Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood Settings: Creating a Place for All Children - Softcover

Susan Hart Bell, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Coordinator of Child Development at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. Dr. Bell received a master of science degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Kentucky University and a doctorate in school psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She has coordinated an interdisciplinary team serving preschool children with disabilities in Raleigh, North Carolina, and consulted with preschools in the Greater Cincinnati area. Dr. Bell directed the Ohio Early Childhood Intervention Project at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Bell and her husband, Jeff, have two children, Sarah and Chad, and one grandchild, Elijah Chad.

Victoria Carr, Ed.D., is Director of the Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education Center and Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education, University of Cincinnati. She is Executive Director for the Arlitt Head Start program and Executive Producer for Arlitt Instructional Media. For many years, Dr. Carr’s work has focused on children who have challenging behaviors. Her current research is on nature and children. She collaborates with the Cincinnati Nature Center to lead The Cincinnati Playscape Initiative. Dr. Carr holds a bachelor of science in elementary education and learning and behavioral disorders, a master of science in gifted education, and a doctorate in early childhood special education.

Dawn Denno, M.Ed., Ed.D., is Director of Early Education and Care at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Denno received a master of science in early childhood education and an education doctorate in special education. Dr. Denno spent 10 years as an early education classroom teacher. She has served as a Head Start director, a child care licensing specialist, and an administrator of Montessori and traditional child care programs. Dr. Denno previously worked for the Ohio Department of Education, where she facilitated quality improvement initiatives and assessment in early education programs across the state. Dr. Denno’s areas of interest include school readiness, literacy, assessment, language development, and supporting children with challenging behavior. Her publications include articles on early intervention, outcome measurement, and behavior support.

Lawrence J. Johnson is Dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services; Professor of Education; and Executive Director of the Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education Center at the University of Cincinnati. He earned his doctoral degree in working with at-risk populations, statistical analysis, and research methods from the University of Illinois. He has published extensively, having written 11 books, 27 book chapters, and 67 refereed journal articles.

In addition to his publications, Dr. Johnson served as principal investigator or primary author of 200 grant proposals, which were funded for a combined total in excess of $100,000,000. These projects have had an impact at the local, state, and national levels, as evidenced by the recognition that Dr. Johnson has received from the states of Illinois, Alabama, and Ohio for his contributions to their citizens. In addition, he has been recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) for his contributions as President of the Teacher Education Division and by the CEC's Division for Early Childhood for his contributions as Chair of the Research Committee. Dr. Johnson served as co-editor of the Journal for Teacher Education and Special Education and as chair of the State of Ohio University of Education Deans.

Louise R. Phillips, M.Ed., is Coordinator of Inclusion Services at the Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education Center at the University of Cincinnati. She holds bachelor of science degrees in kindergarten-primary education and in child development, family life, and preschool education, as well as a master's degree in early childhood education from the University of Cincinnati. Ms. Phillips coordinates disability and mental health services for children and families and has presented on various topics, including children with challenging behaviors, inclusion, diversity, transitions, talking with children about difficult topics, the screening and assessment process, and communicating with families. Prior to teaching at Arlitt Center, Ms. Phillips taught in a preschool program in Alabama and kindergarten and preschool programs in the Cincinnati area. As an early Childhood Education Teacher Specialist at the Arlitt Center, she has facilitated children's learning through the Home Base and Center Base Programs. In addition, she has been a cooperating teacher, resource advisor, and mentor to early childhood education students at the University of Cincinnati. Ms. Phillips and her husband Ray have two children, David and Tracy.

Anne M. Bauer, Ed.D., is a professor in the Division of Teacher Education at the University of Cincinnati's College of Education.

Sally Moomaw, Ed.D., is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. She taught preschool and kindergarten children in inclusive, diverse classrooms for more than 20 years. She is the author or coauthor of 13 books for early childhood education, including More than Counting: Whole Math Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten (Redleaf Press, 1995), More than Magnets: Exploring the Wonders of Science in Preschool and Kindergarten (Redleaf Press, 1997), and Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms (Redleaf Press, 2002) and More Than Counting: Standards Edition (Redleaf Press, 2011). She has given numerous presentations for educators throughout the United States and has developed a Mathematics Toolkit for the Ohio Department of Education to help preschool and kindergarten teachers implement state content standards. Her research focus is the development of mathematics understanding in young children.

