Managing Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood Education
Challenging behavior is any behavior that follows a pattern and it is difficult for adults (parents, caregivers, teachers) to deal with and/or puts the child or others in risk. It is common that children with learning disabilities have challenging behaviors. Here are some examples of this kind of behavior:
Physical aggression - hitting, kicking, biting, pushing other students or creating any other unwanted physical contact.
Verbal aggression - yelling at others, name calling, making fun of other student’s differences.
Self-injury - trying to harm themselves through head banging, hitting, biting, scratching.
Property destruction - throwing learning materials, breaking objects in the classroom or vandalizing school property.
Impulsive behavior - repetitive behavior that makes kids seem younger than they are because they do not have the self control expected for that certain age.
The causes for challenging behavior can be various, including:
Desire for attention from adults and their peers.
Avoid doing work that is too difficult for them.
To get something that they want.
Inability to communicate properly.
There is a specific case study of one of my second grade students, I will refer to him as “Student A”. He is a 7 years old boy living abroad for the first time. He comes from Russia and he is an ELL student. He can speak English but his writing and reading are below grade level. He has two brothers, one in middle school and the other in high school. As the youngest, his mom is extra protective of him and she believes that he can do no wrong.
Student A is constantly making loud noises and hitting objects on the table during the lessons. He plays roughly during recess, says bad words to others and screams during snack and lunch time. Student A doesn’t follow directions or show respect for the teacher or classmates. This behavior makes the other students uncomfortable, they usually ask to change seats in order to not sit close to him and they often complain about his attitude. Other students are also harmed academically since the teacher needs to give attention to his behavior instead of their learning. Student A is usually off task and even when he starts an assignment, he hardly finishes it. His behavior prevents him from being part of the community, since his peers feel annoyed, and also prevents him from growing academically because he almost never tries to focus on the activities and collaborate with others.
In order to deal with this behavior I thought about two schools of thought. According to Skinner and his theory about operant conditioning, actions that are followed by reinforcement are strengthened and more likely to occur in the future. On the other hand, actions that result in punishment or undesirable consequences are weakened and less likely to occur again in the future. For a couple of months we tried using Skinner’s theory about operant conditioning, imagining that the positive reinforcements and punishments would change his behavior. Every time he didn’t behave well we would move his clip down on the classroom behavior chart and explain to him what he did wrong and he would come up with solutions. If he continued to behave badly he would have some time out during recess to reflect on his actions. The same logic would be if he did something good, we would move his clip up on the classroom behavior chart towards earning a PRIDE Certificate and acknowledge him for what he did good. If students show perseverance, respect, integrity, drive and empathy throughout the day they get a PRIDE certificate and the certificates go on a second grade bulletin board (see the image below). I would always praise him and reinforce how amazing it was having him showing perseverance and respect and give him PRIDE certificates for these behaviors. I noticed that it worked but his behavior wasn’t totally fixed.
PRIDE Certificate Bulletin Board
We came to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to involve the counselor in this case. According to Vygotsky, who wrote about social constructivism, children learn through social interaction that includes collaborative and cooperative dialogue with someone who is more skilled in tasks they are trying to learn. Those people with higher skill levels are called More Knowledgeable Others. In this case, the counselor would be the More Knowledgeable Other, since Student A struggles with social skills. One of the first counselor's strategies for the boy’s behaviors was to arrange meetings with other students from Russia that are in different grades. They would have snacks together on certain days, so Student A could make connections with other Russians and adapt better to the school.
Another strategy, which was the most successful one, was the Achievement Chart (see the image below). The counselor set goals for the student which are:
Show respect by following directions
Being kind to others and showing integrity by making the right choices and being safe.
Every period the teachers have to mark how many points Student A earned by showing respect and integrity. If he scores 24 points, then he would receive the reward of iPad time, which he was able to select. If it is not possible to talk to him after every period we would do it by the end of the day. He started feeling motivated to behave well because he wanted the points so he could have the reward (positive reinforcement). If the student doesn’t show respect and integrity, then the consequence would be the loss of privilege because he wouldn’t get enough points to earn Ipad time.
Student A’s Achievement Chart
Since the beginning of the school year the parents were contacted about Student A's behavior. After a few months the counselor was involved because it was extremely complicated to deal with him. Before starting the Achievement Chart, the counselor contacted the parents asking for authorization to start the plan. If there are major incidents such as hurting other kids we contact the parents immediately. The parents are also expected to review and sign the Achievement Chart and Student A returns the signed copy. This allows the parent to see points and any additional comments on a daily basis. Otherwise, the counselor gets in touch with the parents on a weekly basis to communicate the kid’s progress.
Dealing with challenging behavior is not easy. It requires a lot of patience and persistence. We noticed the improvement in Student A’s behavior and definitely the Achievement Plan associated with positive reinforcement and punishment has been a significant part of the process. I learned with this case that showing empathy and working everyday in engaging the student have positive effects in both the short and long run.
References:
Mcleod, Saul. “Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory.” Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory | Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html.
Mcleod, Saul. “Skinner - Operant Conditioning.” Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html.
Morin, Amanda. “What Is a Behavior Intervention Plan?” Understood, Understood, 25 May 2021, https://www.understood.org/articles/en/behavior-intervention-plans-what-you-need-to-know.
“Rocking and Rolling-It Takes Two: The Role of Co-Regulation in Building Self-Regulation Skills.” NAEYC, https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2015/rocking-rolling.
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