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 behavior in young children as “any repeated pattern of behavior, or perception of behavior, that interferes with or is at risk of interfering with optimal learning or engagement in prosocial interactions with peers and adults.” Challenging behaviors can be a behavior that encumbers the child’s development of their social, cognitive and emotional skills (Kaiser and Rasminsky 7). Some of these behaviors can be harmful to the child themselves or to other children or adults. Many adults tend to put labels on those children with challenging behaviors.

Kaiser and Rasminsky stated “A Rose by Any Other Name” (9), here are some of the labels many of us have heard or even used ourselves, ”High maintenance, noncompliant, disruptive, and out of control” just to name a few (Kaiser and Rasminsky 9). When labels are used to identify a child with those challenging behaviors, the child basically has one strike against them. With that mind set it is difficult for the teacher to see the positive attributes the child has; they tend to focus only on the negative ones.

The challenging behaviors of some preschool children can really disrupt a classroom. Everyone in the room is affected by the outbursts or tantrums. It makes it very difficult for the other children in the room to focus on what they were working on. During these outbursts or tantrums some of the children get nervous or anxious. Some of the children take notice that the child causing the disruption is getting the teachers attention and try to copy the behavior to get attention themselves (Kaiser and Rasminsky 1). “As a result, the class can soon contain four or five children with challenging behaviors” (Kaiser and Rasminsky 1). These children need some kind of intervention to help minimize or stop the challenging behaviors before they begin.

Teachers who are extremely experienced and confident can often find themselves doubting him or herself when that child with the challenging behaviors comes into their classroom. They begin to second guess themselves and they try to put the blame on the parents or someone else for the child’s behavior (Kaiser and Rasminsky 17). Before a teacher can help a child with challenging behaviors he or she need to know why these behaviors are happening. Once the triggers of those behaviors are identified, the child will be looked at differently, and the teachers will then be able to guide that child in a positive direction so that he or she will succeed. Most challenging behaviors have risk factors associated with them. These risk factors are divided into two categories, which are biological and environmental. A few of the biological risk factors include genetics, gender, and temperament.

The environmental risk factors include family and parenting style, peers, and childcare and school just to name a few. Some scientists believe genetics can play a role in the challenging behaviors, and genetics combined with negative influences from the environment can lead to aggressive behaviors. Even though scientists believe that heredity is a factor in these behaviors, it does not necessarily mean that they are destined to always have these challenging behaviors. Even strong genetic traits can be altered if the child is put in the appropriate environmental surroundings with the strategies to help to deter these behaviors (Kaiser and Rasminsky 19).

According to Urie Bronfenbrenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (qtd. In Kaiser and Rasminsky 30) everything in a child’s environment, such as family, peers, daycare center, the area where they live, and also how much violence the child is exposed to through television can influence their development and contribute to the challenging behaviors (Kaiser and Rasminsky 30). For most preschool children, the development of emotional and behavioral self- regulation and social skills usually develop steadily. Yet there are numerous preschool children who show behaviors that are concerning to parents, teachers and their caregivers (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 25). The developmental pace of social and emotional skills varies by child.

Not all children develop at the same rate. Their development is influenced by the child themselves, their social and physical environment, and the child’s temperament. To help children understand their feelings and give them the vocabulary so they can express how they are feeling tools can be used such as emotion charts where there are pictures of children who are feeling angry, happy, sad, scared and so on. These charts can help the children express to the teacher how they are feeling by pointing at a picture that resembles how they are feeling (Rand 7). Most children go through stages, at times they can be fussy, anxious and they can have tantrums or even become aggressive. Some preschool children who have not mastered the social/emotional skills and self- management and self- regulation skills that are needed for successful learning in group situations and are demonstrating challenging behaviors are more than likely to have underdeveloped language skills.

With these under developed language skills the children who possess these deficits are more than likely going to have challenging behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 25-26). For most children these actions are brought on by specific situations. If these behaviors are becoming frequent and the intensity of these behaviors escalates then there is a need for intervention. One of the first steps in preventing and or intervening is to have a positive relationship with the children and their families; this is for all children, not only those who are displaying challenging behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 25-27). You also need to have prevention strategies in place in the classroom and at home. Without these supportive relationships the positive strategies will not have much effect. Having a strong relationship between teachers and families plays an important role in the child’s development.

When teachers and parents build a strong and respectful relationship it makes it easier for the teacher to discuss the child’s behavior and daily experiences and can address each child’s individual needs. When you have a respectful relationship the parents are more willing to discuss information about family situations and can give insight on why the child may be demonstrating the challenging behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 28). With a strong relationship parents may feel more comfortable to ask for help and guidance on parenting or handling these behaviors at home when they feel they are being supported by the staff.

To build these strong relationships the childcare staff encourages parents to be involved and participate in the program, they talk to the parents about what their child’s interests are and their abilities and what they like or dislike. They also have an ongoing communication where they share information about children with parents (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 28-29). Sometimes conventional parenting approaches often fall short for children who exhibit challenging behaviors. It can sometimes cause poor self-esteem. These parents need help developing strategies to help them deal with these behaviors (Ahmann 38).