Excerpted from Chapter 7 of Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood Settings: Creating a Place for All Children
By Susan Hart Bell, Ph.D., Victoria Carr, Ed.D., Dawn Denno, M.Ed., Lawrence J. Johnson, Ph.D., and Louise R. Phillips, M.Ed.
©2004. Brookes Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Implementing Individualized Behavior Plans

An early childhood teacher attempts to provide an orderly, engaging classroom environment for a group of children with diverse temperaments, skills, and experiences. Some children rush into the classroom with tales of weekend activities, excitedly sharing their stories with peers and teachers. Others trail in sadly, scolded by parents who are late for work, seeking the comfort of a warm lap and a good book. Still others experience cyclical changes in their moods and behavior and may be forced to adapt to the fluctuating expectations and daily schedules of divorced parents with joint custody. In turn, the classroom climate changes daily, mirroring the moods and activities of the children. As suggested previously, the early childhood teacher routinely assesses the goodness-of-fit among the classroom schedule, the physical arrangement, the curricular offerings, and the needs of the children, making changes as problems arise. These changes, although usually discussed with assistant teachers and staff, are informal and subject to revision. The teacher uses "gut feeling" in determining how the modifications contribute to the smoothness of the classroom routines.

As discussed in Chapters 5 and 6, an experienced classroom teacher follows this same process when addressing behavior that results in a marked disruption of classroom activities. The teacher begins to step up her involvement with the child, closely scrutinizing the child's behavior and providing more support during tough times of the day. The educator looks for patterns in the child's behavior, which serve as warning signs, and begins to group the child with different children or to modify his or her daily schedule. These strategies are followed intuitively but informally—almost on an experimental basis. When the teacher finds a strategy (or combination of strategies) that seems to resolve the problem, he or she can turn to other concerns.

However, when the teacher is faced with a child whose behavior 1) is resistant to these informal strategies, 2) appears to escalate or become more frequent despite accommodations and increased support, and/or 3) occurs apparently without warning, the time spent attending to the daily management of the child's behavior justifies further investment in the development of an individualized and formal intervention plan. Jackson and Panyan (2002) described behavioral intervention as a deliberate rearrangement of environmental conditions. This plan is based on a general understanding of the factors influencing the behavior to promote the child's growth and learning. The eventual goal of any behavioral intervention is to enhance the comfort of the child and those around him or her. This chapter highlights the factors that the classroom teacher should examine in planning for behavioral intervention: strategies for deciding when formal intervention is necessary, methods for convening an intervention team, techniques for gathering information related to the problem situation, and components of a successful intervention plan.

WHEN IS FORMAL INTERVENTION NECESSARY?

The following subsections examine possible indicators of the need for a formal intervention plan.

Factors Beyond the Teacher's Control

As part of initial intervention planning, the classroom teacher should determine whether the challenging behaviors stem from medical conditions or characteristics of the home environment that are difficult to address with classroom interventions (Barnett, Bell, & Carey, 1999). If health conditions are present, then the appropriate response is to refer the child to a medical practitioner. If home characteristics are an issue, then the plan must effectively target parent consultation rather than individual child behaviors. Additional factors that may require involvement of other professionals (e.g., psychologists, physicians, social workers) have been addressed more thoroughly in Chapter 1. Parent factors are highlighted in the following vignette.

Jamie, age 4, yawns as he turns the pages in the book. He is slumped in the beanbag chair in the book area, his eyes drooping. As the teacher begins singing the cleanup song and encourages the children to wash their hands for snack, Jamie's eyes finally close. The teacher approaches him gently, touching his shoulder and repeating, "Jamie, it is time for you to put the book away and get ready for snack time." Jamie only snuggles more deeply into the beanbag chair and asks the teacher for his blanket, saying that he is sleepy. The teacher insists, "Jamie, it's time for snack. I'll help you put the book away." Jamie begins to sob, and the teacher holds him as he quickly falls back to sleep.

