you always react to the negative behaviors the child will believe that this is the only way he/she will be able to get your attention. Therefore the challenging behaviors will become more frequent and aggressive. …show more content…
Observation is a key tool, when a teacher has a child with challenging behaviors the teacher needs to observe the child to see if they can pin point what triggers these behaviors. Once the observations have been made and the triggers have been identified to what causes the child’s behavior a behavior support plan can be created. “This plan will teach the child how to get what he or she wants by using the appropriate means and lays out what you and the other adults must do to sustain that behavior” (qtd. In Kaiser and Rasminsky