Prevention is a combined effort between the home and school with the guidance from their child’s teacher, pediatrician and others, they can begin to promote and encourage positive expressions of emotions and social problem solving skills through being good models. Also their Pediatricians can provide valuable information to parents parenting practices such as routines for sleep, environmental safety, proper nutrition and any other concerns a parent may have. All of these areas have a relationship to the development of children and can reduce the chance of the child will develop challenging behaviors (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29).

Preschool teachers can take deliberate measures to minimize the chance of challenging behaviors and promote prosocial learning by creating an environment that will be beneficial to all children, not just the children with challenging behaviors. 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. When you focus on the positive behaviors and consistently praise the child for his/her good behavior the challenging behaviors will become less frequent and the child will build up his/her self-confidence and will strive to please you in a positive way (Powell, Dunlap, and Fox 29).

In the past the way most teachers dealt with challenging behaviors was putting the child in time-out and calling the parent. By doing this the focus was on the negative behavior and not in preventing the behavior. Instead the child was punished for his behavior. In order to help the children manage their behaviors you need to need to focus on their positive behaviors and incorporate strategies to deter the behaviors from happening to begin with. As adults we always have a tendency to always tell children what the children cannot do, when you should be telling them what they can do (Green, Mays, and Jolivette 25).

Here are some important strategies for minimizing challenging behaviors: Always praise the child’s good behavior, do not dwell on the negative. Make sure that the physical environment in your classroom is set up so that the children can move freely from one area to another and that the areas are inviting so the children feel comfortable and not anxious. The space should be large enough so the children can play together comfortably. Your classroom should have a quiet corner or a place where the children can go if they need time to be by themselves. A daily schedule/routine is essential, when the children expect what is happening next it is less likely the challenging behaviors will emerge. Providing choices at times when the behaviors seem to occur can help the child learn to regulate their behaviors.

For example, if a child is having a difficult time sitting for circle time you can give them the choice to go sit at the table with a book or a puzzle and let them know that they can return to circle when they are ready. If you have a child who has yet to develop enough language skills to be able to express their needs, you need to give the child the words. Tell them to ask for help. With the proper guidance and nurturing the child will begin to build their language skills and the challenging behaviors will diminish over time. In order to help children curb their challenging behaviors they need to build their social and emotional skills. As their social and emotional skills continue to develop and improve their interactions with their peers also improve. Teachers need to teach children emotional skills such as empathy, impulse control, and anger management by modeling the behaviors we want the children to learn and by instruction and continuous reinforcement (Kaiser and Rasminsky 230). By providing the children with the proper tools, language, guidance, and reassurance they will become more confident.

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 208). The behavior support plan includes, developing long and short term goals for the child, identify what changes need to be made to the environment to prevent the behaviors, identify what causes the behavior and teach skills to replace the behavior, identify how all teachers will respond when the child uses the new skills and when they use the challenging behaviors, and an evaluation framework (Kaiser And Rasminsky 208).

According to Kaiser and Rasminsky, How can you respond effectively to challenging behavior? “The basis for all effective guidance is a caring relationship. When you understand a child’s feelings, preferences, and triggers, you can help him learn appropriate behaviors that allows him to do his best: and if he knows you care about him and support him, he’ll come to trust you and respond more positively to whatever you are teaching” (234).

To successfully alleviate the challenging behaviors of preschool children, teachers must have patients, perseverance, and a strong will to want to help these children succeed. Teachers must have a strong relationship with the families, and support of their co-workers to work as a team. As a team they need to work together to come up with a positive solution and strategies to help these children be successful and confident individuals. With all of the proper tools, strategies and co-operation in place teachers will be able to guide these children to success and minimize their challenging behaviors.

Works Cited

Ahmann, Elizabeth. “Encouraging Positive Behavior In ‘Challenging Children: The Nurtured Heart Approach.” Pediatric Nursing 40.1 (2014) 38-42. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Green, Katherine B., Nicole M. Mays, and Kristine Jolivette. “Making Choices: A Proactive Way to Improve Behaviors for Young Children with Challenging Behaviors.” Beyond Behavior 20.1 (2010): 25-31. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Apr. 2014

Kaiser, Barbara, and Judy Sklar Rasminsky. “Challenging Behaviors in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing, and Responding Effectively.” (Third Edition), Pearson. 2012 print.

Powell, Diane PhD., Glen Dunlap, PhD., and Lise Fox, PhD. “Prevention and Intervention for
the Challenging Behaviors of Toddlers and Preschoolers” Infants & Young Children. Vol.
19. No. 1, pp25-35. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. (2006).

Rand, Muriel, “Emotional Skills” The Positive Classroom: Classroom Management techniques for Early Childhood & Elementary Teachers 3 Oct. 2011 p7. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.