Concerned that Jamie is ill, the teacher leaves him in the care of an assistant and calls Jamie's mother at work. Jamie's mother tells the teacher that Jamie did not go to sleep until after midnight the night before. She confides that it is hard to get Jamie to bed, so she usually gives in and lets him stay up with her while she watches television. Jamie's mother works long hours, and early evening is the only time that she and Jamie have together during the week. She reveals frustration with the nightly bedtime battle and regrets that this is causing Jamie to be sleepy at school. The teacher suggests a parent–teacher conference to discuss some bedtime suggestions, and Jamie's mother immediately agrees. Disruption of Daily Activities

Another factor to consider in deciding whether to develop a formal intervention is the degree to which the daily classroom activities of the classroom are disrupted by the child's behavior. Jackson and Panyan (2002) described challenging behaviors as falling on a continuum from mildly inattentive and disruptive to severely disruptive and dangerous. Mild noncompliance (e.g., frequently leaving one's carpet square to sit near the teacher during group time) and ill-timed self-expression (e.g., responding enthusiastically and loudly to every teacher question during group time) may be supported with increased teacher proximity, quiet reminders (e.g., "It's Jeffrey's turn to talk now"), redirection, and the institution of logical consequences (e.g., "You left the art table, so you lost your turn at sponge painting"). Depending on the frequency of the minor disruptions, the teacher might consider the need for collaboration with classroom staff to develop a time-limited and simple behavioral intervention. When the child's behavior falls further along the continuum, involving severe and frequent disruptions to the classroom day and interfering with other children's learning experiences, the teacher should consider a more intensive assessment and formal intervention plan. The same is true for dangerous behaviors, regardless of how infrequently they occur.

Behavior that Differs from that of Peers

Another deciding factor is the degree to which the child's behavior departs from that of other children in the classroom. The teacher can directly observe during a classroom activity (e.g., free play) to assess whether the child's behavior of concern (e.g., hitting) occurs with greater frequency, duration, or intensity than that of his or her classmates. Peer micronorms are one way in which this can be determined. The teacher can define the behavior of concern, identify "average" children in the classroom of the same gender and age, and conduct a focused observation of the child and his or her classmates to document the occurrence of the targeted behavior during a specified time interval (e.g., 30 minutes of free play) (Bell & Barnett, 1999). If the teacher finds that all of the children are equally likely to display the inappropriate behavior, then he or she might consider implementing a classwide intervention (Siemoens, 2001). Classwide problems with the naptime routine are illustrated in the next vignette.

The teacher presses the button on the tape player, and the naptime song begins to play. She quietly calls the remaining children in the book area to their cots. Fifteen cots line the walls of the nap room, and children sit or lie on or near them. The song continues to play as assistant teachers move toward the children who have the most difficulty falling asleep. The teacher turns down the volume of the song and picks a naptime book to read. The children wait attentively as the teacher opens the book. The story is lively, full of animal sounds and actions, and soon Marquis has moved to stand on his cot. He bounces excitedly as the story continues. Ellen sees Marquis, and soon she is jumping, too, as the story builds in tension. Rachel begins to pull her cot closer to the teacher to better see the pictures in the book. The teacher notices that Marquis, Ellen, and Rachel are not lying on their cots. She stops reading, closes the book, and reprimands them by saying, "I'm not going to read unless you're lying on your cot." The three children lie down briefly, but soon are up again, joined by Lauren, Tommy, and Jacob. The children move to sit or lie on the floor at the teacher's feet. The teacher abruptly stops the story, closes the book, and says, "I can't read if you are not on your cots. I'll try this again tomorrow."Severity of the Behavior

Finally, the teacher should determine whether the challenging behaviors are serious enough to require an individual behavioral plan. Running away can endanger the child's safety, and one occasion can persuade the teacher of an immediate need for intervention. Tantrums that last more than a few minutes and cause damage to classroom materials or physical harm to teachers or children warrant individualized planning as well. Durand (1990) suggested that the teacher ask the following questions to determine the severity of a behavior:

1. Is the challenging behavior life-threatening, or does it pose a health risk?
2. Will the behavior seriously interfere with future learning?
3. Is the challenging behavior resistant to routine classroom strategies, or is it getting worse despite consistent efforts to intervene?
4. Does the behavior hurt other children or staff or damage materials?
5. Does the behavior significantly interfere with acceptance in community settings?

Answering yes to even one of these questions indicates the need to develop a comprehensive behavioral intervention plan.

CLASSROOM APPLICATION

Is an individual behavior plan needed for this child?

• Are the current classroom strategies effective with this child?
• Does the child's behavior disrupt the flow of the classroom day?
• Does the child's behavior differ significantly from that of his or her classmates?
• Does the child's behavior result in harm to self, staff, peers, or classroom materials?
• Does the child's behavior seem to be intensifying or increasing in frequency?
• Should any other factors be considered?