CHAPTER 10

PROBLEM SOLVING BEHAVIORS

CONFLICT

•Disagreement over an action, verbal or physical, one or more parties has taken. •With children this usually involves property, location or privilege.

DECISION TO INTERVENE

• We need to remember to chose our battles• When do we intervene?• Safety • Professional teacher versus the technical

teacher• Personality of children and teacher• Mood of the classroom• Frequency of the actions• Entire group or isolated case

MARGINAL MISTAKEN BEHAVIORS

• Bossy Behaviors• Ask yourself is this behavior bothersome

only to the teacher or the other child, to the entire group? • Try to let nature take its direction, many

of these will be resolved without our intervention. • Level One Mistaken behavior

(experimentation)

LEVEL ONE: EXPERIMENTATION

• The child is learning through full engagement in the experiment of life•Much as the name experimentation states, the children are trying out behaviors, words, and responses and then seeing how these play out in the world of the classroom. • This can be very different depending upon the personality of the child

LEVEL TWO: SOCIALLY INFLUENCED MISTAKEN BEHAVIOR

• This is actually learned behavior that the child has tried before and got the result the child was looking for! • The child is reacting to the influence of

others, repeating behavior that is modeled, or suggested, • Children are reacting to the authority of

persons important in their lives • Both intentional and unintentional

behaviors result

LEVEL THREE: STRONG NEEDS MISTAKEN BEHAVIOR

•Most difficult to see •Child has experienced their environment as a dangerous and painful place over which they have little control. •The behavior patterns tend to be rigid and exaggerated. Protection is of utmost

FIRMNESS OF INTERVENTION

• First degree: inviting choices (I need some strong helpers to put away the blocks)• Second degree: requesting choices (As

soon as the blocks are picked up we can go outside)• Third degree: commanding choices

(Children you are using loud voices and pushing, take a deep breath and let it out slowly and then we can discuss what is going on once everyone is calm)

CHOICES

• In choice the one the teacher hopes the child will select• The “out Choice” is the less preferred

option that the child might select. We need to be sure that we are OK with either choice or we are being dishonest. • Life is all about making choices and living

with the consequences of the choices

FOUR QUICK INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

•1. Negotiation reminders •2. Humor•3. Nonverbal Techniques•4. Brevity

NEGOTIATION REMINDERS

•Telling the child “I understand that bothers you, can you use your words to tell him?

HUMOR AS TENSION RELIEVER

•Remember not to make fun of the child or the situation, •Smile, laugh and relate with the children

NONVERBAL TECHNIQUES

•Body language can be used to remind the children without calling attention to the child while we are communicating and hence helping the child save face and make choices and ultimately learn to control their own behavior.

NONVERBAL SPECIFICS

•Eye Contact•Eye Contact with gestures•Physical Proximity •Proximity with gentle reminder•Proximity with direct comment

BREVITY

•Brief comment, don’t go on and on and on…. They stop listening!

BEHAVIORS REPORTED BY OTHER CHILDREN

• Tattling• We need to ask ourselves are we

encouraging this, do we love to hear the scoop from other adults… some people “eat” this up and children pick up on this, and will continue• Also is this the only time that we really

listen to the child• Does the child not know what to say and

this is the way they communicate with us?

REFLECTIVE LISTENING

•Really listening and hearing what the child and children are really saying….

RECONCILIATION

• Essential often over looked step in any guidance situation, we need to help the child re enter the group after an episode. • Need to help them save face, don’t make

a spectacle of the child…• Do we want them to say I’m sorry, or does

this merely teach them to lie, and saying I’m sorry gets them out of trouble,

CODE OF ETHICS

•Refer to page 384 •Kansas Early Learning Standards as well

BUILDING COOPERATION WITH PARENTS

• Parents and teachers have different perspectives when it comes to a child‘s behavior• We need to join forces, not compete or berate the

parents• Understand our own emotional feelings toward

the family, we may disagree but we all are interested in the child

UNDERSTANDING PARENT DEVELOPMENT

•Parents can and do grow and mature! •We can be a positive influence in the family's life and development

WATCH OUR CHOICE OF WORDS

•Carefully select words that we use, avoid judgmental condemning words•Watch body language•Respect the culture •Respect parent’s feelings and past experiences

PROBLEM SOLVING WITH PARENTS

•Ask for their input, •See what works for them •Respect their answers •Discuss pros and cons of each solution